Life Wish #9: Detour from the darkest timeline
WE DID IT! We saved ourselves from the darkest timeline! We united and drove towards our goal, and pretty soon it’s possible we will be able to go through an entire day or more without having to be cognizant of anything the evil idiot in the White House says or does! We live to fight another day!
After a long week of blearily waiting, it felt SO DAMN GOOD to dance and sing and be ignorant in the streets when the results finally came in this weekend. As soon as I heard, I screamed out my kitchen door “OOOOOH YEAH YOU FIRED BITCH! YA FIRED! FIII-RED!!! YESSSSSS!!! BYE BITCH!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” … and then I realized that my new next door neighbors were sitting in their yard the whole time. I guess they now know who they are living next door to now!
I expected to feel better immediately, but I’m finding that it’s taking some time for my body to process all the stress of the last several w̶e̶e̶k̶s̶ m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶s̶ years. On Sunday, all my various chronic pains flared up, so I spent much of the afternoon stretching and doing yoga and bawling my eyes out, then I slept for 9½ blessed hours.
Monday, I went swimming and spent a little time outside drinking in the honey sunshine and the last of the autumn color, and with each of these little steps, I can feel my body loosening and my mind sharpening up. I’m not expecting the time between now and January 20 to be entirely peaceful or calm … but at least there’s an end in sight. There’s help on the way, starting with a coherent plan for controlling Covid-19. *Tears of joy and gratitude*
Of course we didn’t do as well as we hoped in either house of Congress, and folks are casting about for reasons why. The other night, I spoke with one dedicated friend who canvassed every weekend for the last several months in the suburbs north of Pittsburgh, trying to get a Democratic candidate elected to the PA House of Representatives, and he shared with me how difficult it was: “As soon as they find out I’m there on behalf of a Democrat, they say they could never support anyone who wants to defund the police, and they shut the door.” He was understandably frustrated after pouring so much effort in and still losing, and I get it. From one perspective, it feels like the words “Defund the Police” caused us to lose.
But the reason why people shut the door on him is not that the Democrats support defunding the police — as far as I can tell, no Democrats even ran on that platform. The words “Defund the Police” did not cause people to close the door. White supremacy did.
And if we are serious about making a world where everyone has a voice and everyone’s needs are met, we need to be so so so so vigilant about not selling out the Black and brown folks who won this victory to once again center the white Trump voter’s perspective and needs. I mean, they voted for him AGAIN — even after seeing 250,000 people die unnecessarily and infants taken away from their parents and all of it. They still chose to vote for him. They like what he is doing and want more of it.
So why on Earth would we try to appease them, instead of doubling down on our support for the multi-racial coalition of working people that brought Biden to victory? It’s asinine … but that’s white supremacy, baby. It’s not always dudes with tiki torches crying “white power” … sometimes it’s just a very subtle shift of the conversation, so that instead of talking about what can be done to support the Black and brown Democratic base, we discuss the needs and feelings of white people who hate our base. We did the same damn thing in 2016 and it’s dumb and racist and we absolutely must do better.
More and more I’m seeing that as a white lady, a huge part of my work in this revolution is to work on healing my own wounds and unlearning my own white supremacy, so I can resist the very strong urge to center myself and other white people in every damn discussion.
I’ll have more to say about this in the coming weeks, I’m sure, especially if noted woman-hating horror show John Kasich keeps running his whore mouth. But for now, let's try to savor our victory, keep this stupid coup from happening, and rest up.
Love you so much and hope you are finally getting some excellent sleep,
Madgey
PS: Just a few links since my screentime was out of control this week and maybe yours was, too?
I curated a little Instagram highlight reel of some of my favorite FDT internet content from the last few days, which I believe were probably the funnest days ever on the internet? GOD BLESS US ALL
adrienne maree brown created this beautiful video about celebrating this achievement of voting down fascism, and also reminding us to stay aware of the possible danger to come from the extreme white supremacists we just defeated. Well worth watching.
Beyoncé released a behind-the-scenes film this week about her British Vogue shoot and it’s just as dreamy as you’d expect
Sonya Renee Taylor took a road trip to see some of her famous words painted on the side of a building. So much joy!
Loved watching this video about Frida Kahlo’s belongings that were opened up in 2004, currently on display in San Francisco. Every time I engage with her work I’m stunned by how much suffering she endured, and how much art and meaning she created from it.
AOC + Jane Fonda = <3
You probably watched these already, but here’s Joe and Kamala’s speeches from Saturday night. I’m linking them here because I look forward to holding them accountable to this inclusive vision!