And Another Thing

I just finished reading Recitatif by Toni Morrison, a short story in which there are two main characters.  One is black and one is white.  Who is which is never identified, leaving the reader to figure it out.  I wrote a review of it for Good Reads and another book group I belong to but I had further thoughts about it that I wanted to pursue in my blog and journal.  This is the review I wrote:

I’ve been wanting to read a book by Toni Morrison, especially The Bluest Eye which has gone on a list of banned books in some states.  A lot of really good books are being banned, and I want to make sure I read them all.  Anyway, I saw Recitatif offered by an E-book list and, as usual, found a copy at my local very accommodating library.

I didn’t realize that Recitatif was a short story.  There was a lengthy introduction by Zadie Smith.  To be honest, I think Smith’s essay was longer than the short story itself.  I appreciated the insights into Toni Morrison, but I am a bit annoyed that the essay gave away the whole story before I got to it.  I wish she’d just left it at the information about Morrison and the fact that the reader doesn’t know which of the two main characters are black or white.  That’s all I needed to know to begin the story.

That we don’t know who is of which race challenges all of the fallacies about “others” we may have grown up with.  The story leaves the reader guessing.  Can you guess by social status or by dress or eating habits or religious beliefs?  There’s no right answer and none is given.  It’s up to the reader to decide.  I couldn’t decide; it was a fifty-fifty coin toss and I didn’t want to make a pick that way.  Smith’s essay was a big reason why I couldn’t make up my mind.

It's an awesome short story.  Please read it.  If you get a version with the introduction by Zadie Smith, take my advice and read the story first.  Then read the introduction for Smith’s analysis of it.  She provides a really clear case why a reader would decide one character was Black, the other white.  I now have The Bluest Eye requested from my trusty library.

My thoughts now:

One of the very enlightening pieces of the introduction by Zadie Smith had to do with an address Toni Morrison gave at Howard University way back in 1995.  She prefaced it by listing the 10 steps leading to oppression.  When I read the steps, it made me think of Nazi Germany and how Jewish people were demonized.  You know what, though?  It applies here, too, in the good old USA and not just with the MAGAs.

After reading those steps, think about the 1619 project and slavery.  I wrote about this in an earlier entry.  When the slave population began to outnumber whites, the slave owners began to fear an uprising. Slaves became the enemy, step 1.  Slaves were marginalized and referred to by derogatory names, step 2.  Get help from governing bodies to pass laws to control slaves, step 3.  Abolitionists were often discredited, mocked, and event attacked, Steps 4-5.  I can’t think of any example of step 6.  Slaves were thought to be dumb and animalistic and that view was spread, step 7.  Step 8 might be quarantining slaves to the owner’s property and making them live in slave quarters.  Step 9, allowing small celebrations every now and then, dancing, singing, playing musical instruments.  Step 10, silence?  Well, slavery was the south’s “peculiar institute”.  Does that count?

That’s most likely where it all began in this country.  White supremacists continued to hold these views through Reconstruction and on into the Jim Crow era.  Things began to change with Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 and the Civil Rights movement in the late 50s-mid ‘60s.

Blacks aren’t the only people demonized.  There’s been hatred, terrorism, and racism directed toward Catholics, people of the Jewish faith, women, people of color and the LGBTQIA community.  See what’s happening today with the MAGA movement:

White supremacists fear “other” groups because they see they aren’t the dominant group anymore.  All these groups become “the enemy”.  That’s step 1.

Step 2.  Name calling and verbal abuse of “others”: blacks are called the n-word; immigrants and Americans born of immigrants are told “go back to where you came from”; antisemitism; nasty names and physical attacks on members of the LGBTQIA.  TFG is especially expert at this.

3.  Fox news and other ultra-conservative white supremacist media eagerly support and spread negative misinformation about “others”. 

4.  Get rid of any dissenters.  Example: CNN’s been purging many of its correspondents and journalists who aren’t leaning right.  CNN used to disseminate balanced news but has since been bought out by an ultra-right wing conservative billionaire.

5.  Discredit dissenters.  See what happened to Rep. Liz Cheney, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, and most if not, all GOP that disagreed with TFG or voted for his impeachment.

6.  Recruit members of “others” to join them; this way they couldn’t possibly be racist

7.  Label “others” with criminal behavior.  Immigrants from the south were labelled as “rapists” and criminals.  People who support teaching critical race theory in schools and other social programs are ridiculed by conservatives as being “woke”.  Some are accused of “grooming” or otherwise warping the minds & bodies of minors.   Social media platforms dedicated to white supremacist groups run rampant and spread all kinds of lies and myths about “others” and The Big Lie

8.  TFG and other white supremacist/ultra conservatives sue the heck out of state & federal government agencies and corporations that support laws they don’t like.  As for a “special holding area”: that’s where immigrants crossing the border are placed.  And what do you suppose indigenous reservations are?

