Just like 9/11, I find myself in Tokyo watching the results of hatred befall my deeply dopey country. On 1/6, I watched in horror and absolutely no surprise, as white supremacists, urged and arranged by trump and his group of racists, entered the capital, killed people, and looked for more people to hurt.
No surprise at all. I wish I didn’t have to say that. But, as a Black American with even a cursory knowledge of history, America seems to always be ready to prove that violence, for many people, is the first resort. But then, I read (paraphrasing) ‘well, these people were brainwashed. if you thought the election was being stolen, wouldn’t you have resorted to violence? They didn’t think they had any choice and they saw no reason to doubt that the election was stolen. After all that verdict came from the president.”
Then there’s the usual insistence on false equivalency as if any event (usually police or inflitrator-driven!) at Black Lives Matter marches is equal somehow to the terrorism of white supremacy on 1/6, when of course, these events are not equal in any way. Black people and many in the coalition marching for equity in this country is a cause that ought to be common amongst Americans. Athough it seems to have dissipated.
So, I’m reading Julian Shapiro on writing (https://www.julian.com/guide/write/first-draft). He, very reasonably, suggests that my pieces need to have an objective. Well, my objective here is to point you to a tweet that fairly succinctly lays out how Republicans have damaged the country:
Twitter is so painful to read right now. People want the merits of the impeachment case to matter so badly. They want the anguish & eloquence of those whose lives were threatened to matter. They want TRUTH to matter & decency to finally win a round. But it's not going to happen.
— David Roberts (@drvolts) February 11, 2021
And, as the start of an antidote, here’s a heads up about a presentation by Mike Monteiro:
I got up at 5am to watch the first presentation. It was very honest, and deeply felt. Mike’s a Bernie guy, which usually raises my hackles immediately, as I’m one of the supposed ‘low info voters’ who had so much unnecessary strife with many of those folks. But, I do have a few that I still respect and learn from, and when it comes to design, and being open about white supremacy, he’s moving towards being a good egg.
So there. My objective is to get you two to read two tweets, reflect, and maybe join me on the next actually multicultural iteration of Mike’s talk.
One point I took from the presentation this morning: discomfort is inevitable when it comes to dismantling white supremacy. But discomfort isn’t the point – it’s the price paid to get somewhere so much better!
