Yesterday morning, I rolled over to shut off my alarm, and like most mornings since Jan 20th, I took a deep breath before I read the headlines. What new horrible executive order would systematically cause significant harm to the most vulnerable groups today? And yesterday, when I read the headline, “White House orders freeze on federal aid” it took me a minute to catch my breath.
I had the same moment of shock and fear as when the first World Trade Center was hit by American Airlines Flight 11 in 2001. I felt like I was on floor 75 of the WTC North tower, 18 floors below the crash site where I could feel the shutter on top of me like an earthquake, knowing something terrible was happening, but not quite sure how I should respond. My husband and I still had to go to work, my children had buses to catch, and thanks to the real time notifications of social media, I could manage my family out the door while doing a quick data collection to measure how critical this crisis actually was going to be.
All Federal aid frozen by 5pm. Like me, my fellow Millennial and GenX counterparts were taught to loath our government, so it wasn’t until I was much order that I learned that socialized services were not always frowned upon by my fellow Americans and in fact, socialized programs contributed to fostering the once thriving economy my Silent Gen and Boomer parents once knew. That being said, most Americans don’t know how much our federal government contributes to our economy, particularly our most vulnerable communities. To lose ALL federal aid by 5pm would quite literally collapse our economy overnight. There would be thousands of people who would lose their lives within 24 hours, and over a million within a month. By 5pm, the South Tower would be hit unless some miracle stopped it.
I immediately reached out to my dearest friends, all of which have careers in critical medical non-profit work, or are liaisons in school districts with the most vulnerable students, or are chief financial officers of the largest nonprofits in our city, as well as many other critical roles in public service, and I could discern the elevated measure of concern in their voices. We collectively started to feel the heat above us, hear screams of the children and clients we serve, begging us to save them while the beams started to dip slightly above our heads. I watched business as usual taking place in the South Tower with staff meetings, graduate assignments due, band night for one of my sons, planning college visits for another, and the entire time I could feel the temperature rising. I wanted to scream, “GET OUT” to all of them, but very few knew what was coming. Only a small number of Americans really understood the suffering on a massive scale that was imminent if something didn’t give by 5pm.
Funding for Medicaid, SNAP assistance, CHIP, local law enforcement, fire fighters, homeless shelters, domestic violence safety programs, Section 8 rental assistance, Title I education grants for our most desperate children, temporary assistance programs for needy families, state grants for childcare, Head Start programs, school enrichment programs all over the US, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, school breakfast and lunch programs, EPA grants for clean water infrastructure, Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Block Grants, all college grants and loans, the National Council of Nonprofits, all research federal grants for cardiac, cancer, pediatrics, and all medical research in general, American Public Health Associations, Disaster aid recovery for hurricane Helene victims, the LA fire victims, and numerous hurricanes that hit Florida in 2024, veterans support, meals on wheels for our elderly, and the billions of dollars that are given to every private and public sector that touch the lives of Americans every day.
As the day went on, the backlash of this order became clear as the White House determined they would only freeze payment to non-profits and allow social service payments to “individuals” in order to soften the blow. In a press release, the reason for the freeze was that “Trump is looking out for you by issuing this pause because he is being a good steward of your taxpayer dollars.” This kind of rhetoric could only come from a president and administration that is truly structurally incompetent, having a limited understanding of American needs and or what our citizens rely on every day for survival. Unfortunately, however, this disastrous freeze isn’t completely an “innocent mistake” based on ignorance; our president is pursuing nefarious and illegal methods to make harmful cuts within social services to pay for the exorbitantly high tax cuts he has promised the ultra-rich.
Fortunately for our country, and this world, just before 5pm, a federal judge granted an “administrative stay” pausing the plan for a week to hear arguments as to why this sweeping action would be so devastating to the American people.
The plane didn’t hit the South Tower, yet. While there are several of us scrambling under the heat to prevent the fiery collapse of the American people, there is a new administration constantly pushing against us, creating false stories and spreading disinformation to anyone that they can convince to act against their best interest. Yesterday, we were within hours of loved ones dying, children starving on a mass scale, our elderly losing critical care they rely on every day, dreams that could have been ripped away from high school seniors forging their way to college, and an entire economic collapse that America has not seen or felt in 100 years.
If this is not a wake-up call, I don’t know what could be.
Today, as many Americans are back to business as usual, don’t forget to check on your social servant friends, they are not okay. If you know someone who works for a non-profit, send them a text. Check on those who lead our education systems, those who have chosen careers in critical medical care facilities, liaisons for vulnerable children and the elderly, cancer and medical researchers, grant writers, DEI representatives who care for our most at-risk populations, or anyone who spends their life as a public servant, please call them or buy them a drink. They are not okay. They are watching the beams above their heads melt and feel the heat becoming more unbearable, laying down everything they are and sacrificing their lives to prevent another plane from hitting.
Dear America, the North Tower is burning. It’s time to wake up before it’s too late. We can see the plane coming this time. It’s not a surprise. The intentions have been clearly stated, and it is in route. It’s going to take all of us to stop it. We have been warned. It’s time to respond.
Written on January 29, 2025 by Erin Solano-Cox
M.A. Psychology, Class of 2025, B.A. Interdisciplinary Studies, Class of 2023, College of Arts and Sciences University of Cincinnati, International Honors Society in Psychology, West Chester, Liberty Township Chamber Alliance Women of Excellence Award, Literacy is Power
