Don’t Look Away

Look, I have enough problems with COVID post-holiday spikes running roughshod all over me and my job and making me work long hours without a bunch of testosterone pumped up yahoos making the worst production of Les Mis ever. Although I suppose I could consider myself “lucky” that I was neck deep in writing a bunch of urgent COVID communications when it happened and had no idea. People were texting me, and it was all I could do to scream, “I can only deal with one crisis at a time! Yahoo Les Mis, take a number!”

I have a lot to say about what happened on Wednesday, but lucky for you I’m too tired to write about it. Instead you can read this column “Lessons from an Insurrection,” by a Boston Globe writer, Yvonne Abraham. I hope it’s not behind a paywall — I think they allow 5 free articles. If not, just pony up the money — newspapers need you right now. If you want something a bit more uplifting, watch Arnold Schwarzenegger being a leader about what happened. Just ignore the swelling emotional background music.

Abraham rightfully says the issurrection was a result of the last 5 years (I’d add 200) and is a “cult of white supremecy and white grievance and white entitlement…” and that it will stay with us. The only addition to her column I will add is that she asks if you don’t believe it to imagine the mob was Muslims, which I find rather shortsighted and oddly specific. I will ask you not to “imagine” — you don’t need to, there is evidence aplenty — review any article/video from the past several years about a Black Lives Matter march or protest, or any protest of Black, indiginous, and people of color. See those rows and rows of law enforcement members in full riot gear arresting everyone? Now look at Wednesday’s half-assed protection of a federal building. Yeah, that, my friends, is the definition of white privilige. White men with weapons allowed to scale the walls with little consequence.

You know how we fix this? Check your white privilige and start getting involved in how to dismantle instituional racism and taking the guns away from these people. And if that seems like a tall order right now because Wednesday was a pretty bad day, just try to work on not being a racist asshat.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to my COVID spike.