Unwelcome to Florida

 Once upon a time, Florida was known as the tourist state, the travel destination du jour for millions of Americans and millions more from around the world.

Those days are gone.

The NAACP has issued a travel advisory to Florida due to the state government's open hostility to teaching black history and eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Other groups who have issued travel advisories include the League of United Latin American Citizens (immigration issues) and the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida  (Don't Say Gay, among other measures).

I caution any friend who wants to move to Florida. I am scared for them and the environment they would live in.

Let's not mince words. Under DeSantis, Florida is a fascist state. His laws are designed to persecute people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, the undocumented (including harassing anyone who might even look like they could be undocumented, and those who dare to teach/preach/blog/communicate anything besides the official DeSantis line.  I wouldn't be surprised if THIS blog was flagged. The only thing that might save me is my traffic and presence is so pitiful it might escape their notice.

Should I advise people who live in Florida but are decent, and caring, to leave? It's a tough call. If there is some chance that people can retake the state, they should stay. But how do you tell somebody subject to villainous persecution that they should stay? I can't in good conscience do that.

But many are not going to be able to leave. Because of work or roots or other reasons, it is not easy to up and leave. We need to defend those people and keep speaking out.

Should we boycott Florida? For the most part, yes. But we need to be selective when we do go there. Definitely go to Disney World if you have it planned - yes, it's got all the flaws of a mega-corporation, but it has also stood up to the bullying of DeSantis.

We sometimes go to Jacksonville. We visit the bookstore Chamblin Bookmine, which is supportive and stands four-square against book bans. 

I think that is what we need. To only visit places and businesses that stand in support of the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, of those of us who are against book bans and restrictions on education.

Anyone who can help me come up with a list of those businesses that are supportive, especially places to eat, please let me know. I will repost everything I can find.

If we go to Florida, let's go to the places that need our support.

But Georgia is no sanctuary state. No, they have not enacted legislation on a level of Florida hate, but that day will come if we're not careful.

IT IS ALREADY HAPPENING where I live in Pierce and adjoining counties. Several large churches have banded together and have chosen to be unchristian in their hateful and bigoted pursuit of eliminating marginalized communities from services at our public libraries. They want to eliminate any symbol of support. They want to remove any books, clubs, mention or acknowledgment, kindness, hope, or love. The bottom line - they don't want them to exist.

It's a fight we'll probably lose due to the weakness of city and county commissioners, bending to the will of the slavering mob.

The foulness of Florida is spreading like a contagious disease.

I pray that this vile disease burns itself out and that the vaccine of truth and love proves stronger than bigotry and hate.  

There is much evil in America, but there is also much good.

Stay strong. Speak up. Pray we see it through.

The Inclusionary Oasis

 

This is a picture of Grace Epeiscopal's Reverend Kit at the Waycross/Ware County library as she donates a bicycle to a library patron in need. That kind of generosity makes me proud to be a member of Grace.  

Behind her, draped across the windows behind the library service counter, is a rainbow display meant to represent the diversity of library patrons and that all were welcome. And, yes, that includes the LGBTQ+ community.

It is a group of people that are often excluded, ignored, and, yes, demonized by some.  But that symbol lets them know that they are welcome at the library. They, and all others, are included in the library community.

Recently, one person objected to the rainbow display.  I won't go into all her objections.  The bottom line is that she wanted to exclude a group of people, at least in making them feel welcome.  To me, wanting to remove the rainbow display was just the beginning of what she would like to exclude.

She signed up to be a speaker at the next public meeting of the library board.  When this was known, the forces that wanted to stay inclusionary let the word out, and other speakers signed up, all to oppose her exclusionary point of view.  Even though they were only hours before the deadline to sign up to speak, over half a dozen signed up, including me.

By the time of the meeting, word of the meeting had gotten out.  I had never seen so many people at a library event (except Comic Book Day, which is more of a convention/festival).  They filled the room of the meeting.  They had to bring in benches.  They even had an overflow outside of the meeting room. And the crowd was overwhelmingly for inclusion!

