Siege - Days 81, 82, 83 and 84

I suspect some of the protesters in DC who were gassed and shot at earlier in the week found this weekend's influx of protests by families with kids a little... disconcerting.  "This is not a carnival!" someone cried out to the ice cream eaters.  Because it is hard to think that protesters with kids and ice creams are taking the serious situation quite as seriously.

But, you know, I think having the protests reinforced by ordinary families, regular usually-stay-home people is significant.  A good sign.  For one thing, police and National Guards are less likely to resort to violence with kids in the crowd.  Also I LOVE that the president's playpen fencing is getting decorated by the protesters, turning into a shrine to justice, to black lives, to freedom of assembly.  (Assembling a collage? Go for it!)  Most important, it means that regular not-too-political folks are taking this to heart.  All this in the middle of a pandemic remember - there may be ice cream carts, but this is still taken seriously.

Wholesale public acceptance - that is how change happens.

The abuse of authority and power has to change.  

And, as grim as I felt when I wrote my last post, I think I still managed to underestimate the built-in racism and violence in the police culture generally.  The police have to be reformed massively.  Reconsidered from the ground up.  No more George Floyds should die.

So vote that way!  Vote local.  Vote national.

Siege - Days 78, 79, and 80

I labeled this coronavirus diary "Siege" as a joke - me in my comfy home bunker, waiting out a pandemic, cuddling books for comfort, talking theater and tomatoes.

Well, by Day 80, it's got Real.

A cop forces his knee into George Floyd's neck.  Mr. Floyd is black so, though it's broad daylight with witnesses with cameras pleading for his life, hey! this is a Bad Cop.  He has power, he misuses it.

Politicians find ways to depress the other party's votes - gerrymandering, crowded polling stations in the middle of a pandemic, no mail-in ballots, whatever.  Pressing a knee on "the Black vote," "the Latino vote," the anyone-who-might-not-vote-for-us vote. They have power, they misuse it.

A little man in a white house wants foreigners out of the country - close airports! kids in cages! -  wants riches - tax cuts! emoluments! - wants to walk across a street to use a church as a backdrop - force out protesters!  (Because it was a little embarrassing when news got out about him hiding in the basement from protesters - "inspecting" his bunker.)  This little man needs to be seen "dominating" the "battlespace." *  So he has legal, peaceful protesters - and clergy handing out water bottles - forced out using horses, tear gas, and rubber bullets.  He has power, he misuses it. 

(He doesn't use that Bible though.  Is he holding it right?  He looks uncomfortable, more used to grabbing other things maybe.)

But it's not just wielders of power who betray our country.  How about those who don't use it?  Representatives who could vote to impeach but don't.  (The little man huddles in his bunker, possibly clutching his tie for comfort, because you see that in videos all the time, a weird pet-the-cat gesture he has.)  Or senators who don't vote to remove him.  (Probably clutching that tie in his basement, possibly sucking his thumb, certainly watching Fox News "riot" footage and ab-so-lutely tweeting.)  They have power, they won't risk it. 

There is no excuse.

These people have to GO.  

Today George Floyd is buried.  There seems to be a real investigation starting of his death. The bravest of the Vichy politicians are starting to explain how hard it is to support the little man cowering in the basement of his white house.  Maybe they will grow a little braver.  Nothing will change the man himself - he is so very little... there's no room. 

But there's room outside!  People protest in front of their White House.  We-the-People are marching all around the country, chanting, and sometimes dancing a little, sometimes talking police into kneeling with them.  (There are many good police and good soldiers, kneeling or not, just as there are politicians dedicated to the people.  And good - if rather dim - people with privilege are figuring things out at last.)  Those of us who can't march are talking, writing, explaining, calling...  And if you aren't, start now.

Let's fire all the people who misuse power - every cop, politician, general, president.  Let's make our more perfect union NOW - one that's just no matter the color of your skin.  No matter your gender or orientation or religion or wealth.  

Let's dump ALL the damn tea in the harbor.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peacefully to assemble, and to petition the Government for the redress of grievances.  

*Those words alone betray any oath to uphold the Constitution - damn that Defense Secretary anyway.  And he's not the worst of 'em.  By far.

Siege - Days 76 and 77

Terrible times...

The country is literally in flames.  Long time, deeply embedded injustices are scraped bare by the cruelties of this modern presidency, the danger of the pandemic, the sharp economic drop that falls unevenly across our society.

Hard to know what to do.

Voting in a president who won't cower in the White House bunker seems like a good start.

The White House - elevation by Benjamin Henry Latrobe.  Pre-bunker.

November is a long, long way off though...