Made a decision to subscribe to the New York Times (Sunday only) and joined the Southern Poverty Law Center. Every step I take I am taking to empower myself to withstand the onslaught of Trumpiness and make sure that the singular voice I do have is heard. Education, read and support with be my first act of Civil Disobedience. I re-read Thoreau's classic essay on the subject and rather than continue to feel stuck and sullen over the turn of events I am choosing to radicalize myself and support the kind of organizations my parents warned me about. I understand there will be a march on the Michigan's state capitol on the 21st of January from 1-3 to coincide with the Million Woman March on Washington.
All this said I am encouraging all of you to take steps to "radicalize" yourselves. Sure, wear a safety pin, but more to the point educate yourself. Read Thoreau. Read. Just read. Read a newspaper, read several. Talk among yourselves. Join organizations Your Parents warned You about. Read, Radicalize and Resist. I encourage you to take up books and papers. Read. Read histories. As George Santayana (among others) has said "Those you forget the past are condemned to repeat it". So very true. I cannot recall an election that has had me this disillusioned about the course America is to take. Certainly I was disappointed with Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes. But none of them put me in fear of the sanctity that has been the American Dream, co-opted now by the Alt-Right and this demonic vision of a resurgent white dominated culture.
My three Rs are not reduce, reuse and recycle. No, they are Read, Radicalize and Resist. Read a paper, read a book. The Trumpians are not. They will not know what has hit them when they run into an educated class in this country who refuse to repeat the mistakes of the past.
And that, my friends, is the lesson of the day.
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