The exclusionary woman had her say.  Again, I won't characterize all she said.  She was polite to the board, but she made it clear that her feelings were rooted in her faith, and she dropped the "indoctrination" word. There were visible groans at that monstrously inaccurate phrase.  I could write volumes on how nasty that is, but I want to stay focused.

Amazingly, when she was done, she and about a half-dozen of her friends left before she could hear any other speakers.  It was one of the rudest things I've ever seen.

Every speech given on the inclusionary side was heartfelt and compelling.  Whether members of the LGBTQ+ community or their allies, they all stressed what the open library meant to them.

I am posting my speech here mainly because it's the one I have a copy of.  This may not be word for word what I said.  I had a minute to speak and edited on the fly. Nevertheless, here it is -

When are there too few to count?

If there are only three patron families of Asian heritage, is that too few to have a display for not just May's Asian/Pacific Island Heritage Month but year-round?

If only two patron families have Native American heritage, is that too few to be welcomed, display their culture and accomplishments or their woes like the Trail of Tears?

If there is only one Jewish family, is that too few to be welcomed? Should their contributions be ignored, and no mention made of the Holocaust or one of the most important books of modern times, The Diary of Anne Frank?

The answer is clear. There is no such thing as too few. Everyone should feel welcome every day, all year round. Everyone counts—every single person.

It's interesting to note that the rainbow flag has black and white bars, representing allies of the LGBTQ community. And when you include these allies and supporters, I dare say they may very well represent the majority of the patrons walking through this library's doors.

That's interesting, but even if it was just one solitary individual, battered and badgered by some who may even consider them diseased and unwanted, who came to the library and saw the rainbow flag, knowing …Here, they are welcome…Here, they are respected…then it would be worth it.

Because in the rainbow of diversity that is our open, public library, everyone counts. Every. Single. Person.

The library board will not decide until its next meeting in October.  I hope the powers of inclusion are greater than the forces of exclusion.

We shall see.

A Tough Country to Love

 Sometimes, this is a tough country to love.

I know. Just by saying that, I have raised the ire of many and completely ruined my chances of ever running for political office. Oh, well. That ship has longed since sailed, anyways.

I've always believed in the Martin Luther King quote, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." When I was younger and more idealistic, I thought I would see that bend. Now, at 66, I'm not so sure.

Some things have gotten better. But even those steps forward have been brought with backlash and steps backward.  

I have seen some things improve. But I also have seen that the Empire always strikes back.

Voting rights are passed and guaranteed, only to see voter suppression legislation chip away and reverse progress.

Women's reproductive rights can be granted and then taken away.

And with the Supreme Court no longer supporting a right to privacy, we could see reversals in access to birth control, gay marriage, and even interracial marriage.

The very foundational creed of this country, e Pluribus Unum - out of many, one - is being challenged and abandoned as the racist, immoral, and WRONG Great Replacement Theory destroys everything meaningful about this country.

I know gun control measures alone won't solve the cultural sickness we suffer from. The promise of America is tempered by the sins of America.

We (the white Europeans) committed genocide against the original natives of this land - using our guns. We enslaved millions of people based on the color of their skin - enforcing it with our guns. Even after slavery was ended, that did not stop the brutality toward African-Americans. 

One of the significant factors behind us having more guns than people - it's not hunting. It's not even ordinary self-defense. It's not trying to take down a tyrannical government. It's FEAR. Fear that you will be treated as you have treated others.

And that's not easy to solve with simple gun control measures.  

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. 

Can you imagine if a plane were to go down because of a defective part or something that could be changed by a new safety measure, and we did nothing to change it? If we said, "Well, that's not going to solve all the plane crashes. Planes are still going to go down." Can you imagine dismissing doing anything?

Background checks won't solve all the problems. But it WILL HELP. Closing gun-show loopholes WILL HELP. Reviving the Assault Weapons Ben WILL HELP A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT.

But...the reality is that little to nothing is going to happen.

We need to control guns. We won't.

We need to reverse climate change. We won't.

We need to treat healthcare access as a human right. We won't.

We need to protect voting rights. We won't.

We need to preserve our privacy rights - women's reproductive rights, access to birth control, LGBTQ rights, and the right to marry the consenting adult WHOM YOU LOVE. I fear we won't.

