This Week's Opening Thought: September 8, 2025

This week's opening thought: Y'all's president spent his weekend openly declaring war on multicultural cities in the United States that he has a personal issue with under the guise of "combatting crime." He's done it in D.C. and now he's declaring war on other cities to the point that he happily posted an AI image of himself referencing the film "Apocalypse Now" about his impending unfounded miltary occupation of Chicago, and a "fun" lil' sentence stating that "Chicago is about to find out why it's called the Department of War" with a couple of helicopter emojis for good measure.

You know, "presidential behavior."

And let us not forget that y'all's president is moving to take unfounded military action in Chicago based on false narratives that his voters have been eatin' up with a spoon about it being, and I quote, "the most dangerous place in the world." Actual data and statistics state otherwise but, you know, the president told y'all to eat it up so eat up!

Meanwhile, members of that same enthusiastic flock of voters filled up multiple town halls across the United States over the past four days, begging for relief as their president destroys their livelihoods with trade wars built upon false narratives that many of them happily gobbled up without even thinking about how anything he said to them worked. And many of those folx?

They live in regions of the United States with the most poverty and highest crime rates.

And now their farms and businesses will likely not make it to next summer, as all of their usual trade partners from other countries have moved on because their president-elect made any negotiations evaporate.

The most ridiculous part of it all is these loyalists, even as they are destroyed at the hands of their beloved dictator, still think everything going on and everything their president is pushing for is OK, because their president is gonna "own the libs" and "make this country great again" while he's also owning them on multiple levels. They still think that they are going to come out of this unscathed, even as their bodies are dragged through thorns and brambles. They somehow think that their loyalty will yield dividends and they'll somehow be spared of the wrath of ignorant policies and executive orders because they voted for him. Most of their cities will likely be occupied with a military presence at some point as their president normalizes oppressing the citizenry "for their own good." Their healthcare options will cease to exist, and their elected officials will ghost them and ignore them. And yet, after all of that, they will continue to cling on to their choices and ultimately cease to exist themselves. But it'll be "their America again," right?

Man, being a white supremacist bigot comes with quite the heavy price tag.

Too bad we've all gotta pay the price when a lot of us ain't even purchase anything and a whole chunk of folx aren't even willing to split the bill or get a separate check.

This Week's Opening Thought: September 2, 2025

This week’s opening thought: If you’ve lived a life of unearned privilege and white privilege where you have gone out of your way to endanger others, especially vulnerable and mistreated folx, and have ultimately harmed and impacted so many people and communities over your years on this planet that millions of people are anxiously waiting for you to pass away so they can celebrate your demise like it’s Mardi Gras or Carnival?

Well, I’m no expert on what benchmarks or actions someone should undertake to have their legacy viewed as one that people would consider as living a good life, but I know enough to say that if people are giddy about you possibly being sick and dying because you have spent a significant portion of your life using your privilege to be a clear, present, and hate-filled danger to their lives and the lives of those they care about, then you probably haven’t lived a good life.

But again, I’m no expert.

I just know a few things.

[Image description: A black man can be seen smiling at the camera with their right hand near the right side of their face. The man’s right pointer finger is tapping on his right temple, symbolizing that he’s somewhat bragging about his intelligence.]

On Conversations with the Brainwashed Bigoted Masses

So...y'all's president has unveiled the next stage of the plan to make the United States a Christian, racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, ableist, autocratic hellscape that criminalizes poverty while increasing said poverty tenfold and making homelessness illegal by declaring a state of emergency in the nation's capital and unleashing the National Guard on a citizenry and city that has seen a dramatic decrease in violent crime and crime in general. And he's doing this with no evidence of any kind of crime escalation that would deem this move necessary, because the United States Supreme Court has ensured that being President has no checks and balances, allowing y'all's president to do what he wants to all of us with no repercussions.

Yet some of y'all are still supporting this man and these decisions because, for some reason, you think he's not launching a pilot program for a nationwide police state where everyone faces a state of constant danger for just existing. Hell, some of y'all have already been increasingly harmed by the decisions y'all's president has made and the impacts they have had on entire communities across the country, including rural communities. Some of y'all have lost jobs, businesses, farms, family members, healthcare options, and basic human rights in the past seven months due to the kazillion hateful executive orders and bills passed by y'all's president and his cronies. Yet some of y'all are still supporting this man and his decisions. Some of y'all have gone as far as to say things like, "I know he didn't mean to hurt me. I know he'll make things better" while he continues making things worse for you. And some of y'all are still out here talkin' about we need to keep the lines of communication open with folx and take care of folx who voted for and support this ongoing harm while being harmed themselves and believing they aren't intentionally being harmed.

With all of this in mind, my question is simple: what conversation is there left for us to have?

I refuse to continue putting energy into fruitless conversations with people brainwashed by their own hatred and bigotry.

I refuse to consort with FAFO people who force us all to find out, even those of us who weren't effin' around and knew what effin' around would do to all of us.

I'm done trying to help people "see the light" when they'd prefer to look directly into the sun and act like their corneas aren't being fried.

It's not worth it, y'all. There's no benefit to continuing a directionless discourse with the folx who are embracing their dictator because they're never going to hear you or believe the facts you present that show them how in danger they truly are.

Reserve your energy for fighting for those who need your help. It's clear who and what we need to fight for - and it ain't a fanbase for a wannabe dictator who are cool with a dictator oppressing us all while believing they'll eventually be deemed special and spared of his wrath.

On The Spectrum and Fake Empathy

So...let me speak on this one time, mainly because I realized that I've talked about it everywhere else but here:

If you heard what RFK Jr. said about autism and you didn't find yourself infuriated, scared, and ready to stand up for people in your life and community, it says a lot about how you're deciding to be "present" in the moment right now.

It speaks volumes about how performative your "allyship" is in moments of grave danger. It is an indictment of how you view Black and Brown lives. It's shows how you view people with disabilities. And it wipes away you showing up at those Hands Off protests a few weekends ago.

Now, some of y'all are gonna read that and be like, "It can't simultaneously be all of that, Pharoah." But, you see, it can and is ALL OF THAT. Past precedent, established over hundreds of years, has shown us time and again that it is all of those things. Those of you who say it can't be are choosing to be highly uneducated in the ways of oppression and refuse to see how picking and choosing what you care about to feed your "good person" complex is a key component of white supremacist culture. And real talk?

Ain't nobody got time for your apathy and discomfort with things you feel don't impact your life poorly disguised as empathy. Lives are at stake.

History has shown us that when dangerous, uneducated people are given power and control over any aspect of the populace, they more often than not create an even more dangerous set of precedents than they inherited. RFK Jr. and the deceased brain worm chillin' in his head should've never been given dominion over the health and well-being of the country, but because 60% of men of pallor, 53% of women of pallor, and 50% of Latine and Hispanic men voted for y'all's president, we now have a man who staged a bear homicide out here saying inaccurate, derisive, and dangerous statements about autism that will endanger the lives of millions of people.

I refuse to reiterate anything that man and his parelaphostrongylus tenuis said, but we should all be able to see that his hateful words masquerading as "expert" and "empathic" language are going to cause so much unnecessary harm, sterotyping, and prejudice for millions of people. He clearly doesn't understand autism in any way, shape, or form, yet here we are with the safety of millions in the hands of a person who refuses to believe decades of legitimate research and thinks he knows something when he has shown us time and again he knows nothing.

This transcends race, gender identities, socioeconomic statuses, and any other protected or non-protected class you might want to throw into the pot. But you know what?

EVERY FORM OF OPPRESSION DOES.

But y'all don't hear me, though.

And the wild thing is that most of y'all have autistic folx in your lives.

Just as wild is the fact that a whole grip of y'all are undiagnosed autistic folx who voted for what's about to happen.

Well, may the odds be forever in your favor, with yo' fake ass.

This Week's Opening Thought: November 25, 2024

This week’s opening thought?

Image description: A picture of James and Florida Evans from the classic sitcom Good Times. They are giving someone the side-eye. Above them are the words, “How I’m looking at folks talking about now is the time to come together.”

THIS 👏🏾 RIGHT 👏🏾 HERE. 👏🏾

THIS ENERGY.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now. While there will always be some truth in that statement, and we might all be about to set sail on what appears to be the same raggedy, dangerous boat, let’s get one thing clear: we are not in the same boat right now.

Some of y'all are in the dingy while the rest of us are still paddling in lifeboats tied to the back of the dingy. Y'all just opted to add more sharks and leopards to the waters and arm them with scuba gear and jet packs.

Don’t get it twisted: we are NOT in this together.

So many of us are looking at losing our rights, the little bit of safety we have, our family and friends, and possibly our lives because so many of y’all chose white supremacy, racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, misogyny, misogynoir and what you thought would be personal safety over the lives of others.

You don’t get to choose hate and oppression for others, realize you've been duped and will be harmed too because of your choices, and that those you decided to harm don't want anything to do with you; then insist now is the time for togetherness and get angry when those you’ve decided to harm don’t wanna get in the boat with you.

You chose for us not to come together.

You’re getting what you wanted.