On "No Kings" and Actually Doing Something

So there was a big ol' national "No Kings" rally this past weekend. And you know what? Some respect for people who showed up, marched, made signs, and wanted to be in solidarity with like-minded people who aren't ok with *gestures wildly* EVERYTHING happening in the United States right now. You wanted to stand up and be counted among those who are against authoritarianism, hate, and oppression. Cool. But real talk? I always find myself asking people who attend these mass protests the same questions.

What organizations had a hand in organizing your local protest? Did you get information from those orgs for how you can volunteer time, money, supplies, or other resources to their causes?

How many resource guides and informational pamphlets, booklets, or flyers did you get at the rally? Have you scanned those documents in and shared them with others?

Did you leave the "No Kings" rally with some idea of how you'd like to focus your time and energy for the next few months or year? Did you leave with a clear idea of something you can dive into right now, something tangible, that you can take action with today?

Now, when I ask questions like this, of course certain people *cough* people of pallor *cough* get agitated. Evidently, I'm a hater or "not down for the cause" when I ask people what their plans are post-flashy social media-worthy rally experience. But guess what? That's the actual purpose of a protest rally, dude.

Seriously.

The purpose of a protest rally is to gather in solidarity while learning about tangible ways you can actively engage in social activism and do your part in addressing human rights issues in your community.

You know, volunteering your time and energy and putting your skills to use on particular issues in your community.

You know, ACTUAL community organizing and engagement.

You know, not just spending 10 hours on a sign that'll sit in your closet gathering dust until the next "No Kings" rally where you'll rinse and repeat with no tangible actions taken on your part to be actively engaged in pursuing change.

But OK, I guess I'm a hater for expecting substance over style.

C'est la vie.

On Tylenol, Charlatans, and Sheep

If you believe y'all's president, RFK, Jr. (a man that sounds like he eats a carton of lit cigarettes a day, staged a bear homicide in Central Park, spouts conspiracy theories, and has a dead brainworm in his head from eating suspicious meat), and Dr. Oz (a failed daytime talk show host who doesn't currently have a medical license that shills "miracle drugs" and was so unelectable that y'all's president had to give him a job) when they tell you, without proof, that autism is linked to acetaminophen usage during pregnancy?

I'mma go out on a limb and guess that you were takin' them horse pills at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Y'all's president literally told pregnant folx to, and I quote, "tough it out," ignore their doctors, and not use Tylenol (he had to start calling acetaminophen 'Tylenol' during the press conference because he couldn't pronounce acetaminophen) when they are experiencing fevers and pain during pregancy because, you know, lets endanger the mother and child with an uncontained fever.

Y'all's president also advocated for breaking up childhood vaccinations and pushing back the hepatitis B shot for newborns — a public health strategy that has brought the infection in children to the brink of elimination — to age 12 because, and I quote, "it’s too much liquid, too many different things are going into that baby.” Oh, and he also said hepatitis B was strictly an STI. I'll let you do with that what you will.

SIGH.

Autism is a natural part of human variation and genetics, but you know, why acknowledge facts when you can vilify and target millions of people?

This "medical advice" comes from a bunch of folx with zero credibility, no evidence, no studies, and no supporting research of any kind.

Nothing these folx said yesterday is valid.

This is just another rung on the ladder of this administration's concentrated attack on folx with autism.

This is just another rung on the ladder of this administration's mission to hurt as many people as possible.

But a whole bunch of y'all are still gonna champion this administration's destruction of all of us, ignore facts and science, and "do your part" by following directions, possibly doing medical harm to yourselves, and mistreating the folx in your life with autism by regurgitating this nonsense in their presence because that's what you think a "real (U.S.) American" would do, regardless of the facts presented to you.

Facepalm.

On Rep. Nicole Collier, Texas, Democrats, and Black Women on Sabbatical

Rep. Nicole Collier, a Black woman and representative in the Texas legislature, was locked in a Texas state House Chamber overnight with her colleagues Gene Wu and Vince Perez because she and her colleagues rightfully refused to sign what was essentially a permission slip to be shadowed and surveilled by Texas law enforcement until Texas Republicans got their opportunity to vote on approving gerrymandering tactics that will render any non-Republican votes in the state damn near invalid in every election from now on.

If she signed the illegal "permission slip," Rep. Nicole would’ve had officers posted outside her Capitol office and following her everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. Democrats in Texas have shared that these police "escorts" tailed them on their Monday evening drives back to their homes after spending much of the day posted in their offices and watching their every move. One Texas Dem said their "escort" went with them for a staff lunch and even down the hallway with them for restroom breaks.

