White people: It's your problem. Fix it.

Black lives matter.

I've been paralyzed this week after the murder of George Floyd.

At first, I wanted to turn away. I wanted it to not have happened. I wanted to not have to deal with it.  Denial stage of grief? Or maybe that was my white privilege talking to me. Ancient voices of, "not my problem."

But it is my problem. It's your problem. White people, it's our problem.

Then, I felt I must face it. I thought to myself, "I've got to try to process this."

But there is no way to process it. To "process it" means that there is some way to make sense of it, to make it comprehensible. But it is incomprehensible. It is unacceptable. It's atrocious. There really are no words.

If I have no words, think of the black people who face this every single day of their lives.

Without words, some folks have been acting on their anger. From coast to coast the oppressed are finding their voice in violence. Instead of tsk-tsking the looters, how about stepping back to understand why?

I am sympathetic to them. For over 400 years of our nation's history, the oppressed have had no voice.

You want non-violent protest? Then listen to it. Listen to Colin Kaepernick when he and his colleagues take a knee. Listen to the peaceful marchers at Black Lives Matter protests. Listen to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr who worked for non-violent change and YET HIS LIFE WAS SNUFFED OUT BY VIOLENCE.

The voices of the oppressed have always been smothered. Their voice in court, their voice at the polls, their voice in business, their voice on the screen, their voice on their knee on the football field. Why are you surprised that they have found their voice in violence? The voices against them have always been violent.

It's not "racism" – it's a systemic, deep and wide system of oppression that has been wrought upon people of color from the beginning times of this country. "Racism" is an inadequate word. "Racism" is an individual trait. We need a new word for the mechanizations of brutalization that black people have endured since they were brought to this country.

The brutality has never ended. It has simply changed form.

WHITE PEOPLE! YOU NEED UNDERSTAND THAT THIS YOUR PROBLEM AND YOU NEED TO FIX IT!

Here's what to do.

Know their names. In just the few years, these people have been murdered by us. By all of us. The police are citizens; citizens are the police. White people made the systems that foster racist law enforcement.

Know their names. Know their stories.

From NPR's Code Switch. Just some of the black citizens killed by police in the last six years.

Learn. See through a black person's eyes.
Our criminal "justice" system has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with systemic racism.

• Read. Here are some books to start with. (Remember to buy from your local independent bookseller!)
• How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
• Find more here from a list by Ibram X. Kendi
• For the teens: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi or The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• For little kids: Here is a list of books to start, and here is another one. 
• Watch "13th" on Netflix and face the fact that racist machinations are embedded into our Constitution.
• Watch "The Central Park Five" or "When They See Us."
• Listen to Season Three of Serial for a snapshot of the criminal justice system in one American city.
• Listen to In the Dark, Season Two and learn about the truly rotten justice system in Mississippi.
• Learn how "colorblind" "reverse racism" and "all lives matter" don't help and are actually subtle racist phrases and are quite harmful to the movement to rid our lives of systemic racism. Speak out to people who use those phrases.
• Face your white privilege. You may not want to. It will make you uncomfortable. But you must see it to change it. Here is my piece from a year ago about white privilege. Read it, follow the links, and learn. Goddamn it, learn!
• STOP BEING A WHITE VICTIM. YOU ARE NOT A VICTIM. YOU ARE PRIVILEGED TO MOVE ABOUT THIS WORLD WITH EASE AND IN SAFETY.
• Step back and look at the bigger context when looting arises. Learn how looting is the last language of the oppressed. Here is an article that came out after Michael Brown's murder in Furguson, Missouri.
• Here is Trevor Noah talking about Minneapolis. The whole thing is worth watching, but he talks about the act of looting starting at about 8:13.

Understand racism. It isn't just racial slurs or lynchings. Here are some graphics:

Get angry.
You should be angry. Feel that anger and let it spur you to action. I'm at the anger stage of grief. But I doubt that I will ever get to the acceptance stage, until this thing that can change does change.

Listen to black people!
Here's a start:

Read Steve Locke's experience being detained for being black.

From Tyler Merritt:

Or how about this 68-year-old lady who, along with her son, was falsely accused of stealing a TV from Sam's Club and were assaulted by police, even after the store employee told them they had bought the TV?

These stories are everywhere, every day in America. Get angry about it.

Act.

• Respond to the George Floyd murder. Here's is an action list. Pick one. Do it. 
• Be an ally. Here's how.
• Fix voting laws - enfranchise people of color.  Support Stacey Abrams's organization, Fair Fight, which is working to stop voter suppression.
• Donate money.

