Say No To Every Nazi

Right now in Trump's America, there are Nazi-like mobs marching for their right to rid America of "defectives" and "take back their country." They wear no hoods or cloaks. They fly Confederate flags high, they call for violence and preach freedom. These are people who view the concept of diversity and equal rights as a direct threat to them, personally. "You will not replace us! Jews will not replace us" is their paranoid battle cry. They chant "If it ain't white, it ain't right." If you're not with them, you're traitors and "libtards." They are proud Republicans, and they have heard the "Make America Great Again" message loud and clear.

A few things. First: Hey guys? No one is trying to replace you. That's weird. Your heads are not right. You sound insane. You look crazy. What kind of choice is this to make for yourself? For America? Secondly, no, there's no "both sides" to the issue of white supremacy. We do not have a "difference of opinion." A "difference of opinion" is like "Cilantro tastes like soap." Not "Kill All Blacks and Jews." Are you fucking nuts?

Charlottesville

This past weekend they came to Charlottesville. They came to march against freedom, in the name of freedom. They came brandishing torches and waving the flag of both the Nazi party and the Confederates who fought against American values. They honor those Confederates as their patriarchal forebears whose segregationist traditions they seek to revive and strengthen, violently if necessary. They came with torches and battle cries and they claim they are fighting for their "rights" which extend to mean "kill Jews" and "kill black people" and by the way, they believe they should have the "right" to incite this kind of violence completely free of consequence. They call themselves white nationalists. The press calls them Alt-Right. Mr. Trump has obliquely suggested that there are "many sides" to the unfolding story that led us skidding sideways into August 2017.

Boston

These toxic torch-bearing individuals claim they're coming to Boston next weekend. Boston, as much trouble as we still have here with race relations, always gears up. This city I call home does have big problems, but the difference is that we, as a community, strive to do better.

It's Monday. A whole new wave of anger, fear and disappointment has been surging all weekend. Right now, people are canceling plans so that we can gather at the Boston Common again on Saturday, August 19th. Now I need to get a Sharpie and write my mom's phone number on my damn arm again, so they can notify her in case something happens to me. I gotta go back down there again and say "no" to Nazis, because enough people voted for Donald Fucking Trump. True to his barely coherent bloviating barrage of campaign promises, here we are barely six months into this fiasco of a presidency and I have to go out to the Boston Common next weekend and literally object to Nazis. Nazis. Future grandkids (yours or not) will ask about what is happening right now. They'll look up from their 6th grade homework and ask their elders what it was like going to school in 2017, they'll ask what it was like before Trump. They'll have questions. They'll ask what you thought, what you did, how you voted. Are you paying attention to what you think, what you are doing, and how you are voting? What's your story?

Divided States of America

I keep thinking about a friend I used to have. We are no longer friends. This friend "broke up with me" on Facebook. Her parting shot was a reply to my outrageous suggestion that America can do better. She wrote, "Supporting a racist doesn't mean a person is a racist."  To which I replied, "In my opinion, it does." I stand by my words. So too did she, and that was the end of things. This is the "divided America" that we now navigate, where people are convinced that this is all fine. This is all okay, you can reasonably support outwardly vocal racists without taking on the mantle of responsibility for their violence. Where it's reasonable to shrug and say "oh well" when Nazis literally march for the right to exterminate non-whites and Jews, and anyone who says "hey, that's really not cool, like, at all" becomes the unreasonable one, the "libtard." I miss her. But here's the thing. If you're not against racism, then you're for it. This is no time to shrug and say "oh well." Nobody gets to sit this one out.

Gear up, friends.

Pick a side.

It's on.∎

Boston always gears up.
(Photo: Uncredited from the Women's March Boston site)

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