Bloody Sunday

 

Yesterday was the ceremonial memory service of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama. That was when peaceful protesters wanting voting rights attempted to cross what was then the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma on March 7, 1965. The police beat them bloody. It makes me sick to think about it. I was 10 on that day and completely ignorant of it.  President Biden was there yesterday and gave a speech in which he said history shouldn’t be sanitized. I am very happy he was there and gave the speech BUT…

Reverend William J. Barber II was also in Selma. He was at Brown Chapel, where John Lewis and other activists started their march across the bridge. Rev. Barber said that they all returned to Brown Chapel, which had to become a field hospital for those injured at the Bridge. The bridge has since been renamed John Lewis Bridge after the late congressman.

I was so impressed and emotionally moved by Rev. Barber. He began with a Bible verse from Hebrews which stated something like, we are not of these who shrink back. We persevere for our salvation. So he said to the people watching, “Shrinking back is not an option.  We must stand up and push forward.” He had the congregation repeat those lines a couple of times and then turn to the right and repeat those lines to their neighbors.

Two of his points stood out to me. The first was that the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965 was gutted in 2013. Congress could have restored rights taken away, but they haven’t done anything. There was an attempt by Democrats after red states tried to gut the law further but the Rethuglicans voted it down—including so-called “good” Rethugs like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

Then Rev. Barber cited the poverty statistics in the red, southern, and midwestern states. In all of those states, governors refused the expansion of Medicaid to needy families. Barber said we’re not just talking about Black, Hispanic, and indigenous populations. White people are suffering too. It takes two full-time incomes to “maybe” afford a 2-bedroom apartment.

At presidential debates, he pointed out, no one asks the candidates “What are you doing to do about poverty?” Nothing ever gets done about it, that’s true. Instead, Rethugs convince marginalized groups to vote against themselves by selling a false story “It’s the Democrats who are keeping you in this lowly Position.”

It seems like 40% of the population is struggling. If those groups (and I would include the elderly and the disabled) would come together as a voting bloc, Rev. Barber is sure there would be enough votes to choose the President and the legislators in Congress. What a concept!

But how?

That’s why Rev. Barber was having the people repeat that they have to stand up and push back. Retreat is not an option. Being tired is not an option.

I signed up for his group, Repairers of the Breach. I want to stand up and push back too.

This Is The Twilight Zone

 

I have such a case of sensory overload.

President Biden somehow got into Ukraine, an active war zone, met with President Zelenskyy, and spoke on the anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion. His speech made it pretty clear that the United States stands with and will support Ukraine. Putin will not win this time. This is major because Presidents don’t just go into a war zone where they might be injured or killed. The Ukrainians are amazingly resilient and patriotic, and I’m sure President Biden’s visit gave them a big boost. But Repubs are whining and complaining about it. They’re criticizing President Biden and are openly supporting Putin.

There are traitors running the House of Representatives. On the same day President Biden visited Ukraine, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene began advocating a “divorce” between red and blue states. That’s funny that she uses a word like divorce, where couples either happily go their own way or they fight each other forever. What MJT is talking about is not divorce. It’s succession That is treasonous. But this isn’t the first of her traitorous behavior. She’s one of those who were involved with the January 6^th insurrection. Why else would she have asked tRump for a pardon in his last few days of office?

She is sworn to uphold the Constitution. She’s in violation of that oath. No one is doing anything about it except saying “bad” to say that. Kinzinger and Cheney are the only two Repubs that have openly condemned MJT. MJT isn’t the only traitor. There are over 140 treasonous Representatives and Senators.

Why? Hello? Fourteenth Amendment? You know, the part that says a person who is a traitor can’t serve in Congress?

We’re slowly becoming more lawless, at least among the rich, mighty, and powerful.

MJT and many of her colleagues also espouse that they are christian nationalists. I absolutely insist on calling them christian with a small c because they aren’t Christian. Jimmy Carter is a Christian. He follows New Testament Jesus, who was all about welcoming immigrants, sheltering and feeding the needy, protecting children, and all-inclusive. You know, everything the Repubs are not.

These christian nationalists are dangerous. They want to declare the US a Christian nation, which is something the authors of the Constitution NEVER intended. They want to force their morals and beliefs on us and using violence is just fine with them. They are like a snowball rolling down a hill and picking up more along the way, becoming bigger and crushing. They could destroy our democracy.

Lots of people don’t agree with their mad desire to indoctrinate everyone, penchant for violence, and involvement in crazy conspiracies. The problem is that not enough people are bitching about it or trying to do anything to stop it. I write and write about it and I feel like I’m talking to myself.

You know, if Jesus was here today he’d be called either a socialist or a communist. He was all about telling people to set aside their worldly possessions to follow him. The story about feeding hundreds of people with just a few fish? Isn’t that about socialism, sharing everything with everyone?

Try discussing that idea with a christian nationalist. They’d say you were a blaspheming demon. And, yet, repeatedly, Jesus showed us he was with the poor, the sick, the hungry, the disenfranchised and loving everyone. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” “Let the children come unto me.” “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  Jesus was woke.

New Testament Jesus would not be welcome in Florida, where “woke comes to die.” He would not be welcome in Texas. Texas and Florida have both been involved in taking advantage of and mistreating immigrants by placing them on planes or buses and shipping them, without warning, to blue states. For various reasons, I don’t think he’d be welcome in any red state.

I don’t believe Jesus would approve of what some of these red states are doing to trans/LGBTQ kids and adults. I don’t believe he would approve of them forcing dishonest history on students.

Each day, I find it harder to look at even my unbiased newsletters because of the increasing stories about fascism and intolerance spreading across this country.

