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
Learning
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
We likely haven’t seen the half of it yet
Donald, I know this risks seeming trite and as though I’m re-tracing already well established lines, but I’m guessing that like me, when you were a young child you were taught to respect and even revere policemen (they were virtually all men then) and firemen (ditto re the gender deal). You were probably encouraged to … Continue reading We likely haven’t seen the half of it yet
Over-reliance on oracles
To: The Supreme Gaslighter About a third of the way into my walk this morning I realized I’d forgotten my phone at home (I got out of practice with my morning routine over the holidays). I’m chagrined to admit that I only realized this when I wondered whether the weather arbiter that lives inside my … Continue reading Over-reliance on oracles
2020 may not have been THE worst year ever, but it sure won’t be missed
To: Mr. Doom Somehow I don’t think I’m going to have as much trouble as usual remembering to write “2021” instead of “2020” when the calendar flips tonight. In a typical new year it can take me a good month or month and a half to shed the muscle memory of the old year and … Continue reading 2020 may not have been THE worst year ever, but it sure won’t be missed
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
May we not squander our moral courage this time
To: He Whose Moral Compass is Kaput Yesterday the Twitter-verse had a scare because Dionne Warwick was trending so people thought she must have died. She very much has not died and the reason she was trending was that she reached out to Chance The Rapper and teased him about including “The Rapper” in his … Continue reading May we not squander our moral courage this time
Anti-historical America
To: The Anti-historian Supreme Since the calendar has finally turned to December, does that mean you only have 14 more days to cash in on your peeps, what with the final Electoral College votes set to be cast on the 14th? Or are you going to somehow keep the charade going up to 1/20/21? Or … Continue reading Anti-historical America
A toxic, evil swirl
To: The Evil Baton Passer Yes, I’m borrowing the idea that evil is a relay race from Fiona Apple again; it’s too brilliant an observation to highlight in just one letter. I definitely think that good can also be passed from one to the next in relay race fashion – think “pay it forward” – … Continue reading A toxic, evil swirl
Resentments or gratitude ~ choose wisely
To: The Resentful Angry (would-be) Tyrant (aka The RAT) After reading that you’re being evasive about whether you’ll attend the virtual G20 this weekend I really wanted to use the word “slacker” in the salutation today but decided to go with something that can be shortened to a punchy acronym instead. I figure that the … Continue reading Resentments or gratitude ~ choose wisely
Daily Trump Letters 