WTF 11/13/2024

No time for despair…  

I was pursuing various internet sites when I came across a piece which held some words that reminded me once upon a time, not all that long ago… during my lifetime, in fact… that we Americans (in general) were a very patriarchal, white and racist society… and… in many ways haven’t change all that much through the years from that white supremacy ideocracy considering the results of our just completed presidential election in which “we” Americans just elected Donald Trump to be our president for the (supposedly) next four years.

At some point prior to his becoming president Lyndon Johnson was doing some politicking in Tennessee with a staff that included some young guy by the name of Bill Moyer. As Johnson’s entourage were going between one place to another to meet and  glad hand (and twist arms if needed) local honchos they saw some very ugly racial words scrawled on signs that had been displayed for what was most likely the local white population “just” intimidating the local Black folks.  

Later that night, after all the potential schmoozing and glad-handing business had been consummated  and it was time to chill and Johnson and his peeps were all settled, is when Moyers says Johnson brought up the signs they had seen and said, “I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it.  If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

Again…  It is still very much with us.

I’m not going to delve into the two worlds Johnson’s political, and most probably personal, career, went through and who evolved into except to quote from an MSNBC article… “Lyndon Johnson was a civil rights hero. But also a racist,” where the author opens the piece by declaring: “Lyndon Johnson used the word a lot.” The word Johnson was wont to use so very easily, both before and after he was president, was… “n****r.”

But just as an aside…

Adam Serwer, the article’s author, provides ample proof of the truth of Johnson’s use of racially tone language, as well as the political irony of LBJ’s use of this epithet, throughout Johnson’s career. An irony most evident due to the fact that without Jonson’s being the impetus, up front publicly and more brazenly behind the scenes, the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act would not have been passed, at least not when those acts were originally passed and enacted. And Black folks would have been left in the lurch (again) then for who knows how much longer they would have had to wait for America’s very white politicians to pass and enact laws that guaranteed Blacks the same rights to justice and opportunity that supposedly every white American citizen already possessed without question.

But the same thinking and tactics that the racists used back in the 1950’s and ‘60s to entice white people to cast their ballots for politicians who promised to keep their communities “safe and white,”  was also used as part of Trump’s reelection campaign.

The difference being that instead of the issue being that Black people were taking away white jobs and threatening white people’s personal safety and welfare, it’s now the hordes of immigrants coming into the country, poisoning America’s blood and taking away American jobs while being a deadly and criminal threat to America’s personal safety and welfare… including the safety and welfare of their cats and dogs.

I’m not going to sugar coat the present situation the U.S. faces with Trump at the head of the class. But…

Think things are pretty sad right now? The economy sucks? (Which it isn’t, that’s just another Trump lie) Prices are exorbitantly high? Housing is limited and the ability to own a home is at best difficult and pretty nigh onto being impossible for a fair number of we the people? That taxes are unfair, and any breaks favor the rich? Women’s rights, and maybe most importantly among those rights being a women’s right to choose, are several jeopardized and limited? 

As it was once commonly said in the past so many years ago… “Hold onto your hats; you ain’t seen nothing yet!”

The future for we the people in America, and in particular the next four years, ain’t going to be pretty and is going to involve a lot of belt tightening for our wallets and waist lines. But I’m here to say that here and now is not the time for despair. Maybe for some serious hand wringing, head banging and/or tears… but… it ain’t the end of the world and giving up. Really, it’s not.

We progressives, liberals and moderates have faced troubled times before in this country’s history when all looked bleak for Americas’ fulfilling its promise of justice and liberty for all but somehow we have always preserved. Took the conservatives and fascists best blows, both economically and socially. Maybe we were stunned, had to take a knee and regroup but we have always come back. And come back with a renewed strength and vigor and resolve. Stronger and bolder. To fight for what is rightfully ours… the right of every person living in America to be free from want and need and now that their rights are as secured as the rights of the richest man living in the United States of America.  

“I have never been in despair about the world. Enraged. I’ve been enraged by the world, but never despair. I cannot afford despair… you can’t tell the children there is no hope.” (James Baldwin)

We cannot afford being so in despair and desperate that we lose sight of the ultimate goal that we should be, need to be, struggling and striving to attain…  that everyone in this country has a life that is economically secure, a place safe place to live and our welfare and health is always fully ensured.

Angry? Pissed off? Enraged? Yes, but under control. We need to not lose sight of our ultimate purpose due to our resentment, anger and, yeah, for some of us a festering hate.  

One must say Yes to life and embrace it whenever it is found — and it is found in terrible places; nevertheless, there it is.

For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have.

The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out. ~James Baldwin

Let’s hold onto one another… both figuratively, and when appropriate literally. Keep the faith. Don’t give in to despair or thinking things are hopeless. It’s not time and things are not.

And together we can and will live to see another day… a day where finally peace and justice for all is once again the goal of the land regardless of what Trump and his oligarchic cronies try to do this country and its people.. regardless of . their race, color, ethnicity, sex or faith or non-faith.

Another thousand words…