This is what Real Jesus was teaching: Loving God is the greatest commandment. Then, love your neighbor as you love yourself. Would you want to be treated the way Blacks, Asians, trans/LGBTQ and immigrants are being treated now in some of these states? Hell, no, you wouldn’t. You would want to be treated with respect, decency, and kindness. That’s what we’re supposed to do. Half the country isn’t doing that.

So, what is the solution? I will keep posting even if I’m just talking to myself. I will vote. I will volunteer to make calls. I will find organizations to join. I’m most interested in Rev. Barber’s.

But everyone needs to be doing these things. Too many of us are just complacent and so fascism continues to spread.

I was listening to songs from the Viet Nam era and this one really hit me today. It’s the same thing, 50+ years later.

Eve Of Destruction 

Two Good Men

 

These are two honorable men in the news right now.

Former President Jimmy Carter is 98 and has had some health issues. The Jimmy Carter Foundation announced yesterday that he is entering hospice care and prefers to live out his days at home with family. There won’t be any more hospitalizations. I love Jimmy Carter and so I’m sad, even though he’s had a full life.

Jimmy Carter is the embodiment of what it means to be a Christian. He is a kind, loving man who helped broker peace during his presidency and afterward. He and his wife Rosalyn both volunteered for Habitat for Humanity. The organization builds homes alongside low-income people who want to buy a house but can’t afford it. He and Rosalyn both were actively involved in home building into their nineties. One of my favorite pictures of Carter was after he’d taken a fall (in his nineties) and still showed up to work, black eye, and all.

Even though he had some successes as President, he’s mainly seen as ineffective. I believe it’s because he wouldn’t play Washington politics. Members of Congress didn’t like that and so it was difficult for him to get his agenda passed.  I think he wasn’t effective because he was too much a Christian and unwilling to get into the dirt with political players.  The hostage crisis in Iran was the straw that broke the camel’s back, in my opinion. He made an attempt to rescue the hostages, but the plan blew up with helicopters that crashed. He was really bashed for that.

I remember the fallout when he admitted to a reporter that yes, even though a devout Christian and happily married, he’d still “lusted in his heart.” How the critics went bonkers over that. I remember thinking, what’s the big deal? We are all human. I’m sure we all have “lusted” in our hearts over someone or something. So what? You’d have thought he’d said something catastrophic.

Compare that to the behavior of today’s “christian” nationalists. They lie, cheat, threaten, bully, and promote violence. I don’t know who they think they’re following but it sure isn’t New Testament Jesus. NT Jesus was all about feeding & caring for the poor, sick, and homeless. He was all about protecting children. He was all about inclusion, welcoming and sheltering immigrants. These “christian” nationalists seem to be all about neglect, oppression, suppression, discrimination, and corruption. They cater to the 1% of the population who are very rich and powerful.

Jimmy Carter is one of my heroes.  I am sorry to lose him because there are so few heroes left these days.  I am very proud that my first vote in a presidential race went to Jimmy Carter. I am glad I was at the inauguration and saw Jimmy Carter, hand in hand with Rosalyn, walking down the street to the Capitol instead of riding in a limousine. I never met Jimmy Carter, but I am grateful he’s been a part of my life. God bless Jimmy Carter.

Speaking of how few heroes there are out there, I also wanted to acknowledge Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. I don’t know much about him other than the fact he had such a fun, colorful campaign last year despite suffering a stroke. Recently, he checked himself into Walter Reed Hospital on the advice of his physician. He is suffering from severe depression. He is a hero because of his courage in acknowledging his depression and need for treatment.

Depression is still stigmatizing. I have had low lying depression since my teen years. It used to be called dysthymia but now is called MDD. When I began to seek treatment back in the 1970s, I kept it all secret. There was (still is) a lot of misunderstanding about depression. In those days it seemed to mean “crazy”. I don’t know if anyone remembers Sen. Thomas Eagleton or former Gov. Mike Dukakis but both suffered depressive episodes. And when that became public, their political careers tanked.

When I was working as a unit secretary in the mid-1970s, I’d become friends with my bosses. One of them noticed my upper eyelids drooped. It was a side effect of the anti-depressant I was taking. I took her into my confidence and explained. I’ll never forget the look of horror she gave me. It was like she thought I was contagious. She said, “I don’t want to know about it!”

I didn’t confide in anyone else, not for years. It wasn’t until a psychiatrist explained that it was a biological problem, not a problem of character or behavior. My brain wasn’t producing enough serotonin, dopamine, or epinephrine and so even on my “good days” my mood wouldn’t match those of others whose brains did make enough of those feel-good hormones. I didn’t have to feel ashamed and hide my dark secret.

I am also not alone. There are so many of us with depression. Some are open about it and others are not. There’s still misunderstanding, and a stigma attached to depression.

John Fetterman is a hero because he chose to do what was best for his health and not be secretive about it. By being open about his depression, we can be educated further about what it is, the different types, symptoms, and treatments. People who have depression but are suffering in silence might feel encouraged to seek help.

I can say what untreated depression feels like: imagine being down a deep, dark well with slippery sides. You can get a purchase to try and climb out of the well, but you can look up and see the sun shining. But the sunshine doesn’t bring any light into that dark well. There’s no way out. It’s all hopeless. Self-harm thoughts are intrusive.

I have a cocktail of medications I take to boost all those hormones lacking in my brain. I haven’t been down that well in years. I will have to take these meds forever in order to stay out of the well.

If that ends up being the case for Senator Fetterman, so what? It doesn’t make him weak-willed or lacking in character.  He’s one of the good guys. We should all support him and wish him well. I think he can serve our country well. Good on you, Senator Fetterman!