1932

Here we are.

I had a bad week, I won’t lie. I like to think of myself as being a Hopeful Pragmatic as a rule but, really, those are just words to describe understanding the world is made up of about 50% cruel, 20% stupid and the rest a catchall for everyone who’s neither of those.

It works pretty well. It allows me to smile, sincerely, and to push through troubles that have broken other folks. Indeed, it’s my default mindset and it is currently reasserting as you read this.

But this week something was made clear and it shouldn’t be soft-sold or glossed over in favor of expediency or “bringing us all together.” We are not together and we will not be together. There is no “we.”

The Bad Guys won, kids. I can’t say it more simply or more clearly than that. The forces of darkness that we depict in our fanciful stories, those of prejudice, hatred, bigotry and brutality just took control of the government of the most powerful nation ever to exist on this planet.

Let that sink in. My own processing of this event was slightly less speedy than normal but I’m factoring in that I actually know what happened in Germany in 1932. The sheer numbfaced understanding my rational brain produced about what we can expect to come is the cause of the slow-down.

This is not a kumbayah moment. This is not a moment for hugs and, “it gets better.” You are a fool if you lean that way. That way is magical thinking. Magcial Thinking is what supports foolishness like Creationism and Anti Vaccination protests. Magical Thinking is not something survivors use.

The Bad Guys won and, with that win, over the next four years they WILL dismantle as many as they can of the social and political gains people of color, women, people of disperate sexualities and religous minorities have made over the last half century. They will not TRY to do this. They will do this. It’s what they’ve said they would do if ever given the chance and it is not only naive but suicidal to pretend that the version of America that they have in their minds will ever overlap with or show compassion to a version that lets a woman be president or a black/brown person assert Constitutional rights against murder by police. They have been honest with us about this the entire time we’ve known them. They have said, in great detail, over years in EPIC specificity what they hate about us and “our” America and they now have a chance to obliterate as much of that America as they can. Legally. Constitutionally. Do you seriously imagine they will balk? If so, you are a fool.

Protests in the streets will not change this. Twitter commiseration will not change this. And, for you poor, sad individuals who actually believe the Electoral College will reverse this, please wake up. This is the real world. The same real world that produced Adolf Hitler and his followers. The same real world that produced Stalin and Pol Pot. This is the real world that you and I have had the luxury of ignoring (when we wished) for all of our lives because we were safe, yes, even under Jim Crow, even before Stonewall, from the worst of what’s available.

We have another month and a half or so to enjoy that happy dreamland and then the hammers will start falling. Harry will not be coming back from the dead to stop Voldemort. Luke is not getting off that last perfect shot to take out the deadly moon. Moses is not blowing the top of his block. Those are fantasies. I know because I write that sort of thing for a living. I did it today, in fact.

Even if the Trump administration confines itself exclusively to tearing down what the Obama and other Democratic administrations have built (and they have never shown any ability to exercise that sort of restraint in any arena) everything from Miranda Rights to clean water is pretty much out the door for anyone without a fat wallet. Fold in brown skin or a weird accent and your chances dim even if you’re rich. We’ve been here before. We know what this is.

If you’re not paled by this, you are an idiot. You’re not stupid enough to deserve what’s next but you are an idiot.

So, yes, do “fight.” By all means. By any means. I suppose it’s good to keep busy instead of wallowing but, really, do consider what that “fight” will actually be. On what fronts? With what weapons? With which allies?

The world was much bigger when Hitler came to power, much slower and more difficult to take over. There was time for the allies to come together, space for them to fight and — and this is most important– an actual goal of daylight at the end for which to fight.

Who exactly is there to stop the coming Russia/America alliance? If Britain sustains its Brexit ( and why would it not?) who will stop the three of them, China?

It’s not like facism and racism and religious bigotry aren’t sweeping across the white western world. It isn’t like the Middle and the Far East aren’t already there.

Who exactly is coming to save us this time? No one. Not even us.

I see no one Occupying that space. No one at all.

I, personally, am a survivor. I will be fine and so will my wife. I will not end up like those Jews who couldn’t see what was coming or, worse, COULD see it but couldn’t get away in time. When I see we’ve come down to that last second before true Midnight, Mrs. Thorne’s little boy will Geoffxit, stage anywhere else.

I really loved America. You have no idea how much. My father fought its wars. My mother taught its children and I have spent most of my life entertaining its people. More than that, I’ve walked the straight line. I did all the right things and I’ve been lucky enough that being a decent, hopeful person hasn’t broken me or stopped my progress as a money-earner in this country. Just imagine the things White Me might have accomplished. Ah well.

America was a really sweet idea. It could have been our salvation as a species. All we needed to do was agree to leave each other in peace when our diffrences got severe. We couldn’t agree to that and so she’s done. It breaks my heart that I’ve lived long enough to watch her suicide because some of her children never learned to share.

I love my country.

But I don’t love her more than my wife or my own life. Never ever think otherwise. And, for God’s sake, don’t offer me any hugs. I’m a grown man. I’m a grown BLACK man in the 21st century. If you think this is making me cry you’d better wake up. This isn’t anything as soft and fluffy as a child’s Boo Hoo. This is not my weeping face. This is not the face of my fear. This is the face you see when my house is burning down and you’re between me and the only exit.

This was and is the End of Us. Recognize and make your plans.

Tick tock.