After a couple of days of reflection, I decided to form a slightly more incoherent version of Twitter rant answering the question we’ve all no doubt heard and asked a lot over the past few days: The unthinkable happened, Trump won, so what happens now?

There have been no shortage of voices from politicians from both sides of the aisle preaching a willingness to “work with” the new administration, while encouraging the public to “give it some time”and “wait and see” what happens as he begins to build his government. It’s true, we don’t know what the future holds, but what we do know is the country has elected a President and Vice President who have built their campaign on targeting the most marginalized among us: Muslims, undocumented immigrants, LGBTQ, Indigenous peoples, African-Americans, and/or women. Those with the least to lose can afford to wait for some sort of grand pivot, but for the sake of folks who stand to find themselves in the cross-hairs of the new administration, we are better suited to heed the advice brilliant Maya Angelou: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

It’s valid to feel scared, worried, and even hopeless so soon after such a stunning result. However, what I have seen in the wake of the election (and really for the past few years) is a foundation being laid for a strong counter for Trumpism that has very little to do with top-level electoral politics or leaders from either party.

It looks a lot like the folks at Standing Rock, the folks who took to the streets after Trayvon and Mike Brown, the teachers who have been reaching out to students of color making sure they know they aren’t rapists and terrorists and lazy freeloaders. It’s the clergy who are offering to+rush to marry LGBTQ folks, the lawyers offering free services to the Trans community and undocumented peoples. It’s the 100 or so college students at Baylor who escorted their classmate, the health care providers who have pledged to continuing offering services to women regardless of what may happen in terms of women’s rights to healthcare, the prison abolitionists who make sure we aren’t forgetting the names of folks who should be home with their friends and loved ones. It’s the folks who have been out in the streets for the past few days emphatically rejecting a politically ideology fueled by hatred.

These are all vastly different issues being fought by vastly different people, but they share a very strong central tenant of caring about each other and being willing to put a little skin in the came for a neighbor’s benefit. This may be a bit too optimistic – Lord knows I’m grasping for something hopeful to hold on to – but in the midst of the shock and despair, there’s an opportunity to find some common cause in building a different kind of political capital. Something not tied to, nor dictated by, people who have already indicated they might be willing to negotiate the safety and well-being of the most vulnerable members of our communities for the sake of appearing politically amenable to a man who has already told them his policies will be based on bigoted authoritarianism.

If you woke up on November 9th wondering what happens now, if you find yourself worried for yourself, your friends & family, and even your country, if you believe the President-elect is exactly the person he has been telling the world he is, I would submit that instead of waiting for imaginary pivots, see who you can be of service to in your immediate community. What can you do to help the vulnerable people around you? I promise regardless of the cause or struggle you will find folks who have been out there organizing for it; the groundwork for those infrastructures has been laid, they just need help. And maybe, instead of the top-down approach, we can offer direct assistance to those who need it while pushing the goal posts from the bottom up in the process.

And if nothing else, helping out, taking direct action that really just amounts being a decent citizen and neighbor might help assuage that hopelessness.