Rep. Nicole Collier was one of only three Texas Democrat who refused to sign. And her colleagues who didn't sign? Also from communities of color. Not a Representative of pallor to be found.

And so Rep. Nicole sat in a House Chamber with two of her melanated colleagues, overnight, standing up for her constituents who live in a majority-Black district that will be silenced with this hateful gerrymandering. Meanwhile, her other Democratic House colleagues, who were happily soaking in the cheers when they landed back in Texas after leaving the state in protest, signed the "permission slips" and left her and her colleagues who are actually about something to sit there, overnight, in a locked room. None of them thought she, Gene, and Vince were worth standing in solidarity with in the face of hate and oppression. Nope. They signed their "permission slips" and moved on with their day. I'm sure Rep. Nicole had things in her life she wanted to get back to and loved ones she wanted to be with last night, but she understood what her presence means for her constituents. So she was 10 toes down while her colleagues bounced.

Later, you can guarantee her colleagues will act like they respect Rep. Nicole's "bravery" before going right back to inactivity and virtue signalling. And in a week it'll be like none of this ever happened. Texas Dems, Dems in general, will learn nothing and apply nothing to how they operate in the future or how they show up for Black women and Black communities.

Rinse and repeat.

And y'all wonder why Black women are on an indefinite sabbatical from saving y'all.

On Saving Those Not Worthy of Your Save

It's the year of someone's Lord 2025 and a whole bunch of y'all are still out here trying to "get through to" hateful, willfully ignorant bigots, hoping to convert them.

Oh, Bro, Broseph, Bro-ham.

Oh, Sister, Sis, Ma'am.

Oh, my friend, my compadre, my peoples.

Y'all gotta stop with the tryin' to save these people.

To paraphrase light-skinned Jermaine, they don't wanna be saved.

People are defending Diddy and Tory Lanez out here, and trying to shame and ridicule those they've harmed. You can't save anybody that deeply enmeshed in that level of misogynoir.

There's a whole bunch of [redacted] people mad that Black folx are happy about the Nottaway Plantation roasting 'til the meat fell off the bone who have the audacity to call it a historical landmark and say tasteless nonsense like, "How would you feel if Auschwitz burned down like this?" You think you're gonna save someone who spews something so simultaneously anti-Black and anti-semetic that it'll make your head spin off of your neck?

There are millions of people who have spent the last 12 years voting for this current administration, knowing damn well what they were backing. Many of them are gleeful about the harm y'all's president and his Dollar General Batman villains are doing to communities across this country, including their own communities. You can't save somebody whose hatred for others is so powerful that they're willing to fall on their own sword multiple times to justify their hatred.

The past 12+ years in this country have made it clear - explicitly clear - that it's time to leave some people behind. If you haven't pivoted already, consider this your notice to turn around and walk away from hateful people and their unflinching toxicity. Focus your energies on the folx in your life and community that need support, because those are the folx who deserve your help and care.

Everybody ain't worth savin', regardless of their relation or degrees of separation from you and yours.

Hate doesn't deserve so much of your love.

Day 5

I've lived in my house since 2012. I have lived around the same neighbors, give or take a few, since 2012. There's a woman of pallor whose house I've walked by at least 100 times in the twelve years I've lived in my neighborhood, whether on the way to doing something or just taking a stroll. This woman of pallor has seen me at least fifty times in those twelve years and has never spoken a word to me. Today, while pulling my garbage and recycling cans from the curb and into my backyard, this woman of pallor talked to me for the first time.

And she questioned me as if she was planning to call ICE to knock on my door.

This woman asked me my name, my MIDDLE NAME, if I owned my home or had children.

This woman has never said two words to me in twelve years.

She asked me all these questions and then tried to frame it with, "Well, you can never be certain. It's dangerous out here, so it's good to know who's in your neighborhood. With all this 'woke' stuff? You just never know. It wasn't like that in my day." She also tried to invoke her religious convictions, giving me her information and stating that God would not let her ask all these questions without introducing herself.

I guess Elizabeth Ann wanted me to know the name of the person likely to call ICE on me so I know who to thank when they show up at my door.

It's day five of what 60% of cis males of pallor and 53% of cis women of pallor voted for.

Five f'n days.

Five. Of 1,460.

Thanks, people of pallor. I'm feeling great. I've watched people I know and care about sit in fear with millions of other citizens over the past five days; as the world unravels around them, their rights and privileges begin to disappear, and the current administration does everything it can to deport them or threaten their existence. And now I get the added icing on the cake of being extra vigilant about having three forms of identification on my person whenever I leave my home while being prepared to defend people being harmed by hateful people and ICE agents.

Are we great again yet? Let me know when we're great again so I can circle the day on my calendar.