When Violence Intensifies, and Civic Infrastructure Is Tested, We Learn What Democracy Is Made Of

“This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream—a dream yet unfulfilled.” 

When Dr. King spoke these words to organized labor in 1961, he was naming an explicit strategy. He understood that democracy is not sustained by individual belief or moral persuasion, but by collective power. He knew then, as Borealis articulated in Atlanta last fall, that reaching a truly inclusive, multi-racial, and economically just democracy requires more people organizing across more differences, effectively resourced to act together.

Democracy Is a Verb

King’s vision was less a race-neutral utopian dream (as some are prone to misrepresent it) and more a people-fueled democratic infrastructure capable of translating shared values into material change. And some sixty-five years after his rearticulation of a more just America, and one full year into our nation’s current administration, we at Borealis – all of us sharing this space and time –  find ourselves still wanting for the realization of that fully realized democratic dream. 

This moment demands that we see the landscape upon which our freedom might be built much more clearly: the erosion of rights, the expansion of state violence, and the hollowing out of public trust are not failures of imagination alone. They are failures of collective investment in the structures that make democracy real. 

If we look at the recent incidents involving federal law enforcement that resulted in serious harm and loss of life over the last few weeks, these events have caused immeasurable grief and rupture, yes. But they also represent something else. Each of these escalations serve as small stress tests of our civic infrastructure. They ask us: have we built a democracy capable of extending safety, belonging, and care—or one that merely counts votes while inflicting harm?

As we witness the forcible separation of families, the disappearance of our neighbors, and the deliberate cultivation of fear, we must recognize this moment for what it is: a calculated convergence of state violence, democratic erosion, and social fragmentation intended to suppress collective civil power we’ve been growing since the Civil Rights Movement. 

As we move through collective mourning, processing, and strategizing for new futures after what we’ve experienced in Minneapolis, Portland, North Carolina, and hometowns in between, it feels important to name that violence does not exist in a vacuum. Immigration enforcement efforts increasingly intersect with broader systems of militarization, racialized policing, and the criminalization of migration and poverty, with disproportionate impacts on trans, disabled, and reproductive justice–impacted communities. 

For those of us from Black, Indigenous, immigrant, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities, this escalation is not new, but it is rapidly intensifying. And it is true that grief, fear, and hopelessness are rational responses to irrational, oppressive, and powerful systems. But despair is not our destination.

Movements Are Necessary Infrastructure

Democracy is not sustained by elections alone; rather, it requires a collective power built on institutional trust, shared narratives, and the capacity to experience safety, care for one another and participate in various levels of civic engagement. This is why Borealis Philanthropy sees community-rooted movements as frontline democratic infrastructure. Among Borealis’ own cohort of hundreds of grassroots partners across the country, groups are:

• Holding the line (Sahan Journal, Minnesota) against state violence and disinformation by using journalism to ensure an accurate, community informed public record. 
• Offering housing stability support (ALAS, Louisiana), transportation assistance, food access, and other community-based services that help immigrant families meet basic needs.
• Providing rights education and information (Carolina Migrant Network, North Carolina) about the immigration system, delivered by or in partnership with licensed and accredited organizations, while also empowering immigrant communities to participate in everyday and civic life. 
• Organizing (Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition, Louisiana) to document, challenge through lawful means, and mitigate the community impacts of expanded federal enforcement efforts.
• Supporting impact litigation and policy analysis (Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, New York) to protect our collective freedoms against growing surveillance tactics. 
• Developing know your rights trainings (Organized Communities Against Deportation, Illinois) to empower people to protect themselves and exercise their freedoms through intensified, antagonistic, and rapidly changing landscapes. 
• Engaging in public education, narrative change, and nonpartisan advocacy across communities and institutions (Jacksonville Community Action Coalition, Florida) to protect immigrant and refugee rights and dismantle systemic barriers.

Through rapid response services, court observation, safety planning, community-based mutual aid, rights-education efforts, narrative intervention, and more, these organizers are both defending and extending our vision for a radically inclusive democratic future. It is abundantly clear: the philanthropic sector can no longer afford to solely invest in their efforts as temporary crisis responses. 

Our Movements Need Functional Philanthropy Now

In moments of sociopolitical collapse, philanthropy functions as both a signal and social change lever. Where money moves—and how quickly, how flexibly, and under whose leadership—indicates our moral fortitude and determines whether our systems can be grounded in greater care. 

Philanthropy cannot build freedom; this is not our work. But we can help make it possible. To win in this moment, the philanthropic sector must commit to shifting: 

• From episodic grantmaking to year-round, long-term ecosystem investment. We must invest in the creation, ongoing maintenance, and fierce protection of long-term civic systems; in the manifold and unseen scaffolding which allows for response efforts, communication, and coordination during times of crisis. Because in addition to helping us move through acute harm, community-rooted leaders and civic engagement groups are leading us to more safe and just futures.
  
• From risk avoidance to collective responsibility. Communities know what works and what is needed. They are also a hub for emergent ideas, which are especially critical during times of rebuilding. Move money to movements, and then more, to scale what works.
  
• From abstract commitments to material alignment. Regressive funders are giving more effectively than funders who support justice and equality, shaping our authoritarian present, reports NCRP. Now, it is up to progressive funders to secure a new, more just and loving future. 

On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day—and at this one-year mark in our nation’s political trajectory—we remind us all that democracy has always been a practice, not a promise fulfilled once and for all. When King called us to imagine:

“This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream—a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man’s skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity … That is the dream…”

That is the dream. 

One created by the echo of every choice we make at this moment. Determined by whether our institutions are capable of—and committed to—protecting life and strengthening democracy. At Borealis, we remain devoted to resourcing the people and movements who are leading us towards exactly that.

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Borealis Philanthropy is committed to strengthening an inclusive, multiracial democracy through support for community-based, systems-level change. Borealis does not fund or engage in partisan political activity or electoral advocacy. Our grantmaking supports lawful, nonpartisan civic participation, public education, narrative change, research, and advocacy conducted in compliance with applicable law.