Donald, The Anti-racism Daily newsletter that pops into my inbox every morning around 3am provided excerpts from and links to five of Dr. King’s speeches: Letters from a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963)Beyond Vietnam (April 4, 1967)The Role of the Behavioral Scientist in the Civil Rights Movement (September 1, 1967)The Other America (March 14, 1968)I’ve … Continue reading On this MLK Day most Whites are still only scratching the surface of racism
Bias
The unity panacea won’t cut it this time
Donald, I toyed with starting this letter with just “XXXX” and dispensing with your name or any clever, mocking labels but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I actually wrote it out and started to say something about the choice, but I decided it would be too similar to what you’ve done to so … Continue reading The unity panacea won’t cut it this time
Angry about our anger double standard
Donald, Again, I’m retracing old ground, but given how little we have learned, I think it’s warranted. This morning I read an interview with Congresswoman Jayapal by Rebecca Traister for The Cut about Jayapal’s experiences on Wednesday during the Capitol siege. Jayapal recounts how there’d been talk days ahead of time that a large protest … Continue reading Angry about our anger double standard
The MAGA-merica fever dream is breaking
To: The Disgraced Leader of US Well, of course the jury will be out for quite some time on whether the bones of this place, this pseudo democracy (messed up as it is by mega-money and abuses of power) are good and strong enough to bother rehabilitating around. The answer to that overwhelming question almost … Continue reading The MAGA-merica fever dream is breaking
Maybe the bones aren’t so good after all
To: The Wrecking Ball This morning our good friend sent me of Maggie Smith’s wonderful, hard, sobering poem “Good Bones” in response to yesterday’s letter. Here’s a link to the poem on her blog: http://waxwingmag.org/items/Issue9/28_Smith-Good-Bones.php. I’m 99% sure I’ve told you about this poem before, but it was a long time ago so I’ll remind … Continue reading Maybe the bones aren’t so good after all
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it still doesn’t lead to just indictments of killer cops
To: The Race Baiter I’m still reading Jill Lepore’s tome “These Truths: A History of The United States.” I’m all of 24% through it and have about 31 hours left to go. It’s fascinating and devastating, in equal measure. I keep coming across quotes and circumstances from 150 or 200 years ago that feel like … Continue reading A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it still doesn’t lead to just indictments of killer cops
Federal executions
To: The Executioner Ok, so the Electoral voters have spoken – you are out, Biden is in. You are out. Biden is in. It’s tempting to just repeat those two huge little sentences over and over for the entire letter – I bet it would look kind of cool from a graphic standpoint. Unfortunately, though, … Continue reading Federal executions
The power of apology
To: Jacinda Ardern’s Opposite The last couple of weeks I’ve been noticing an uptick in typos in the WP. I noted the issue about a year ago when there was a flurry of them and then they went away (at least in the articles I read), but they’re back. Here’s this morning’s example: “Ardern acknowledged … Continue reading The power of apology
America’s deep, deep shame is upon us yet again (or really, is still upon us)
President* Trump, My heart is so heavy for Breonna Taylor’s family and her loved ones, and really, for all of us. It is beyond disgusting and sad that we are a country that ever visits such things on our people and that when such things do happen, we can’t step up and take responsibility other … Continue reading America’s deep, deep shame is upon us yet again (or really, is still upon us)
The wheels are coming off the Trump bus
President* Trump, Laura and I drove down to Portland this morning to see my mom and then back again this evening. Despite the masks and social distancing, we had a really nice visit and it was so good to see her – it’d been a long time. There weren’t nearly as many Trump signs along … Continue reading The wheels are coming off the Trump bus
Daily Trump Letters 