My 2025 A to Z Challenge theme is activism. I’ve been a Black Lives Matter activist for over a decade. I’m not an expert. I do have experience to share and I’m hoping to learn from your experiences, too. We’re all in this together.

I first learned about humor as a tool for activism from a book called This is an Uprising by by Mark Engler and Paul Engler. They documented several ways that ridicule was used to bring down Slobodan Milošević in Serbia.

More recently, this article from Waging Nonviolence has several ideas for how to use ridicule for resistance: What to do if the Insurrection Act is invoked | Waging Nonviolence

The trick with humor is to punch up. We won’t help our cause by ridiculing our fellow voters. We make a difference when we make the oligarchs look ridiculous to our fellow voters.

I’ve been chuckling at editorial cartoons, clever signs at the April 5 protest, and Josh Johnson’s comedy sets on YouTube. What is making you laugh at the ridiculousness of it all?