9.  Reward loyalty; persecute dissention.  How about TFG’s latest offer to pardon and support all his treasonous MAGA/white supremacist pals that stormed Congress, attacked law enforcement, and terrorized everyone?  Way to raise a well-armed militant private army.

10.  For years and years, conservatives have been plotting on taking over our democracy.  It all started during the Nixon administration with the Lewis Powell memo.  Conservatives have the patience of spiders and have created quite the intricate webs.  We’re only beginning to uncover all the plotting that’s been going on the last 50 years.

Scary, isn’t it?

One more thought to go: read this article.

 

 

 

The Speech

DEFENDING AMERICA’S SOUL

My husband and I watched President Biden’s speech last night at Constitution Hall in Philadelphia.  It is so fitting he chose this location to speak, and we are so glad he is finally coming out with a non-sugar-coated truth:  our democracy is in danger from the fascist words and actions of tRump and MAGAs.  I sure hope other politicians are inspired to begin speaking out against the evil pervading our country.  We must begin to make our opposition to the nefarious actions by MAGAs much more vocally and frequently.

He tried to delineate most Repubs from those he was actually targeting.  He said that they didn’t agree with what TFG (tRump) and the MAGA legislators were doing but were afraid to speak out.  I suppose they were thinking of the career-ended representatives and/or senators who publicly disagreed with TFG or voted to impeach him.  Those politicians were “primaried” and others just simply retired, knowing they were going to lose because of TFG’s vengeful nature and power.  Those are the honorable Repubs, to be honest.  The ones who sit on their hands and say nothing are complicit with their silence.  Sorry, that’s the way I feel.

President Biden referred several times to saving America’s soul and mentioned God once.  I am spiritual and connected with that.  But even those who are atheist, agnostic, or of another religion can certainly relate to the soul.  Scientifically, it would be what makes us uniquely us.  It’s our life force, which is why once we’re gone, we look so phony lying on display in a coffin.  I have been to wakes many times in my lifetime and never have any of my loved ones looked like themselves.  That’s because their energy has gone, leaving an empty shell.

Well, America has a soul too.  It’s made up of us all and right now, it’s infected with disease.  The only way to save it is to respond and react to the disease.  If America was a body, we would take her to the doctor to check her over.  If the infection was a bad one or spreading, we’d give her an antibiotic and help her get well.  America is not a single human body though.  America is all of us.  I refer to America as “her”, thinking of the Statue of Liberty, welcoming everyone to the country.

It's not enough to grumble about what the MAGAs have been doing.  Too many were afraid of retaliation or disapproval to say anything even as the infection began to spread.  Think of an infected appendix about to rupture.  Wait too long to see the surgeon and it ruptures, sending poison all through what used to be a healthier body.  We’re just about at that point and so it was so important that President Biden step in now and speak up.  Hopefully it was in time to stop the rupture and irrevocable poisoning of America.

TFG and MAGAs are throwing a big hissy fit about the speech.  They are whining that the President has declared war on conservatives (no, he didn’t) and that he is being divisive.  They seem to be conveniently forgetful that they are the masters of divisiveness.  They are either incredibly ignorant or clever hypocrites.

I don’t want to make it seem like all we need to do is vote out the MAGAs.  America’s soul needs more TLC because of the injuries done to Blacks, indigenous peoples, and people of different colors, faiths or sexualities/gender.  If the MAGAs/GQPers take control, those injustices will become greater.  Every time there’s been strides forward, it’s been with a Democratic administration under Presidents Roosevelt, Kennedy/Johnson, and Obama.

There’s a lot of possibilities for the Biden administration and not just with the legislations that were passed this year.  Just yesterday, I read that sixty high schools in this country will be offering advanced placement African-American studies—but obviously not in the repressive, fascist red states.  This is a wonderful idea and I would hope that eventually all high schools would implement it.  Younger children would benefit from learning a truthful history, one that was taught age-appropriately.

Now is the time to speak up and keep speaking up.  MAGAs are eager to talk about rioting in the streets if TFG is charged or convicted for any of the crimes he’s committed.  Don’t fear the violence.  Fear the danger that silence causes.  Hiding won’t stop the violence of bad people.  So be vocal.  Contact your representatives and let them know how you feel.  Volunteer for phone banks to elect Democrats.  Above all, VOTE.  For the sake of our country, VOTE.