Friday, January 20, 2017

It's a momentous day...

... it must be
Because my kid finally grew a pair of ovaries, and agreed to watch Star Wars with me (she's always said she's too scared, but today today she said "I want to watch it, I'm not scared.")
And now I sit in bed, and hear downstairs, the sound of my husband peeling packing tape to laminate the sign my kid made for tomorrow's march. Tomorrow, my family marches.

She made the sign. This will be her third rally since election night. She will know that this is what we do, this is one of the things we do as part of this great democratic experiment. We will march, as her parents marched, and their parents, and theirs, and we will turn this thing around.

Ask her where the power comes from... she might just tell you that the power comes from the people when they stick together.

I'm not sure why tonight, of all nights, she finally decided she was willing to watch star wars, but I'm glad we got another venue to talk about rebellions and #goodtrouble.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

#goodtrouble

I had the good fortune to attend two rallies this weekend, and both with my family members. I am truly fortunate to have been raised by giants. Whenever I think of marching, I think of my grandfather, and I want my daughters to also carry on their responsibilities in this great democratic experiment.


I had the good fortune to get to hear John Lewis speak a few years ago when his graphic novel "March" was coming out, and I have been sitting on my copy of the first volume, trying to figure out when is the right age to introduce my kid to it. Of course, that all feels like it's being sped up now, and I've been trying to help her understand "good trouble" as he's described it. At six, she's been told in her schooling to respect authority and police and the law, but here we are, now trying to help her understand that trusting the police is iffy and based on privilege, justice is more important than law, and that sometimes you have to do the things you've been told not to do, in order to bend the arc.




I have to say, that watching this tool attack John Lewis, and say he's "all talk, no action" is just shocking to me, and on the weekend of MLK day! I would expect him to attack John Lewis maybe for disagreement, obstruction even, but... NO ACTION?!?!? THIS MAN? Arrested 40 times during the civil rights movement in the 60's (skull fractured-- he kept going). Arrested 5 times as a congresscritter. WHAT THE FUCK COUNTS AS ACTION TRUMP? Oh, nevermind, it just made me feel very nicki minaj.

Donald, what's action?




Saturday, we went to a pro-immigrant rally in San Jose, and ran into several people we know, which was wonderful. It's good to go, and find out you are not alone. It's even better to to see the strength of the people when they come together, and the support of local city and state representatives. This rally seemed better prepared than a few of the others I've been to in the recent months, which is a great sign, because we are going to need it.

I love an immigrant. You probably do, too, but that's not the point. I think we get a little sidetracked when we try to leverage people's heartstrings... "you should care about women's rights because you have mothers and sisters and daughters" "you should want gays to be able to get married because Gary in accounting is gay and you like him." I mean, great, we love Gary in accounting, but even if you don't, you should care about people you don't even know. Period.

Sunday was a healthcare rally in San Francisco. I wasn't going to go, on account of it being far, and me having a family to take care of and all, but my mom wanted to go, and our neighbors were going and they have a 2 year old and are pregnant with another, so I have no good excuse. I'm glad we went. What a great lineup, and what a beautiful day! Pelosi, Eshoo, Zofgren, a bunch of others, and Keith Ellison. Ellison was great: I think he even got me excited about being ready for sit-ins (let's all go get arrested!). Again I am so god damn lucky to come from a line of rabble rousers ( I think this is what we used to call involved citizens?). My mother is her father's daughter, and I hope my kids carry this on. I just hope we leave them enough of a world to be able to fight in.







What you yell matters

Whew, so that's two rallies I've gone to that haven't used the "LOVE TRUMPS HATE" chant that I hate so much.

I want to yell and shake my fists as much as the rest of you, but can we just retire that one, please?

Firstly, I dislike "Love trumps hate" because "trump" is the active verb in that sentence, and, you'll forgive me for never wanting mr. drumpf active verbing anything, ever?

But, worse, it sounds a hell of a lot like an imperative (a lot of march chants are imperatives) and NOOOO I will NOT love Trump's hate. I do not love his hate, you should not love his hate. I really detest Trump's hate, and that's why we're all here.

So please, let's just not with the stupid "love trumps hate!" I won't love his fucking hate.

Stick to the classics, willya? Like:

NO TRUMP
NO KKK
NO FASCISTS USA