The alarm thankfully woke me this morning from a nightmare that has lingered long after waking up. I say nightmare, not dream, because it was about what had happened, and was happening, to me at the order of the Republican (Fascist) White House.
I was being branded on my forehead with a capital “F” for faggot by an ICE agent. They branded the forehead so it couldn’t be hidden by a sleeve like the tattoos Nazi’s gave to they tortured and killed. As they branded me, they also let me know my house now belonged to a nice normal couple with two kids. My new place would be a small tent in a tent city by the river. It was up to me to survive as my bank accounts had also been seized and donated to the White House. I was also informed I no longer had voting rights and I was on probationary citizenship. No information provided on what probationary citizenship meant.
The gay and lesbian community was their current target because they had already disappeared anyone with a Hispanic last name, citizen or not. I had experienced this first hand because one day my husband was here and the next he was gone. As so many had experienced, I was never told where he was taken or even if he was alive, so I could never follow him to wherever they had sent him nor obtain his remains in a worst case scenario. The Black community had come after the Hispanics, down to that eighth of a drop of blood marker—my nieces and nephew had been part of that round up—having been placed in worker camps to replace the migrant population to feed the nation, essentially recreating slavery.
That is all I remember from the nightmare, which I’ll count as a blessing.
I know to some of you, this is just a silly nightmare to be shook off just as one might when dreaming about an alien invasion or a monster in the closet. If there weren’t videos and stories on the nightly news of anyone with brown or black skin being kidnapped and disappeared, I would. But in our current climate of mass apathy, the poem, First They Came, by Pastor Martin Niemöller, is ringing a bit too true right now. It rings true when one considers the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court are compromised and leans heavily, if not entirely, towards the Fascist philosophy of a master race and master in general of us all, the straight white heterosexual Christian male.
Unless one actively searches, due to the compromised Fourth Pillar (the mainstream press) and corporations, these daily atrocities might go unnoticed unless it is happening in your back yard. When profits are what drives mainstream media and corporations, it seems they are acting in their own best interest to not show what is truly happening in our great country and to be in bed with the compromised branches of government (local, state, and national). Robert Riech lays this out pretty well in one of his most recent Facebook posts. When ICE and other law enforcement agents are attacking faith leaders, and children, it pretty wells speaks to the current state of the country.
I won’t rehash my thoughts on apathy as you can read my recent post about it. But, I will rehash that it is up to all of us people of good conscience to stand up to the bullies, the authoritarians, and the Fascists, who are trying to take our freedoms and our democracy away from us.
As I always say, together we can conquer this slow creeping coup, this taking over of our nation, but to do so we MUST take action, and we MUST do it together regardless of race, ethnicity, social standing, sexual orientation, gender, religion, geographic location, and yes, even political leanings. The Republican White House, Congress, Supreme Court, and the billionaire class buying them can be stopped. History has shown this can be done in non-violent ways. It has only been done by being an active participant in civil disobedience, by not obeying in advance, by hurting them in the pocketbook and in the voting booth.
Together we can, so let’s get to it so no more loved ones are hurt, kidnapped, or disappeared in real life!
I’ve often said we all need to be involved in saving democracy in the ways which fit our lives and our comfort levels. These can be blogging, reposting on social media, calling your elected officials, letters to the editor, donating to organizations, and/or marching in the streets. Nothing is too little or too much. Here are some ways to get involved whether from the comfort of your own homes, or on the streets, over the next few weeks:
Participate in the Mass Blackout of only shopping local (no big box stores and no large companies, such as Amazon, Apple, Target, WalMart, Home Depot; only shop with cash so the credit card companies can’t collect fees) starting on Black Friday, November 28, ending on Tuesday after Cyber Monday, December 1.
Sign up for General Strike and commit to participating.
Download the app Five Calls to help let your elected officials know you are paying attention and don’t approve. Website: https://5calls.org/
Join a local group of Indivisible.
Participate in the action items of 50501: 50 Protests, 50 States, 1 Movement.
Continue to boycott companies who have bent the knee or no longer believe in equality. Don’t buy from national chains or companies, such as Target, Amazon, Tesla, Walmart, Apple, Disney and any others who are bending the knee and capitulating to authoritarianism and the billionaire class.
Write letters to your local papers expressing your disappointment and tell your stories of how the Republican administration is harming our families.
Do something, anything, peaceful to fight back!
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 