2021 days without incident: 0. One night walking out of a bar with 2 friends back in my college days a guy aggressively came up to us asking for money. "Sorry, we have none" we replied in our extremely chemically altered state. We were all poor college students and spent whatever loose change we had scrounged up in said bar. Then in slow motion we all leaned in to watch him reach down to his ankle for a weapon. As he pulled out his knife nothing really changed. We didn't suddenly have money in our pockets. We weren't suddenly sober enough to either jump him or run away. Between the 4 of us in this situation, that knife was likely the object with the most monetary value of all the possessions between us and yet it had zero value in getting any of us what we needed at that moment. 2 of the knife dude's buddies came sprinting by and yelled "come on, we got to get out of here!"
i have had so many different thoughts in the days since Comrade Pussy Grabber's Fascist Army of the Idiotic stormed America's Capital. Today, my thoughts keep circling back to that surreal incident in college. America knew this was going to happen. The move was telegraphed. But like my inebriated friends and i, all anyone did was lean in to watch. 45 and his cohort have been calling on their easily mislead cult of caucasians to storm Washington for years now (stand back and stand by), building up the rhetoric to new heights since his political loss. How many conversations have each of us had prophesizing how the Orange Chode was most definitely going to try and hold on to office even if he lost the election and how he would call on his racist army of followers to violently converge on DC? The very people planning those actions where having the conversations out in the open of social media. This was not a spark that suddenly burst into flame catching us off guard, this was a slow motion glacier floating towards our ship over a 4 year period.
More so, how can you be surprised when the fucking shit was scheduled and the paperwork was all turned in!!! When i participated in the March For Science down in that exact same area, early in this anti-thought administration's term, there were police and military EVERYWHERE! They were taking away all sticks, post, and anything we were using to hold up signs claiming these objects could be used as weapons. People who rode their bikes down had their helmets confiscated for safety concerns. Security forces were ever-present, aggressive, and going through every single one of our bags before we could even enter the area. We were scientists! Billy Nye was our big speaker and music performances were jazz by Jon Batiste and ?uestlove. AND WE WERE CONFRONTED AND CONTAINED BY A MILITERIZZED FORCE.
Meanwhile, this week a group meets with overtly violent rhetoric, has the current president speak lies to the multitude and calls them to action. Within the crowd many walk unencumbered as they wave flags affixed to large poles, clubs, and bats. All carrying backpacks. Many wearing helmets. Where was the militarized security forces us scientists experienced? Let's rewind, not as far back as the March for Science, but only to this summer's events. Black Lives Matter protests in that same area had even more of a militarized presence than the scientists did. Riot shields, batons, tear gas, bean bags and rubber bullets all were used freely and aggressively on peaceful protesters. America's forces didn't lose the keys to their weapon closets. They didn't forget how to deal with crowds. This is how they were formed to function.
Minority officers on hand have come forward to inform how members of the fascist capital attackers were flashing their badges and military ID's unabashedly to try and gain favor in going wherever they wanted to do whatever they wanted. Video after video shows the terrorists taking selfies with white police officers. Videos show white officers moving the barricades out of the way to help the terrorists gain better access. Officers were giving terrorists directions to key Democrat Congressional Offices. The institutional racism deeply imbedded within our police forces and within our military are not hidden in any way. They are instead paraded around and flaunted. The terrorists that stormed the capital where gently guided out, helped down the stairs, and led away. Juxtapose that to peaceful BLM protesters sitting in the street being beaten and thrown into the back of police vehicles. The millennials of our country are not the entitled ones, it is the white racists who have been the institutionally entitled class since the very birth of America.
My biggest fear is not that they will try something like this again, because they most certainly will - white supremists are the most significant and active terrorist threat in America. My fear is that an intellectually inebriated America will ultimately continue to do nothings, like a couple of beyond drunk college kids getting mugged. i already see it in statements by politicians, by members of the press, and by friends saying things like "this is not what America is". This is EXACTLY what America is. A failure of acknowledging what actually goes on in this country has resulted in a delusion that allows this behavior to continue largely unchallenged. "We must all come together as one" is another bullshit talking point for those with privilege. Uniting with evil doesn't make it go away, it empowers it in knowing that its actions will go ultimately unpunished. There is no common ground with racism. There is no common ground with fascism. These are not opinions worthy of your respect, these are ideals that are to be forcefully opposed in every setting and in every incarnation.
The worst thing we can do is NOTHING. These shitgibbons videoed everything: track them down, identify them, hold them accountable. 45 NEEDS to be impeached for his actions instigating these events. Take away his lifetime of Secret Service protection, take away his lifetime paycheck and travel expense budget. It doesn't matter how many days he has left in office, he has a lifetime of benefits that America should not be supplying for him. Defund the police and shift funding to the actual social services needed for most of the calls that go into 911. Defund the military, a fraction of the overinflated budget could be used to change how America operates. Single digit percentages of the military budget diverted could provide college for all. Similar amounts could provide healthcare for all. $800 billion dollars for national security didn't stop the Chode Commandos from taking over the capital. Time to start putting some of that money to use building a better world for everyone.
Life is not a spectator's event. Get in it. You never know what's tucked in that dude's sock.
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