From my other blog, but with the impending coronation, figured I'd share it here.
I’ve broken noses, both mine and others, shoveled shit off ships
in Port Newark, and worked in the projects; I know the thrill of flying off a
bike then feeling the heat of asphalt build up under the leather as you tumble
next to your bike down the road; I’ve been knocked out several times, smoked
cigars while pissing into the Atlantic, had a man die under my hands after
being shot, and yes, I play fantasy football, too.
I drink too much beer, take too few vitamins, have plenty of physical
scars with too little faith in the metaphorical ones, stick by my teams, love my whiskey, and slaughtered animals. I’m a white man in America.
We know each other. Or at least I thought we did.
Mr. Trump has done none of these things, has never worked a
day in his life, and I doubt he could fix anything more complicated than a burned
out light bulb, and even then he’d likely injure himself.
He’s the smarmy kid in class with too much money and too
little sense with his crew of buddies ready to beat up the weaker among us. I
know a few of you ran with that kind of crew, but I always believed most of us
stood our ground when his henchmen came round.
And I was wrong.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
Yours,
Your fellow white American male
"'Dock stevedore at the Fulton Fish Market holding giant lobster claws.'
Photo by Gordon Parks for the Office of War Information" via Shorpy
Photo by Gordon Parks for the Office of War Information" via Shorpy
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6 comments:
If the situation we find ourselves in now wasn't so sad, so frightening, this post could be humorous. Honestly I never thought about this from the vantage point of white men who didn't vote Trump even though had my husband lived he would never have casted that vote nor did any of my brothers.
A poignant letter.
Dear Mary Ann,
Sad as it may seem, the autobiographical part is true, and it's a life I was groomed to live. So many others have lived it, too. And yet "we" still bought Trump's lies.
To be fair, the tough guy knuckleheads I know did not vote for him, but I bet a lot of the wanna-be guys did--and what better rep for the wanna-bes than the PEOTUS?
Always glad to see your words.
~Michael
Dear Michael,
I was sure we would we hold our ground. And I was also sure that I could retire before I'm 80. Now I'm not sure of anything.
There was a "do you live in a bubble" quiz circulating social media this week. Many of my college friends were surprised that they got low scores (thick bubble). I grew up where many people did not go to college. I grew up in the world of farming and manufacturing. Still, I was sure that those of use who remember Nixon and post-Reagan eras would vote for sanity.
One of MLK principles of nonviolence is that the universe is on the side of justice. I think that's my New Years wish.
Three more days until the sun clears the horizon a minute earlier each day.
Trump is a good tactician. I know that his success in business will lead America to glory.
gustavo woltmann
Dear Kate,
I hope we will hold our ground, as much as was ever ours, anyway, but ignorance can do o much damage, and we are in times of willful ignorance. Unhappiness (as you know) will do this.
I hold onto MLK's words dearly, and in the long run, I believe justice will prevail, though perhaps never in a culture that puts capitalism over people. (No, this does not make me a communist, folks--Americans continue to confound economic systems with political ones.)
The light is returning--hopefully our collective sanity will as well--if elections were held in June, our trend toward despotism would fail.
~Michael
Dear Gustavo,
Not sure what you hoped to contribute to the discussion, but you're confused on what "success in business" means. I would be interested, though, in what you mean by "lead America to glory." Is this a religious statement?
(Or maybe I'm talking to a bot, again. Sigh.)
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