Dear President Trump,

This morning Laura wanted to make sure that I wasn’t one of the only people in the world to not see the film of Dr. Brix with thought bubbles added as she sat there and listened to your dangerous idiocy about injecting disinfectants into the human body. The first Twitter video she pulled up was just of Brix – the camera zoomed in on her face, capturing her doing her level best not to visibly squirm or leap up and tear your throat out. Then Laura accidentally pulled up the one locked in on Brix’s face accompanied by Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence” playing over your voice.

I immediately burst into tears. Full on. I had no idea they were right there.

All I heard was

“Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again”

before Laura had turned it off, apologizing profusely for upsetting me, even though we both know she wasn’t the one upsetting me.

This is all so beyond unnecessary. And I really do mean “all” here – I’m not just referring to the current covid crisis, which, horrible as it is, is just another symptom of our societal unwillingness to take care, to see each one (to include the planet) as unique, precious works of art.

Since I can’t emotionally afford to stay right here, right now, I’m going to segue and tell you how inspiring I found the WP’s article yesterday about Hawaii’s passage of a feminist covid-19 economic recovery plan – it engendered several spontaneous fist pumps and out loud exclamations. I’m certain you’re not keeping up with it so I’ll copy over a few of the highlights from Frances Nguyen’s article:

“A universal basic income. Special emergency funds for marginalized groups, including undocumented immigrant women, domestic workers, women with disabilities and sex-trafficking survivors. Waived co-payments for covid-19 tests and treatment, including for incarcerated women. A 20 percent pro rata share of the covid-19 response funds the express recovery needs of the indigenous population. A $24.80/hour minimum wage for single mothers. Free, publicly-funded child care for all essential workers.”

Hawaii is looking way beyond “getting back to normal” and instead they’re:

“….looking to seize the opportunity “to build a system that is capable of delivering gender equality.””

Imagine that. Pretty damn awesome, I say.

Then there’s the wonderful image of the Israelis protesting Netanyahu having finagled a way to stay in power even as he’s being tried for corruption. I’m sorry they have that situation to deal with on top of everything else, but seeing them masked and keeping safe physical space between one another gives me hope that maybe we can figure out ways to safely take to the streets to protest you and the hell you have visited upon us.

May we be safe from our POTUS.
May we be willing to cry sometimes.
May we look to feminist solutions for strength and health.
May we not make peace with darkness, no matter how familiar it becomes.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson