Posted by 2001 – 9/11. Keep your head down. No one will notice you. It’s going to be okay.
2002/2003 – “Go home!” someone screams at me while I’m at Lowe’s. What? Elizabeth, PA? I like being in the city; I don’t want to go back to the suburbs. NSEERS – Friends forced to wait in line for hours to register.
Said to a friend: “I trust this government to protect your rights. I don’t trust it to protect my rights.”
2008 – President Barack Obama. I attend his inauguration in the freezing DC cold.
2009 – Continuation of wars abroad, troop surges, increased use of drones.
2012 – President Obama’s re-election. I don’t regret my vote but I no longer harbor illusions about his (or his Secretary of State’s) foreign policy. Do you think rendition ended with President GW Bush?
Update: “I still trust this government to protect your rights. I don’t trust any American government to protect my rights.”
2016 – Campaign for the American Presidency. The Democratic candidate is well-regarded by neoconservatives. The Republican candidate says, “I think Islam hates us”, entertains surveillance of mosques, registration of Muslims. I knew I had a lot of friends who weren’t liberal. That’s okay, I thought. The republic needs balance. I never realized how ugly their views of Muslims were. These aren’t the abstractions seen on TV; they’re real people I’ve known for years and years. I hold my nose and vote. Did anyone truly win? President Donald Trump.
Update: “I trust this government to protect their rights. Now, I don’t trust some of my friends to help protect my rights.”
2017 – Neil Gorsuch. Tax cuts FTW. Was it worth it?
2018 – Brett Kavanaugh. Midterm elections. Trumpists lose the House of Representatives. Maybe a little relief? Meh, probably not.
No update needed. Yet. I hope.
2019 – President Trump tells four American congresswomen of color to “go back to your own country”. Crickets from Republicans. Crickets from Conservatives. Do conservatives even still exist?
Update: Sorry, you’ll have to ask when the sun comes up in Bangladesh. But my preliminary thought is that I don’t trust BNP or Awami League to protect my rights either.
Do the Right Thing? Yeahh, whistling past Raheem’s grave.
