It’s sad to even think about, but the traditional Republican Party is no more. It is now, unofficially…but, officially unofficially… the Party of Trump.
If he is defeated in November, and while the GOP is pushing the gurneys of those that barely survived the election carnage, the walking wounded of the Party of Trump will never lose stride. Those with the loudest, most strident snd defiant voices will diligently struggle to take 30-40 percent of the party and form the America First Party, America for Americans Party, or, maybe America Strong! Party.
.”Republican”, as a brand, now has the value of a used Depends.
Whatever it is called, the new post-Trump movement will be a constipated version of the free-flowing and spasmodic platforms and policies of Trump and his acolytes.
The state if Republicanism 2021 will render the traditional conservative movement known as the GOP a toothless politician pawn to be used by the next-generation of career opportunists like Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton.
With Trump TV spewing his praise-me filth 24/7 (with the “me” personal profile ADT (after Donald Trump) changing like thin sleets in a Las Vegas brothel), the Democrats will run Washington for the next 30 years or so.
After Trump succumbs to an accidental overdose of medicinal Clorox administered by the eldest youngest son Eric, and after JDT Junior’s “Revive Trump’s America” rally in Dallas — at which only 471 people show up, including paid staff, 108 news correspondents, including 97 from Fox News, and police in riot gear — the movement is declared dead.
Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, with guests Rudy Guiliani, Kellyanne Conway and the White House press secretary firmerly known as “GOP Barbie” in a one-hour special on Trump TV.
Reporters covering the event noted the “one-hour event” only last 37 minutes, including seven minutes of commercials for MAGA merchandise, distressed, left-over Ivanka Fashion Week items and condos for sale at Trump Tower in New York City.
Conway, who observers noticed had apparently had additional facial restructuring since that morning when she served coffee and donut holes to the Fox News crew and looked “30, but by the post-special break-out session looked like a high school cheerleader, complete with pompoms,” became irate at the “fake news’ obsession with taking a poo on the legacy of Donald J. Trump.
“The special lasted the full hour! It was, uh, just a fast hour!”
Bless their hearts!
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In my seven-plus decades, I have participated in three protests: In 1967 I was one of 12 young college students to protest America’s involvement in the Vietnam War; in 1985 in Marshall, Texas, spoke to a “Sweep the Rascals Out” protest concerning bad government in general and in D.C. in general; last night, June 11, joined a peaceful protest in Prescott, Ark., with the aim of obtaining justice for all citizens, a Black Lives Matter event.
All masked-up and maintaining the suggested social distance, I participated in the event on behalf of my friend-daughter Jennifer and son-in-law Cleon, our three biracial grandkids, Bryan, Brayden and Marley, and our other four grands — Piper, Annie, Jordyn and Colton — plus our two biracial second-cousins, Mattie and Ann Marie.
I also wanted to stand up and be counted in the global movement aimed at ending injustice to black citizens in particular.
More than 35 people from as far away as Mena, Ark., 100 miles, participated in the protest.
Hannah Wiley, the young organizer of the protest, set the tone for the event by holding an eight minute, 23 second moment of silence in memory of George Floyd, the black citizen who died at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.
BobJean had planned on attending but deferred until the next protest due to working too long and too hard in the yard and wearing herself out.
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A FBook friend and a well-informed observer and writer questioned my use of a certain verb in a recent post when referring to the fact the GOS “insists” the party is behind a balanced budget.
Just as the Dem platform always “insists” on the Equality of All People, the GOP puts business success over the rights of workers, even business success over human life.
This is from the 2020 Republican platform (which is the same as the 2016 version):
1. We believe America is exceptional because of our historic role — first as refuge, then as defender, and now as exemplar of liberty for the world to see.
(My reaction: But, but what about aslyum seekers? What about the rights of peaceful protestors? What about gays? What about Muslims?)
