I’m aware it’s been a long road to the cliff our country is teetering on (or maybe we’ve tumbled over already, really).
This era of doom started with the Reagan years. I was 11 when he was elected. His policies gutted education and mental health, and did untold destruction to Black, Brown & LGTBTQ communities around the world. His Morning In America rhetoric gave racism, sexism, and homophobia a good-ol-fashioned ‘compassionate conservative’ makeover that keeps getting sneakier. Centrist Democrats today are sadly similar to Reagan-era Republicans.
9/11, though, was the true beginning of this emboldened wave of hate/fascism. The way the fear and vulnerability morphed so quickly into overtly racist fury terrified me. It turns out I had no idea how much worse it would get. Dump’s pathway to race-baiting, pussy-grabbing presidency rose from the ashes of the towers and bodies.
Whatever happens with this election, I’m sad to say I’m thinking as seriously about leaving this country as I ever have. Who knows.
On the anniversary of what used to be the most surreal day of my American life, big love to everyone navigating what is now unquestionably the strangest and scariest year of my American life. It makes 9/11 feel even further away, and not in a good way. Through it all, singing and sharing is helping me stay sane, compassionate, and maybe even a little bit hopeful. Giving it all I got.