Haven’t written anything in a while, mostly because I was just too bummed out. Filled with an ongoing sense of ennui brought about by the endless onslaught of instability filling our national discourse making those of us with any sense of decency feeling as though the abolitionist movement never was. That we would be forced to start all over again against the undercurrent of racism that came roaring back to the surface with Donald Trump and his “good” Nazis. In 2018. It strains belief.
As a white man, I will never be able to appreciate what it must feel like to have to worry about being pulled over for “driving while black” each and every time I pull out of the garage. I will never be able to truly appreciate the black experience in America or being Latino with a president calling out Latino immigrants for being “rapists.” I might try, and I might think I can sympathize and even empathize with black and Latino Americans, but I really can’t. Not fully. Not after growing up wrapped in the arms of white privilege.
Just when I was about to step off the cliff and into the eternal abyss the Ford Motor Company did something that was noble and right. They came out in support of black athletes being allowed their freedom of expression. The good folks at Ford own the Detroit Lions, by the way, so this was no small gesture – particularly on top of what Nike did with their continued support of Colin Kaepernick, which boosted Nike’s online sales by more than thirty percent.
Suddenly I was feeling not great, but something at least approaching good, again. I mean it’s really something when you feel like giving thanks for a week-long memorial service, only because it provided a pause from the relentless madness emanating from the White House. A temporary return to civic decency provided by the funeral of American hero, John McCain. A man who may have been the last good Republican standing.
However, as it turned out this new-found flicker of decency promising to light the fire of hope didn’t stop there. It kept burning with Bob Woodward’s book, followed closely by a gut-spilling op-ed in the New York Times, telling us all that there are still adults keeping an eye on things at the White House. That yes, our commander in chief might be a freaking loon, but that there are patriotic Americans working behind the scenes to make sure the Donald doesn’t fly into a rage and do something really, really stupid – beyond his normal stupidity – because his nanny showed up late for work and consequently failed to provide him with a clean nappy for his shiny giant heiny.
Thank you, Ford. Thank you, Nike. Thank you, New York Times. Thanks to all those nameless patriots who stand for civil rights and against racial injustice. Thanks to all those nameless bureaucrats who daily, stand between Donald J. Trump and the potential annihilation of the Republic. Thank God and the founders, for our free press.
What an interesting coalition this is turning out to be, American corporate capitalists joining forces with pro-athlete civil rights protesters, the FBI and unnamed behind-the-scenes patriots in the man-child president’s inner-circle supported by a free press.
To be sure, Ford and Nike never would have taken the positions they adopted without first conducting enough market research to ensure that what they were doing wouldn’t cripple their bottom lines. So what? The point, is that instead of playing it safe, they did it. Additionally, their research surely convinced them that there are more of their customers out there who want us to work out our problems than to continue denying and failing to deal with the ongoing problem of racism in America.
Hang on, a resolution is coming. A big blue wave that will wash over the fat blubbering man-child lying on the floor of the Oval Office, banging his fists into the carpet and flailing his fat feet, trying hard to pronounce actual words as he throws his latest tantrum for being unloved, unappreciated and misunderstood. For in his mind, he is the only one that matters. The one and only one. Therein lies the real danger. And his party does nothing. If this fact alone doesn’t motivate you to throw these Republican bums out in November, then you will deserve nothing less than the economic ruin and assorted chaos that is sure to follow. Vote. We are so much better than this.