2. We affirm, as did the Declaration of Independence: that all are created equal, endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
(Yeah, right, whatever. Tell that to those in our country who are the living oppressed and who are favorite targets of conservatives — minorities, all, including women, members of the LBGTQ community, and interracial couples.)
3.We believe our constitutional system — limited government, separation of powers, federalism, and the rights of the people — must be preserved uncompromised for future generations.
(Limited government? I just threw up in my mouth. Separation of powers? See comment above. Rights of the people? “People” over rich people? “People” over big business? Get real)
4. We believe political freedom and economic freedom are indivisible. When political freedom and economic freedom are separated — both are in peril; when united, they are invincible.”
(It is a fact that actions by the federal government, positively or adversely, affect the country’s economic pulse. The elected GOPers in Congress, with one stalwart exception, seem to feel they do not have freedom to march along the best path for their constituents; they are attached mouth to buttocks of a lightning rod president who craves three things: Money, power and loyalty.)
5. We believe that people are the ultimate resource — and that the people, not the government, are the best stewards of our country’s God-given natural resources.
(No Republican, no voter, who can read or hear the spoken word cannot know this is three kinds of male bovine offal. The GOP is for big business wants over despoiling public lands, encouraging drilling for oil and natural gas, timber production and for grazing land for big cattle operations. Trump’s troops just re-approved the use of a cancer-causing insecticide for farmers, opened up logging on public lands, diminishes the benefits of non-fossil fuel sources — wind, solar and wave — thus protecting the oil and gas interests and approved “cyanide bombs” to kill predators, regardless of the damage is does to other animals, including domestic cats and dogs.)
6. As Americans and as Republicans we wish for peace — so we insist on strength. We will make America safe. We seek friendship with all peoples and all nations, but we recognize and are prepared to deal with evil in the world.
(This administration seeks peace as long as our potential enemies agree to do things “our” way. If some country “bobbles” in abject support of Trump’s ideas or demands, it becomes the nation’s enemy or next economic punching bag.)
To use a little contrived literary dyslexia, the U.S. is in a “melluva hess”. And the only way out is an affirmation of real American principles — the rights of ordinary people over the political and business gentry — in November.
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The 45th president of the United States believes he is a once-in-a-lifetime thinker, a modern-day Socrates who is bigly sophisticated, erudite and who handles the many problems, opportunities, unforeseen faux pas, malignant foibles of members of the human race and examples of his intellectual fraud (real “downright lies”) as part of a conspiracy against him and his administration.
Unfortunately for the American people and the global community, President Donald Trump is none of those things. Instead, he is a poor excuse for a human being, a self-proclaimed born-agin-and-agin Christian who repeatedly demonstrates he has no soul, a whiney, spoiled, slack-brained, excuse-at-the-ready man-child who demands loyalty and fealty even when faced with the facts that he offers neither to any person except, at least for now, selected members of his family and key, get-on-your-knees-and-worship-me aides and cabinet members.
Harsh assessment from a staunch detractor? Harsh? Assuredly. Staunch detractor? Yeppers. Do those two stances negate the facts concerning the failures of the 45th president? Absolutely not.
Trump, the president, the man, is not well. Listen to his words. Watch his actions in trying to do a simple task, like take a drink of water or walk down a ramp. He is a physical disaster-in-waiting.
His thinking process, his exclamations and explanations are not just suspect but downright bizarre. Make excuses for him if you must, but you cannot excuse his reasoning behind why the number of COVID-19 cases are climbing exponentially:
“We are doing more testing that anyone and that causes the cases to rise. If we didn’t do testing, the number would be close to zero.”
Nooooooo. The number of cases would be the same; it’d just be ostrich-head-in-the-sand time in the U.S. of A.
And, to get our mind off the dramatic increase in coronavirus cases in some states, due to opening up the economy (and, of course, that darn testing regimen), jobless numbers and deaths way north of 110,000), Trump this week called for $2 trillion in spending to upgradre U.S. roads, bridges and tunnels, seizing on the coronavirus outbreak and record low interest rates to advance one of his longest-standing priorities.
