Washington, DC – The Supreme Court just reinstated affirmative action for white people. Since the equal rights debacle, finally, white folks with money are once again always at the front of every line, jumping the cue while stepping over all the less worthy and crushing the futures of any and all who might erroneously think they are equal. The founding documents assert that “all men are created equal .” That, of course, meant white men because black folks were only partly human until after the uncivil war when black men were deemed equal, at least on paper. In the next century, after much brouhaha, females were finally allowed to vote. Of course, at that time, they were to vote as instructed by their male overlords. Women are still not a protected class. Bigots who want to exclude anyone they deem unfit are definitely protected.
We celebrate what is called “Independence Day “ every year and recently have added Juneteenth as a day of celebration. Yet, rather than a gentle backslide to a time that never existed, we are being catapulted several centuries back where some “ religious” leader or other determines what, if any, rights are meted out. Currently, it’s the Roman Catholics who have a stranglehold on us since SCOTUS has six Catholic members.
It is long since that any “Christian” sect has bothered with what Jesus asked of us. Nowadays, religious leaders send their acolytes off to ban books or pass laws that take away rights long held to be in place.
Over the few days before and around Independence Day, there were multiple incidents where folks exercising their right to assembly were murdered by others exercising the only sacrosanct right, the right to bear arms. Life, liberty, and pursuing happiness are out the window. No one in this country can enjoy any of those rights because no one is any longer safe anywhere. Bullets pierce walls and windows, killing old and young in their homes. It is insanity to allow this kind of carnage. It’s madness to allow a small group of people to decide what books we can read or to re-write history to suit their preferences. We have watched as proud little boys pretending to be patriots while assaulting the capital, led by a sad version of a Don Juan or Don Corleone wannabe who is much more like Don Rickles—flooding all and sundry with information likely to end lives and make everyone on the planet less safe.
We watch as the poor and huddled masses yearning to be free are bussed from places where apparently they are not wanted, to places vilified by the sender as dens of iniquity, where there are people who will, in fact, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick and comfort the afflicted.
The history of just the last century has shown that each time the nationalist sentiment rises to overwhelm more “liberal” ideas, horrors occur. Communism and fascism, led by people who had a need to control others, led to catastrophic wars. Israel is going down that path, and its streets are sites of massive protests. When the tail wags the dog, bad things happen.
