It’s been quite the week and I’ve spent a lot of time in thoughtful contemplation. Wilson Cruz shared this video five days ago. I just came across it now. He is absolutely right on all account and it would be good if you took a couple of minutes to watch it.
Tag: politics Page 1 of 4
Fifty minutes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, I sat in my therapist’s office. It was difficult to speak. All the idioms are fitting. I felt like I’d been hit with a ton of bricks. My soul was crushed.
I wanted to share two videos from Seth Andrews, which speak to the terrible turn this country has taken. Both are insightful and thoughtful. I hope you take the time to listen and ponder what is being said.
When the Supreme Court of the United States leak of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case occurred a year ago, it was devastating for me. I held out a glimmer of hope that Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey wouldn’t be overturned, but I knew the final decision likely wasn’t going to change. It was still a debilitating gut punch when the decision became official. A right I had my entire life, a right I had exercised, was taken away from me. In that moment, half the American population were told they could not be trusted to make medical decisions for themselves.
Since that time, I’ve written many comments online. I’ve been called a murderer more times than I can remember. I’ve had kind internet strangers step in and tell forced birthers to kindly fuck off. I’ve said so myself. However, it is one thing to be called a murderer by internet strangers. It’s another when it comes from someone sitting in your living room.
Over the past few months, I’ve been thinking about a book I read a while back, “They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45.” There is an excerpt I thought I would share.
If you’re not familiar with the book, August Heckscher, the chief writer of editorials of the New York Herald Tribune, wrote the book “suggests how easy it is for human beings in any society to fall prey to a dynamic political movement, provided their lives are sufficiently insecure, frustrated or empty.”
One of the lessons my grandmother taught me was to “put your money where your mouth is.” It’s something I’ve hesitated a few times or couldn’t afford to do at the time. Over the years, I’ve provided financial assistance, protested, wrote letters, and made phone calls for issues that were important to me.
I recently sent the letter pasted below to my state representative, Brian Hardin. The bill, LB626 passed through the committee, on which he sits, and will now go to the floor for debate.
If anyone wants to use what I wrote, please feel free. As readers of this blog know, this is an important subject matter for me, one in which I never thought I’d have to be fighting. It is 2,285 words long. Regardless of whether or not Hardin listens to me, or even reads my letter, I said my peace. I truly hope the bill fails.