All sorts of things happened in the news in the last few weeks.
In my birthplace – Bronx, NY – ICE agents shot a Dominican man from point blank range in the driver’s seat of his car while his five-year-old son watched from the backseat.
Mark Dec. 3 on your calendar because on that day there will be a livestream military execution by firing squad of a mass shooter courtesy of former Fox weekend host and current U.S. Department of Defense War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who hyped the event as a “no brainer” so people “understand there are serious consequences for this type of thing.”
And at a political campaign rally in Nebraska, our sitting POTUS claimed his war with Iran was about keeping our country safe, noting “they can take out a city,” and then suggesting without a beat that, “They can take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.”
That’s a lot of violence, a lot of guns and a lot of faux flex that reads insane when it’s meant to register strong.
No wonder so many rich celebrities are leaving town for Europe.
Bye Ellen. Bye Aaron Paul.
George Clooney, we said bye years ago. (Note: That was years before you wrote that Joe Biden-must-go editorial, right?).
Bye Rosie, even though you are here to visit.
So long Richard Gere, Eva Longoria, Robin Wright, Courtney Love, James Cameron, Lena Dunham, Pam Anderson and Janet Jackson.
It’s not a value judgment. Mostly. I get it.
Though I do sometimes wonder how it is that the great, and Ohio-born, Timothy Snyder writes a brilliant book called On Tyranny, a sort of primer on what happens when a would-be authoritarian tries to take over a country and what to do in order to stop it, left in the middle of all this to move to Canada.
Well, I suppose it’s not easy to have that much of a public target on your back.
Said this gay, Jewish, blue-city-living Los Angeleno.
Who is staying put to the bitter end in these United States.
Even though both sets of my grandparents left Poland, Russia and Hungary back in the early and mid-twentieth centuries when they felt their countries of origin might no longer be safe for them.
I guess I’ve always done best when I’ve been pissed off at someone or something.
Observed this writer, blogger big mouth, college professor at a liberal arts school whose home campus was just voted the top most welcoming college to LGBTQ+ students on the east coast.
As a mentor of mine once commented when I momentarily hesitated writing truthfully about my family in a screenplay years ago,
In for a penny, in for a pound.
And boy, was she right. Because in the end you have to stand your ground and fight for something, especially when the battle is still winnable.
I’m not a particularly courageous person. In fact, I’m pretty much a coward. And I detest violence in real life.
Except for that one time in the early nineties.
AIDS was still raging and I almost got into a fist fight with a gay Republican who furiously cornered the late gay hero Randy Shilts, author And The Band Played On, the seminal story of that pandemic, at a gay political event.
Right after Randy picked up his heroism award, this mofo relentlessly chastised him for having the temerity to publicly insult Ronald Reagan in his acceptance speech for idly sitting by on his ass and not doing more to save the lives of thousands of our friends, among others, who were literally dying in the streets.
It took three people to hold me back from decking him (Note: The only and only time I raised my fists to anyone) and the calm words of my boyfriend (Note: Now husband) to talk me down mid-lunge as I was cursing him out.
See, one of my dearest friends was in a New York City hospital dying at the time so I was in no mood for lies and bullsh-t and platitudes.
Of course, this is not the type of fighting or courage I am advocating for at the moment.
But what I am advocating for is the rage.
At the injustice, the racism, the barbarism and the lies being served to the American public like endless portions of Soylent Green we are required to eat up each day of the week. (Note: Look it up here)
That might be tempting when food is so expensive, but it will only poison us all in the end.
What we need to do is to not lose heart and channel those feelings to the ballot box.
Meaning VOTE.
If millions of us refuse to be cowed by a poison that demands we literally swallow each other whole and accept the status quo, or worse, I am convinced we will make it through this chapter of the American hunger games.
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Because we will drastically outnumber all of those in the minority so determined to cheat us out of our values and value.
And if they still try to do it, or attempt any other funny business?
Well, there are plenty of other bold and brave strategies to employ.
But you can’t take to the streets if you no longer live here.
Jason Mraz – “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” + “Frank D. Fixer”
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