Robin — I am still reeling a bit from reading this. I mean — you are not ancient, and so this must have happened in the 1970s or early 80s — and in school we were taught the KKK was “a thing of the past,” pre-WWII. What strikes me again and again is how carefully the U.S. projected one narrative to the world, while so many lived with realities others had long moved past. And yes — they made sure many citizens remained unaware that elsewhere, human rights, civic rights, women’s rights, queer rights had already been enshrined — or were on their way to being. Your story is chilling — and necessary to tell. It matters that it is heard.
The US is still projecting a narrative that is untrue. I think that part is getting worse.
I believe the incident I wrote about would have been about 1988 or 89? I think I was 10 or 11 years old. It still feels surreal. I grew up watching movies where the good guy always punched Nazi's too, and look where we are today.
Yeah I was grated a look backstage in those past months I've be active here, what I saw was not at all pretty. And yes I agree, it will get much worse on all fronts before it gets better. 1988/89 that was around the fall of the Berlin Wall, I was already 21/22. It does sound surreal because it isn't the U.S. I encountered during my many travels between 1986 and 2012. Not even when I stayed for 4 months studying and travelling in 1997. Yet California is certainly different from Indiana.
How frightening to have seen that as a kid. Even more so to know that it wasn’t as long ago as we’d been led to believe. Of course, we now have ICE, masks replacing the pointy hoods and guns replacing torches.
When I moved out of Indiana (I was in high school), and I told people I met that if I'd stayed there I would have died, they also didn't believe that part. But I believed it.
Oof. Yes. And no. I think it's easier for me to want to stay given that I live in a very liberal bubble on the west coast. But I'm also a visible, out trans man living at a time when the government is actively silencing and erasing us. I could leave. It's possible. My wife's family all lives in Ireland, and we could make a home there. But... this is also my country. This is my home, and I still love so much of it, including all of the people here who cannot leave. We shouldn't have to. I guess it's just really complicated.
Ooooph. Cyclones come in many guises. Even here in progressive New England, there are Confederate flags flying in my town, and plenty of signs of unstable "weather fronts" that could collide at any moment. I've constantly got my eyes on the horizon for that Hefty-bag green. Thanks for sharing this, Robin. Feeling it.
Sadly, you are right. Witness the confrontation that Trump orchestrated yesterday in Los Angeles. They are going to make this a day after day occurrence until we forget what we used to have.
I think I need to take issue with my own comment after re=reading it. Yes, we have to remember the freedoms "we used to have". But that's not enough. Many things have changed since those "used to be" times. What we have to focus on is what we want to have moving forward. I had wonderful freedoms as a kid but then also ran into "polite society" (as they like to call themselves) as I grew up. Most of us interacting on this and other sites, if we had been adults 'back then' would be in MUCH worse shape than we are now. We really need to stay focused on how we want to remake the world so that when our kids (generically speaking) are our age they won't be facing the difficulties as we are now. We really ARE needing to remake our world so that those kids like us will live in a world where they do not have to struggle like we still are. We need to recreate a world where kids like us will be "normal" (not like boring normal but more like being Irish or tall or short or a good dancer kind of 'normal' but special in our own way - and therefore prized for having a different perspective on life that just enriches the whole.) The kind of world we would like to be reborn into as we are.
Dennis, I don't think the correction was terribly necessary, but it's also nice to see your fuller range of thinking on this. And I agree with you. We have enjoyed many freedoms, but not nearly enough. There has been progress, but we need more. We've made long strides toward equality, but we're still so far behind.
Authoritarianism functions best when it desensitizes us and makes us forget WHY we care.
Robin — I am still reeling a bit from reading this. I mean — you are not ancient, and so this must have happened in the 1970s or early 80s — and in school we were taught the KKK was “a thing of the past,” pre-WWII. What strikes me again and again is how carefully the U.S. projected one narrative to the world, while so many lived with realities others had long moved past. And yes — they made sure many citizens remained unaware that elsewhere, human rights, civic rights, women’s rights, queer rights had already been enshrined — or were on their way to being. Your story is chilling — and necessary to tell. It matters that it is heard.
The US is still projecting a narrative that is untrue. I think that part is getting worse.
I believe the incident I wrote about would have been about 1988 or 89? I think I was 10 or 11 years old. It still feels surreal. I grew up watching movies where the good guy always punched Nazi's too, and look where we are today.
Yeah I was grated a look backstage in those past months I've be active here, what I saw was not at all pretty. And yes I agree, it will get much worse on all fronts before it gets better. 1988/89 that was around the fall of the Berlin Wall, I was already 21/22. It does sound surreal because it isn't the U.S. I encountered during my many travels between 1986 and 2012. Not even when I stayed for 4 months studying and travelling in 1997. Yet California is certainly different from Indiana.
How frightening to have seen that as a kid. Even more so to know that it wasn’t as long ago as we’d been led to believe. Of course, we now have ICE, masks replacing the pointy hoods and guns replacing torches.
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
When I moved out of Indiana (I was in high school), and I told people I met that if I'd stayed there I would have died, they also didn't believe that part. But I believed it.
Now is it time to move out of the United States? Asking as a Canadian observer.
Oof. Yes. And no. I think it's easier for me to want to stay given that I live in a very liberal bubble on the west coast. But I'm also a visible, out trans man living at a time when the government is actively silencing and erasing us. I could leave. It's possible. My wife's family all lives in Ireland, and we could make a home there. But... this is also my country. This is my home, and I still love so much of it, including all of the people here who cannot leave. We shouldn't have to. I guess it's just really complicated.
Extremely complicated. I respect that. And I’m sorry that this is even the situation, incomprehensible to me.
Ooooph. Cyclones come in many guises. Even here in progressive New England, there are Confederate flags flying in my town, and plenty of signs of unstable "weather fronts" that could collide at any moment. I've constantly got my eyes on the horizon for that Hefty-bag green. Thanks for sharing this, Robin. Feeling it.
Sadly, you are right. Witness the confrontation that Trump orchestrated yesterday in Los Angeles. They are going to make this a day after day occurrence until we forget what we used to have.
I think I need to take issue with my own comment after re=reading it. Yes, we have to remember the freedoms "we used to have". But that's not enough. Many things have changed since those "used to be" times. What we have to focus on is what we want to have moving forward. I had wonderful freedoms as a kid but then also ran into "polite society" (as they like to call themselves) as I grew up. Most of us interacting on this and other sites, if we had been adults 'back then' would be in MUCH worse shape than we are now. We really need to stay focused on how we want to remake the world so that when our kids (generically speaking) are our age they won't be facing the difficulties as we are now. We really ARE needing to remake our world so that those kids like us will live in a world where they do not have to struggle like we still are. We need to recreate a world where kids like us will be "normal" (not like boring normal but more like being Irish or tall or short or a good dancer kind of 'normal' but special in our own way - and therefore prized for having a different perspective on life that just enriches the whole.) The kind of world we would like to be reborn into as we are.
Dennis, I don't think the correction was terribly necessary, but it's also nice to see your fuller range of thinking on this. And I agree with you. We have enjoyed many freedoms, but not nearly enough. There has been progress, but we need more. We've made long strides toward equality, but we're still so far behind.
Authoritarianism functions best when it desensitizes us and makes us forget WHY we care.