Speaking at his daily coronavirus briefing on Tuesday evening, Trump said low rates would allow the country to borrow cheaply to finance spending on infrastructure. He said none of the funds should go toward environmental initiatives called for in the Democrats’ Green Deal.
This is a good thing, regardless of who is sitting behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington-on-the-Deficit. Infrastructure spending could help blunt the surge in unemployment and businesses failures expected to result from the coronavirus pandemic and economic shutdown.
Lest we have forgotten, a nati0nal infrastructure program was 0n Trump’s econ0mic battle plan for the U.S. since the early days of his presidential campaign. When this administration’s jobs numbers and overall ec0nomic report card continued the strong, upward trend started in 2010 f0llowing the 2008 recession, infrastructure improvement as a nati0nal policy was shelved. This was a calculated political gambit as center stage projects and scandals – THE wall, trade war with vari0us c0untries, dramatic changes to immigration policy, Iran, China and North Korea posturing and, finally, the global pandemic – sucked all the rarified air and vote-counting capital out of the political landscape.
Simply, what caused the president to resurrect the idea that an infrastructure plan would assist in his re-electi0n campaign, were the so-far-South-it’s-dark-24/7 polling numbers which showed Trump, the man, the policy wonk, rated slightly worse than a “creepy high school janitor who set up hidden cameras in the boys’ bathro0ms”, and only slightly better than “unseen dust bunnies under the c0uch”.
Now, as Trump’s poll numbers are tanking due to his mangling, miscalculation and mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, he chucks up one of his administration’s patented distractions, a real-life “shiny” moment:
“Look! Bigly jobs!! New, improved roads!!! Bridges and dams that w0n’t collapse!!!! Complements of President Donald J. Trump!!!!! MAGA!x6.
Where was this program three years ago when this administration was capturing and caging would-be immigrants looking for a safer, better life? Where was this “progress” plan when the president was trumpeting the “impenetrable” that an eight-year-old girl climbed in less than 20 seconds using a special tool – wo0den shoes that she wedged in the spaceds in the wall and scampered up like a money on a palm tree?
While the nation’s roads and bridges were deteriorating, and dams collapsing, inundating towns and taking lives, Trump was holding the promised infrastructure bill for the proper time.
The “proper” time, it now is clear, is when polls reported by Fake News outlets show him trailing challenger Joe Biden by double digits in some key states.
“What! I’m behind in the polls? Unleash the visible ec0nomic infrastructure programs plan!”
By electi0n time, vari0us roadways in key states will be sporting signs showing that “President Donald J. Trump” wants the American driving public to be safe on American roads.
And, once again, Trump is betting he can hornswoggle en0ugh voters to have an0ther f0ur years of power trips, ego-expanding proclamations that aid the rich and corporations and destroy blessed parts 0f this country and a chance to undermine the f0undation of democracy.
Will his bet pay off the first Tuesday in November?
Go vote and see.
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A lifelong friend, a distant relative and someone I care about on an ethereal level blocked me on Facebook.
No warning. No explanation. Boom. Gone.
I am hoping it was a mistake because, for me, her smiling face is like a ray of sunshine after a hurricane.
Why the split? Freedom of speech and difference of opinion about the current state of politics in America, I suppose.
I was under the impression we were adults who could agree to disagree agreeably. I now to now assume I was wrong, that politics matters more than long-time relationships and familial ties.
I was so wrong, couldn’t be more
wrong-er.
While I believe the U.S. is walking on the edge of fascism, thus endangering our democracy, this dear friend is an Always-Trumper. I don’t understand a majority of those that feel that way and it’s obvious they don’t understand my viewpoint.
