Dispatch #56 January 14th 2020
Day 1160 Post-Ascendency of White Supremacy & Misogyny Day 1088 Post-Installation of White-Supremacist-Misogynist-Pussy-Grabbing-Self-Aggrandizing-Demagogic-Bully-Illegitimate-PeeeOTUS & his White-Nationalist-Fascistic-Christian-Supremacist-Quislings
The nation grows collectively weary as we individually consider the prospect of 2020 – this election year will bring the hyperinflated language of out-sized bullying-rage, white supremist nationalism, and patriotic-patriarchal narcissism carried along by fabulations about the dangerous factions threatening the Homeland. You know, factions of brown people, black people, women of almost any color, federal government employees, and so forth and so on. Hapless Democrats may be the only non-dangerous faction.
As impeachment plays out, we are treated to increased pundit-hand-wringing about the imminent death of democracy and the decline of America’s founding values as if the election of the PeeeOTUS were/is the responsible catalyst. In actuality however, as so eloquently and elegiacally documented by Jill Lepore in These Truths, our fatally flawed self-styled democracy and founding values of slavery and genocide have led to this current moment in 21st Century America.
For 2020, these Dispatches from the War on Women will include much less of my own extended commentary. Instead, I will note articles, resources, commentary, and communications that I find particularly trenchant as this pivotal year unfolds.
What I have recently read regarding institutionalized white supremacy and misogyny:
Native women and girls are targeted at rates that far outweigh other American women, and are 10 times more likely to be murdered. Awareness is growing about the effects of extractive industries, mainly oil, on Native women and communities – oil industry camps aka mancamps may be impacting domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/13/a-well-of-grief-the-relatives-of-murdered-native-women-speak-out
Black, Homeless and Burdened by L.A.’s Legacy of Racism – NYT report documents straight line from LA history of neighborhood redlining and rampant discrimination to today’s homelessness crisis where black residents are dramatically overrepresented. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/22/us/los-angeles-homeless-black-residents.html
Trump’s shadow domestic policy is shaped by white nationalists, neo-Nazis and global racist extremists whose hatred and violence is justified by the “great replacement” conspiracy theory. https://truthout.org/articles/the-real-shadow-policy-of-the-trump-administration-is-racist-extremism/
Lastly, poignant but instructive reflections from scientists around the world dealing with a profound sense of loss as the climate emergency worsens…that acknowledging-sharing ecological grief creates honor and power because we have collectively so deeply loved something – consequently ecological grief can drive anger and collective action. http://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/12/how-scientists-are-coping-with-environmental-grief
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