So many of my friends are hurting. It isn’t new pain, but a deepening of the wounds inflicted by the society we find ourselves in. Many are drained, worn down by the sharp, grinding edges of a harsh culture that loves the splatter of blood and violence being visited up their “fellow” Americans.
As long as it doesn’t get on them, they’re fine. They’re content to watch the carnage from their sofas, behind their gated communities, and with those situated in their echo chambers.
They have their gaslights ready and they continue to burn down #truth. They continue to erase the line between humanity and dehumanization of those they continue to “other.” Today, it’s me with my Black skin and my vagina.
Tomorrow it will be you with your X and your Z.
Just wait.
When it does happen, don’t feign surprise. Your time will arrive for the grinding, for the wearing down of your spirit, of your soul, for the erasure of your pain and the torching of your truth by gaslight.
Voting is key, but it isn’t magic. The real work starts in January 2021 and it won’t be fast. Change won’t be quick. We won’t be able to relax. There won’t be a miracle vaccine [so many people still refuse to wear masks].
I don’t have answers or inspiring words. I’m a realist. The situation is dire. Is there hope? Sure. But be real about the work ahead. Listen to Black people, BIPOC folks, trans people, women…LISTEN.
Then act.
I’m tired.
You’re tired.
I know. I get it.
No one is going to save us.
All of our heroes are dying or have died: Cummings, RBG, Morrison, Lewis
All the greats are gone.
We have to be great now.
It’s on us.
We all we got.