“We never learn, we been here before. Why are we always stuck and running from the bullets, the bullets? Just stop your crying it’s a sign of the times. We gotta get away from here. We gotta get away from here. Just stop your crying it’ll be alright. They told me that the end is near. We gotta get away from here” – Harry Styles
A modern day Bob Dylan he’s not, but the man who my five year old daughter described as having “the most beautiful lips,” perfectly captures Trump’s America.
Stop your crying. Hold your faux thoughts and prayers. Raise those flags back to full mast.
This is us.
So long as we continue to dehumanize minorities, outsiders and those who look different. So long as we characterize them as “rapists,” “shithole countries,” “animals,” “enemies,” and worse,
This is us.
So long as we allow those in power to divide our nation into two camps. Secure a status quo long past the point demographics would allow, to erect a permanent caste system. So long as we are “haves and have nots” and are labeled as an “us”or “them,”
This is us.
So long as the leaders of our nation think it acceptable to bully, threaten, tweet racist dog whistles, and challenge one another to school yard brawls. So long as we elect those who deride a Civil Rights icon on social media but silently accept the endorsement of hatemongers, white supremacists and nationalists,
This is us.
So long as we falsely equate the child in the hoodie, hijab, yarmulke or Che tee with the one in the white hood, sweater vest, Confederate flag, or swastika tattoo. So long as we rip child from parent at our borders in the name of law and order,
This is us.
So long as we build walls instead of bridges. Invest in war instead of education and research grants. So long as we celebrate “American exceptionalism” but oppose student loan reform,
This is us.
So long as “we, the people” includes Goldman Sachs, Halliburton, Monsanto and Boeing and not every Trayvon, Fatima, Ellen, Matthew, and Mohammed,
This is us.
So long as we rely on the sources that broke the Bowling Green Massacre, but dub the ones that broke Watergate as “fake news,”
This is us.
So long as we are persuaded by “alternative facts,” slogans, and double speak but tune out science, photographic evidence, and statistics,
This is us.
So long as we buy the empty promises about the wonders of trickle down economics and reject efforts to raise the minimum wage,
This is us.
So long as we profess that Earth and all its things were created by God but deny global warming, pollute our rivers and drill baby drill,
This is us.
So long as we debate whether gun lockers have a greater right to privacy than our daughter’s privates. So long as we lobby that the 2nd Amendment is absolute and unequivocable, but tweet against and act to curtail the 1st and 4th,
This is us.
So long as we offer thoughts and prayers for all of God’s children, but sit nearly silent as antisemitism, Islamaphobia, and hate crimes are committed in her name,
This is us.
So long as we declare “Mission Accomplished” all while knowing it has hardly begun,
This is us.
So long as we’re more offended by the black athlete who uses his celebrity to kneel in silent protest for equality than we are the white Christian billionaire who use his bully pulpit to disparage an immigrant nation,
This is us.
Pathway To Perdition 