As a one-time history major with a love of historical novels about this country’s history and the key personalities who formed the foundation and underpinnings of the U.S., I clearly see the slippery slope to the mutated form of mini-fascism that Donald J. Trump and his chosen minions have erected.
In a democracy, brute force is not used to move peaceful protestors from a specific area so a president can move through the area for a staged photo op.
In a democracy, the nation’s highest law enforcement officer, who specifically is charged with representing the best interests of the citizens, does not do the express bidding of the top executive in direct opposition to best interests of the citizenry.
In a democracy, trusted global allies are revered and nations ruled by strong-arm thugs are watched closely with the well-worn adage displayed prominently — Speak softly and carry a big stick.
In a democracy, our freedoms (speech, religion, a free press, right to assemble and protest, etc.) are sacrosanct.
In a democracy, treaties which are designed to keep this nation safe are not not torn asunder on the knee-jerk whim of a chief executive.
In a democracy, no one —NO ONE! — is above the law, criminal acts are punished; power, money, status and title be damned.
Look around. Is the view of America today one that resembles the dictionary definition of “democracy”?
The definition of democracy is a “form of government in which the common people hold political power and can rule either directly or through elected representatives. An example of democracy at work is in the United States, where people have political freedom and equality.”
Is that American in 2020?
Political freedom? Equality?
Not even close.
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I’m writing to denounce the shameful spreading of misinformation by the Harrison County Republican Party Chairman, along with some of his fellow party chairs in our state, in posting the conspiracy theory that George Floyd’s brutal murder on Memorial Day in Minneapolis was a “staged event.” There is no evidence that the senseless, unjust killing of Mr. Floyd was staged. Normally, denunciation of such an irresponsible action should, as they say, “go without saying,” but, over the past few years, divisive, hateful, and untrue things have been said and spread with such frequency that they have become almost normalized. We must never allow the spreading of lies to become accepted or normalized. It tears at the very fabric of our civil society and democracy.
I write this from the perspective of someone who not only loves America and our founding principles of liberty, equality, and justice for all more than words could ever say, but also from the perspective of someone who has volunteered more time than I could ever calculate over the past 25 years to help bring progress and unity to a community and region I love. And when people spread falsehoods and conspiracy theories—and, I believe in this case, when they do it for partisan reasons—nothing but harm and hurt can result. It’s not only harmful to the grieving family who has lost a loved one, but also to a grieving nation who, for many of us, have hearts that break every day knowing the reality that racism, a scourge that has plagued our nation’s history from its beginning, still exists. The only way we’re going be able to end systemic racism is by working together, not by stoking division. As one of our nation’s mottos says: “E Pluribus Unum” Out of Many, One. That’s a very clear directive. We must do this together. We must do this with understanding, empathetic hearts, with steadfast intentionality, and with reality-based information.
In preparing a home-made sign to carry at one of the peaceful marches in Marshall this week, I thought to myself, “What would be a helpful and healing message to share?” I knew that the word “together” would need to be included and, as I wrote the words on the sign, I was filled with a deep sense of hope that maybe this time, finally, finally, we can bring about meaningful change—along with strong policies—to address this long-standing, profound injustice. Standing on the shoulders of the brave, resolute people who have gone before and for all who continue to work for the cause of justice today, I write these words of hope: “Let’s end racism now together. Let’s end racism now forever.” As the pandemic has taught us, we are indeed all in this together and I appreciate all people of good faith who are working to make much-needed changes successful so that our beloved America can be stronger and better now and in the future.
Christina Cocek Anderson
Marshall, Texas
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Let’s say you are a Trump supporter. It’s your choice and your right to choose under the liberties granted citizens under the Constitution.
And, let’s say your main reason for backing the president is that, now, Donald Trump is an anti-abortion champion. Again, that’s your right,
And, say you are a dyed-in-the-wool Republican. Period. Paragraph. That’s where this conversation should start.
