December 1, 2024
Oh goodness, the goings on with Trump’s cabinet nominations are shocking. Or are they? Sadly, I’ve lost my shock response. Now it’s just defeatism and resignation. Kash Patel to head the FBI. What will become of us?
Well.
This is a text I sent my friend, James Morris, in response to an article he wrote about how the black community has seen this rerun before. He said, “We oppressed people always survive; that’s why we’re chilling this time.”
This whole thing makes me sick. I know that you have faith that things will right themselves. I hope you’re right. Your community has a lot more experience with this kind of stuff than I do. It’s all been rather a shock to my system. I assumed that I would just continue on with my white privilege existence indefinitely. I never thought my freedom would be threatened. I never thought that democracy might end. I went through life pretty naïvely for a very long time. You have never had that privilege. Let me just tell you, it is really fucking nice. It’s nice not to have to worry about your safety and your comfort. And I’ve had that most of my life. I still have it. Things haven’t completely fallen apart yet. I do worry about losing my income and my insurance. And I wonder how far I would take my resistance. If I were threatened with the loss of my Social Security income, would I still stand up against injustice? Or would I cave and be silent? I’ve always wondered that about people who are willing to die for their beliefs. I mean, it’s probably pretty far-fetched for me to even consider that it’s a possibility for me. But I just do not want to be one of those people like the Germans who turned and looked the other way when the Nazis came. I don’t want to come down on the wrong side of history. I don’t want to fail the people who need me to use my voice.