H.E.R. is halfway to an EGOT if she gets that Oscar she was nominated for, for her contribution to the Fred Hampton movie, and I don't think she's any older than 23 in earth years.
At the same time, what I'm hoping is that those of us who are a little further along but possibly not quite so outwardly accomplished continue to make active notes of what we're NOT seeing … that nonetheless needs to be there if we're all going to move along towards the path toward a functional democracy instead of letting the recalcitrant drag us back toward autocracy (we'll get to that, because I was truly tweaked at something I saw on social media today – are racist white cops abusing their power extra hard because the breaking of the blue line at the Chauvin trial is giving them hints they might not be able to do that anymore??).
I'm personally relieved because I was privileged to get my second shot today, because I wasn't forgotten, because I didn't have to wait in line for three hours and get turned away because I “didn't have the right documentation”, as happened to a friend not in Florida (Death Santis, UGH) but in Philly – but I stay frustrated hearing SO MUCH about the export of U.S. Vaccine “surplus” overseas when I know for a fact that there are marginalized Americans who've had yet to be able to get their FIRST shots, even as states like Minnesota open up eligibility to every state occupant over 16 years old.
Those people – not the ones who refuse the vaccine when plenty is offered (we'll get to them) – but the ones who want it and are unable to get it – will remain invisible and inaudible unless we, regular citizens and policymakers, see them and give them voice.
In the last two days, I've heard talks about global healthcare (more specifically, the history of colonization in global health and pandemic responses) and DC Statehood (which is not only long overdue, but may be the only way past the two “Democratic” Senators holding up progress on voting rights and infrastructure and instead propping up white supremacy under cover of “bipartisanship” they won't define even as citizens of ALL political affiliations approve of, even appreciate, President Biden's policies and proposals).
What those two otherwise disparate topics have in common is that masses of American citizens will remain purposely disenfranchised – and our so-called “civilization” remains at risk of collapsing thereby – unless we make deliberate purposeful changes in the country's underlying infrastructure.
We can
be better than the angry people howling about vaccine passports as
“unfair” that they can't freely travel to countries with
their own rules in place to protect their own citizens and do
whatever they want including putting those people at risk. We can
look out for collective and self at the same time.
That dearth of car dealerships that Republican was ranting about at the last Congressional committee hearing on statehood (I don't even remember which one it was doing the howling, they all sound the same) is hardly a qualifier for statehood -- but even if it were, they're still lying (THEY'RE ALWAYS LYING) -- there's a TESLA dealership at 9th and H NW.
No comments:
Post a Comment