I spoke with Faye on a rainy Tuesday in July. It turns out we know some of the same people through Indivisible Northampton. We also both expressed dismay at our many friends and family members who are at odds with Trump and his administration but are not taking action to change things.
Faye grew up during the Vietnam war. She saw some boys come back from the war “messed up.” She majored in social work in college. She was always a registered independent as were her parents but did not focus much on politics. She and her circle of friends wanted to impact the energy of the universe by being loving and kind to all and choosing helpful occupations. She was pretty oblivious to the later wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and described herself as “living in a bubble” as far as the rest of the world was concerned and focused instead on her work and her community.
When Trump was elected in 2016, she saw him as an idiot and believed that we had to put up with him for four years, but in a sense, it wasn’t that bad. This time around was different. She talked about how after the inauguration in 2025, they started rounding up brown and black people and taking them away. She was horrified. She looked for something to do. She wrote postcards to voters in California and personally signed her name to each one, but she wanted to do more. She went to an Indivisible Northampton meeting and joined the Veterans Action Team.
Faye’s father was a veteran although he never saw combat. Also, Faye had worked at the World War II Club in Northampton and had gotten to know some vets that way. The vets at the club talked to her. She felt connected to them.
Faye told me about her work with the Veterans Action Team, which really does focus on action. The group conducts weekly standouts at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds, known locally as the VA Hospital. The standouts focus on Veterans’ benefits and supporting federal workers including active-duty military. As time went on, she became aware of what was happening to veterans who are “the wrong color.” They, and in some cases their family members, were getting swept up. For example, an active military member was married to a woman who was in the process of getting her papers. They had 2 children. His wife was imprisoned in an ICE concentration camp after attending a regularly required meeting, and he was left with a toddler and a breast-fed two-month-old. That made Faye realize it was about more than protecting veterans’ benefits. There was a “whole host of people being murdered, abducted, kidnapped, killed, and fed rotten food, including veterans and veteran’s families.” Faye felt more committed and compelled as she learned more about what was happening. The brutality required her to do more. And, the Veterans Action Team has continued to take on more issues as things in the country unfortunately got worse, including the murder of Alex Pretti, who worked as a nurse in the Minneapolis VA Health Care System.
And as the actions of the regime have continued to attack the constitution, the rule of law, freedoms of our citizens, we have expanded what we address in our standouts, because everything is also affecting veterans, federal employees at the VA and elsewhere, and our military members and their families.
The group has also participated with the Veterans for Peace, at standouts at Westover Air Force Base on Friday evening and Saturday morning once a month to let active service members and guards know that the group cares about them, and that they don’t have to follow illegal orders.
Being part of the group and standing out every week helps Faye feel hopeful. She has stepped up to co-lead the team with a veteran member and has become friends with some of the people on the team, which keeps her going.
Photo by Paola Tayvah