The only thing that will change this is if PEOPLE vote based on these things. As long as politicians win who are in the pocket of the gun lobby, who kowtow to Christian Dominionists, who spread the fear of THE OTHER, who love fossil fuels and their money more than people, as long as they keep getting elected, then things will never change. The arc of moral justice will be delayed until nothing is left to save.

I believe in the American Creed. I believe in the melting pot. E Pluribus Unum. We are stronger when we are united, when we respect and love our diversity, and when we work to make things better for all. That is one thread of American History. And it's the thread that I love. That is what I envision when I say the pledge of allegiance - liberty and justice for all. THAT is what the flag stands for.

But there is another thread of our history - one this is vicious and mean and violent.

And right now, I fear that thread is threatening to engulf us all.

I love what my country has often struggled to represent.

I hate what it so often becomes.

You have a decision to make.

Which thread do you choose?

Choose now, while we still have a choice.

Sometimes Nightmares Come In With a Babyface: Saturday Political Soap Box 281

 I wasn't on the jury. So I did not spend days listening to the trial and then additional days mulling over the evidence with a group of my peers who did likewise.

I can't argue all the particulars of the Rittenhouse case.  I am not an attorney.  I don't know all the ins and outs of Wisconsin law. However, I believe it's one of those states with over-the-top Stand Your Ground laws that give a wide berth to self-defense claims. Especially when it comes to white defendants.

What I can address is the pattern and what this verdict means for the future.

It's clear that the defendant was allowed an extra-special additional defense attorney, one that most defendants don't get.  And that was the Judge.

The Judge's performance was one of the most heavy-handed I've ever seen, hearkening back to the worst of the Jim Crow era.  Fine.  So you don't want the prosecutors to call the victims what they were - VICTIMS.  Whatever quirk floats your boat.  But then to allow the defense to call the protestors LOOTERS? RIOTERS?  Virtually every decision he made favored the defense.  He didn't just have his thumb on the scale - he was smashing it down with both hands and both feet.

The Judge threw out the one sure-thing slam dunk charge, one that was utterly indisputable - Kyle Rittenhouse brought an illegal weapon across state lines.  SLAM! DUNK!  No analysis needed!  And the Judge would not even let the jury rule on it.

It fits the pattern of our biased criminal justice system.  If you're white, you're given a universe of reasonable doubt.  If you're rich (although well-represented by the best available right-wing attorneys - this is in general - I'm not claiming Kyle Rittenhouse is rich), you can expert attorneys who can run circles around the out-manned prosecution.  The cases where justice has fallen short are legion, and I'm afraid Ahmaud Arbery will be next.

But most importantly, it is the message that this trial has sent.  It is a message that may just be the beginning of a nightmare.  A nightmare where protestors are at constant threat of losing their lives.

The danger involved was best summed up in a written statement released by the parents of one of Rittenhouse's VICTIMS, Anthony Huber -

Today's verdict means there is no accountability for the person who murdered our son. It sends the unacceptable message that armed civilians can show up in any town, incite violence, and then use the danger they have created to justify shooting people in the street. 

You doubt this?  Go on to Facebook and look at what your right-wing friends are saying about this verdict.  Look at how they're embracing Kyle Rittenhouse as a hero.  Look at what extremist Republican Congressmen are saying about him, even wanting him to intern for them.  

This verdict is the official call to open season.  

And it's exclusively a call to the far right to invade, disrupt and commit violence in ANY PROTEST advocating anything they don't like. For example, protests of police violence, gatherings advocating climate change legislation, marches for voting rights.  Anything they don't like can be intimidated and challenged.  Do anything to them that they interpret as a threat?  Why then they're free to SHOOT and KILL you.

This only extends to far-right violence.  Others need not apply.

You doubt me?

Flip it.

Does anyone think that if a black male, armed with an illegal weapon, had gone into a crowd of right-wing protestors and fired upon anyone who he thought was threatening, or were so scared of him that they tried to take his weapon away, do you honestly believe that the trial of that individual would have the same outcome as the Rittenhouse trial?

We should all be afraid. The far-right has just been handed their permission slip.

The nightmare may have just begun.