First, Donald Trump is not a Republican: That’s his label du jour this week, but in the past he has registered as a Democrat, Republican and Independent. He is, then, a political chameleon, changing his color, philosophy and beliefs as it suits his moods or fiscal standing.
He has donated money to many Democratic candidates and organization, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Planned Parenthood and other so-called “liberal” organizations.
Trump is an opportunist, for sure, in business, politics and life. What is good for The Donald is good for The Donaid and his brand.
Now, Republican supporter of President Trump, how do you view the truism that the president, now the titular head of your party, is choking the life out of the GOP with the certainty that the Minneapolis policeman choked the life out of George Floyd?
When The Donald is through “playing” the part of a kick-ass Republican, he will slough his GOP mantle and abdicate the party to start the MAGA Party or the PAT sect (Party for America and Trump) or maybe the TOWY Party (Tired of Winning Yet).
Whatever, Trump is interested in two things and two things only: Money and power. Right now he is giddy beyond measure because, in his eyes and his ham-handed style, he has both.
Win or lose in November, he will do whatever it takes to keep both. That scenario does not bode well for the Republican Party or the majority of citizens in general, and the United States of America in particular.
The rigors of personal agony and turmoil enveloping this country today is a spit in the ocean compared what could be headed our way after November’s general election.
If you believe in the power of prayer, it’s not too early to drop to your knees and start praying now for the future of this country.
Lose, and Trump and his supporters will not go quietly;. Win, and every global citizens will hold their collective breaths, wondering what new hell this president, this newly ordained potentate, will serve up.
The future of America, four months from the election, is a surrealistic landscape where up is down and “bleak” is the main theme.
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In an extraordinary condemnation, the former defense secretary backs protesters and says the president is trying to turn Americans against one another.
James Mattis, the esteemed Marine general who resigned as secretary of defense in December 2018 to protest Donald Trump’s Syria policy, has, ever since, kept studiously silent about Trump’s performance as president. But he has now broken his silence, writing an extraordinary broadside in which he denounces the president for dividing the nation, and accuses him of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens.
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.” He goes on, “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”
In his j’accuse, Mattis excoriates the president for setting Americans against one another.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” Mattis writes. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”
He goes on to contrast the American ethos of unity with Nazi ideology. “Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that ‘The Nazi slogan for destroying us … was “Divide and Conquer.” Our American answer is “In Union there is Strength.”’ We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.”
Mattis’s dissatisfaction with Trump was no secret inside the Pentagon. But after his resignation, he argued publicly—and to great criticism—that it would be inappropriate and counterproductive for a former general, and a former Cabinet official, to criticize a sitting president. Doing so, he said, would threaten the apolitical nature of the military. When I interviewed him last year on this subject, he said, “When you leave an administration over clear policy differences, you need to give the people who are still there as much opportunity as possible to defend the country. They still have the responsibility of protecting this great big experiment of ours.” He did add, however: “There is a period in which I owe my silence. It’s not eternal. It’s not going to be forever.”
That period is now definitively over. Mattis reached the conclusion this past weekend that the American experiment is directly threatened by the actions of the president he once served. In his statement, Mattis makes it clear that the president’s response to the police killing of George Floyd, and the ensuing protests, triggered this public condemnation.
“When I joined the military, some 50 years ago,” he writes, “I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.”
He goes on to implicitly criticize the current secretary of defense, Mark Esper, and other senior officials as well. “We must reject any thinking of our cities as a ‘battlespace’ that our uniformed military is called upon to ‘dominate.’ At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.
Here is the text of the complete statement.
IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH
I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.
When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.
We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.
James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that “America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.
Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.
We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another. The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country. We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s “better angels,” and listen to them, as we work to unite.
Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.
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Cleon Flanagan is an American, a husband, father, production engineer, and former law enforcement officer. He is my son-in-law and dad to Bryan, 17, Brayden, 11, and Marley, 6, three of my seven grandchildren.
He is black.
