We are going to need to control the narrative.
Massive protests matter.
Resistance matters.
Speaking out matters.
As I have been saying time and time again, putting a bug in the ear of your representatives - local, state and federal - matters.
Write them a letter. Give them a call. Use the Resistbot app to send them a note. Get on the Congressional Record. Be a thorn in their side, a fly in their ointment. Be the squeaky wheel.
When people take to the streets, it is the equivalent of voting. It’s a measurement of how displeased they are. It’s a temperature check of the populace for those who hold the purse strings.
But once the fires burn out and the media moves on to the next shiny object, we can’t afford to be complacent. In order for there to be any hope of being the change we want to see in the world, the protesters need to keep the fire in their belly burning. They need to keep protesting. Showing up. Getting off the couch.
There have been people posted outside the White House protesting since Mad King Donald’s coronation. That is the level of perseverance and persistence we need. We have five more months of being pissed off. At the least.
It’s no wonder the powers-that-be want the media to focus on the unruly behavior of the marchers. It’s no wonder they tend to highlight the property damage. It’s little wonder they zoom in on the hoodlums who just can’t help themselves when darkness falls or chaos reigns.
They want the country to start to recoil from the protests.
They want suburbanites to see the marchers as predominantly looters, rioters and threats.
Yet this is the level of civil unrest we need to remove the authoritarians who have seized the levers of power and, if not thwarted, will continue the steady deterioration of our rights.
Do you know how long the Montgomery Bus boycott lasted? The one Rosa Parks instigated? 382 days.
It’s fitting to me that as we near the final five months of the Insufferable Boor’s first term, the nation is roiling due to this huge pimple of racism that has been festering on the ass of America since the first slave ship docked.
It’s fitting because of birtherism and the way he fanned those flames.
It’s fitting because he called NFL players who took a knee bums and worse.
It’s fitting because he sees fine people on both sides when there is a Ku Klux Klan rally.
It’s fitting because of his flippant attitude about George Floyd in the afterlife.
It’s fitting because “his African-American” renounced him.
It’s fitting because he surrounded himself with self-styled white supremacists.
It’s fitting because the dough boy playboy, faux billionaire encouraged the mob anger that resulted in the wrongful imprisonment of the Central Park Five.
It’s fitting because he is the pustulant.
A lifetime of race-baiting, while pretending otherwise, will do that for you.
Judging by the size of the crowds outside the White House this past weekend, he did make good on one promise.
He brought us together.
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John Oliver on Rethinking police forces and explaining the phrase “Defunding the Police” in his inimitable way. Must watch - as always.
Also, We Cannot Stay Silent About George Floyd | Patriot Act