He and I talked this weekend about the racial turmoil roiling through the U.S. His heart was breaking and it was obvious he was worried about the future and what new hell his biracial children would face.
So you will know, I grew up in a segregated community and never had a real, honest conversation and exchange of views about anything with any black person until I went to college.
Cleon is the epitome of what a husband, father, relative and human being should be. He is one of the best men I have ever met. I love him.
He wrote the piece below this week. Please read it. If you do and get through it without shedding tears…you have more self control than I do.
By Cleon Flanagan
So let’s talk … take a seat.
1980’s—Walking home, around age 12, and two white men in a pickup truck and a confederate flag waving, pulled up behind me and then beside me and threw beer and full beer cans on and at me. Thank God I was almost home.
1997 — When I worked for a local police agency, we were doing a transport of some detainees and prisoners when a detainee turned to me and said (while i was in uniform) “My daddy used to own some like you. ha ha!” I couldn’t speak up.
Same town — I went into the store to get a drink, in uniform, and the cashier looked at me (missed the badge) and said “I can’t stand f-ing n******.”
I’d like to say these instances early in my adulthood were rare, or stopped as I aged.
But that would be a “No.”
Jennifer Thurman Flanagan and I, throughout our marriage, have endured comments that we know wouldn’t be made (or tolerated) about white couples.
“Oh, I’ll bet her family has money. You’re all set now.”
“She has a good job so y’all know y’all will be ok. (But I’m an engineer?)
Jen has been asked if all of our kids were by the same dad.
They are struck by the fact that she had actually graduated college, got married, and bought a house (in that order) yearsssssss before having kids. That we weren’t teen parents.
She’s been asked at the grocery store, when the little ones were with her, if she’ll be using her Lone Star card to pay.
She’s looked at as trash when she shops alone with our kids, but I get stereotyped as having “married up.”
And let me tell you about our recent vacations … Galveston 2019 — Our kids were questioned for missing fishing poles from a residence AN ENTIRE BLOCK AWAY. The police were driving around and saw our kid’s fishing (with their own poles).
Lake O the Pines 2018 — The white man who owned the property we rented was as friendly and sweet as peach pie over the phone… until he saw Bryan, his black classmate, and me heading in with our boat. After that, we were harassed, watched, hounded, then, after cleaning profusely, he kept our deposit and sent us a bill (we got it all back after filing a complaint with VRBO).
Speaking of vacations — How many of you have to plan your vacation depending on the demographics of the town? The location? Is it a place notorious for pulling over and harassing POC (people of color)?
Have you every had to justify simply being in a public place?
Have you every been denied a day off by your boss at Thanksgiving, just for him to tell you, “Them white folks don’t want you to eat with them.”
These are only a fraction of the stories I could tell. Imagine all of the stories millions black men and women could tell today.
Imagine being a black man and being ridiculed and belittled by police, by your boss, by your white neighbor. treated less than human, in front of your own children who don’t understand the systematic racism that you encounter.
And you are helpless to fight it. You have to “stay in your place.” You can’t speak up.
If you think the world still doesn’t look at us differently, let me tell you: I have a CHI (Concealed Handgun License), and I could open carry. If I walked into Walmart with a rifle strapped to my back, the cops would be called. White men open carry regularly – not an eye batted.
Have you every had to tell your black son where to put his hands when he gets pulled over and to let the officer know he are unarmed?
Some of y’all get excited about your kids going off to college, traveling the world, getting jobs ANYWHERE. That worries the hell out of me. I don’t get the privilege to get excited for my kids — I just get to worry.
The only reason I’m posting this is because I need y’all to understand. I have tons of white friends. I have white family members. But I really think that some don’t understand the experiences that we go through. They make assumptions that our life is great and happy and everyone is nice to us. I’ve heard the sideways comments from people and either they think it doesn’t bother me, or they make the comment of “But you’re not like other black guys.“ What does THAT mean??
THIS IS OUR EVERYDAY REALITY!
This impacts me personally not because of my experiences that I have had or will have, but because of the experiences that my children will have. Racism is only around today because it keeps being reinforced and taught throughout the generations. And now, it’s my kids’ turns to encounter it. And it INFURIATES ME.
What if George Floyd was Bryan. Or our classmates, or me????
Like I was told at the police academy: Just because it happens in a big town, don’t think it can’t happen in your small piece of the world.
Would you still sit back silent? Would we just be a hashtag?
Would you be complaining about protestors and rioting … or would you march for me? Would you actually act? Would you vote differently? Would you not make assumptions? Would you still grasp your purse or lock your doors when we walk by? Would we still get an interview, the job, or a promotion?
Would you stand next to us?
And, does it have to be someone you know for you to GET IT!?
Are you mad at the protesters? Be mad that y’all haven’t spoken up in the names of my sons. Be mad at the systematic racism that is still plagues the every day life of POC.
If we keep going this way, if Y’ALL DONT SPEAK UP and make SYSTEMATIC CHANGES, then it very well really might BE one of us.
Or maybe that’s it: You don’t want it to change. And THAT is the real problem.
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After Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968, peaceful protests turned into riots and from April though mid-summer, this nation was washed over by the largest wave of social unrest since the Civil War.
Today, same racial song, second verse.
The slow-motion murder of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by four police officers — coming on the heels of the killing of several black Americans by law enforcement officers (and in one case by “vigilantes”)— has ignited violent protests in more than 140 cities in the U.S., and even in foreign countries.
Since 1968, there have been remarkable changes in the overall racial landscape in America: The most visible wrinkle in a racial snapshot of the U.S.in the last 50 years was the election the first black president 12 years ago.
Now, today, we’re right back to 1968, where distrust and fear of the police by a large segment of this nation’s population is rampant and fear and loathing is turning to rage and violence.
But, unlike the reactions of those trying to quell the unrest in 1968, some individual officers and even entire police departments are reducing the anger level of protestors by JOINING them in kneeling in honoring the life of Floyd and other victims of unnecessary police violence.
President Trump could learn something from these officers.
The president can be defined by many of his absurd and detrimental actions as the nation’s CEO; you either like him or you don’t, there is no middle ground.
However, his absence in the current framework of nationwide protests and violence, the absence of empathy, his absolute refusal to take time to try and calm the nation in this time of double crises (pandemic and coast-to-coast protests) is an abdication of his duties as president.
The fact he is tweeting about his confounded MAGA crew as “liking blacks…liking African Americans” is proof of how he views blacks, i.e., they are not part of MAGA congregation, and, thus, not part of HIS vision of America.
For more than two decades, the Republican Party has made it a priority to work to create a bridge of understanding with minorities, knowing those voting blocs are growing in numbers.
All that work, all the money burned in that effort has been wasted due to the callous and prejudiced actions of the Man from MAGA.
Trump’s chaotic handling of the pandemic response and his clueless response to the nationwide protests is proof-positive of his abject ignorance of what drives the majority of people in this country to get up every day and create opportunities for personal and professional growth.
He is, in a phrase, a wounded president, laid low by his constant lying, woeful management style, dearth of patience and his inability to comprehend the importance of briefings on important domestic and foreign issues.
The president claims to be a “stable genius” but his ignorance of history, the Constitution, his duty to all citizens (not just members of the MAGA cult) and how his knee-jerk reactions affect not just Trump World by the global community, prove that he is a spoiled, rich bully.
Trump claims to be a Christian but displays no Christian values; he came to power to “drain the swamp”, but his “swamp” is deeper, more murky and more corrupt than any administration since the Watergate era of Richard Nixon and that of Warren G. Harding’s Teapot Dome scandal.
He should never have been elected. His re-election would ensure the continued decline of this nation on all fronts, foreign and domestic.
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