• Black Lives Matter

• Black Visions Collective

• Reclaim the Block 

• ACLU

• Southern Poverty Law Center

• NAACP

• Innocence Project 

• VOTE
• Reject the current "president," who not only condones violence against people of color, but instigates it. Vote as if our lives depend on it. Because they do.
• Pressure your local communities to be rid of law enforcement officers who display racism. Make agencies more accountable. Be involved at your local level.
• Talk to kids. Stop racism early.
• STOP the "all lives matter" shit in its tracks. 

Kris Straub

Face the horrible truth about systemic racism in our country and work to fix it now.

#RESIST

Paradise Found

"Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do." – Michel de Montaigne

And during the last few months, nature has had her way. While the world's human population has been holed up at home, Mother Nature has been conducting her business in the way she sees fit.

You may have seen stories about nature reclaiming its space. The animals that have always been there are finding that they have a little more room to stretch.

Here is a compilation of just a few of the stories from around the world.

While Parisiens stayed at home, some deer came out to play.

In Kruger National Park in South Africa, the lions took advantage of the empty roads to take a snooze.

Kruger visitors that tourists do not normally see. #SALockdown This lion pride are usually resident on Kempiana Contractual Park, an area Kruger tourists do not see. This afternoon they were lying on the tar road just outside of Orpen Rest Camp.
📸Section Ranger Richard Sowry pic.twitter.com/jFUBAWvmsA

— Kruger National Park (@SANParksKNP) April 15, 2020

Wildlife throughout the U.S. National Parks have been lovin' the closed parks.

Here is Ranger Katie at Yosemite, talking about the park and the bear tracking program. She also talks about the parties that the bears are having without human visitors.

A large herd of elk decided to hang out at a football field in Colorado last month.

Next with Kyle Clark

Also in Colorado, this mountain lion visited the hospital.

Estes Park News

More locally, a condo complex here in town near the beach also had a mountain lion visitor.

Also locally, a big ol' bear needed to be removed from downtown Solvang a couple weeks ago.

Rod Simmons, for the Santa Ynez Times

Down the road and 26 miles across the sea, bison have been frequenting the beach on Catalina Island.




And here are a couple fun video complications

For the first time in decades, residents in India can see the Himalayas.

Here is a view of Mount Everest from Kathmandu, for the first time in memory:

Abhushan Gautam, Nepal Times

Los Angeles, a city with some of the most polluted air on the planet, has also seen a turnaround.

Business Insider

This week, communities in the United States began gingerly stepping toe out to some regular activities as the lockdown restrictions are being eased. Soon, the animals will find their paradise lost.

Questions

"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers." – Voltaire


Questions like these have been floating around social media. Most of the answers are pretty clear if you stop to think a bit, or do a cursory Google search. But lists like this are meant to create fear and distrust, at a time when fear and distrust is dangerous. I don't know if the writer of these questions truly wants the answers. But I want to try to answer them.

1. Why can you go to Walmart but not Kohl's?
Because Walmart, bless its heart, sells essentials, like food. Many local communities banned big box stores like Walmart from selling non-essentials. I wouldn't know. I won't step foot into a Walmart unless I'm forced to.

2. Why the Dollar store and not a mom-and-pop shop?
Again, essentials like food. Mom-and-Pop shops that sell essentials are still open in my area. Have you even checked in with your locally-owned stores? Or are you still pining for Kohl's?

3. Why can't you have an elective surgery, but you can have an abortion which is elective?
Abortion is time-sensitive and not "elective" for women who seek them.

4. Why should you stay inside but yet heat and sunlight kill the virus?
First of all, you should not stay inside. You should go walk in your neighborhood and exercise in your yard. No one said to stay inside. You need to stay home except for essentials, and exercise is essential. When you go out walking, stay six feet away from others. Pretty simple IMHO.

We weren't sure that sunlight killed the virus at first. Science has helped us understand more in the last two months. But sunlight won't kill the virus that are in the droplets on their way from an infected cougher's mouth to your nose.

5. Why can't kids (who are not at risk) play on an outdoor playground, where sun kills this virus?
Kids are at less risk for expressing symptoms of the disease, but because of a lack of testing, we don't know enough about children being carriers or vectors of transmission. Also, kids at playgrounds mean adult supervision at playgrounds. Which means congregations of people. Which means increased risk of transmission. Again, sunlight can't sterilize the droplets when someone sneezes on your face.

6. Why don't people know that these are "recommendations" not laws because they have not gone through due process?
I think most people know this. And luckily, the majority of people have common sense and follow the recommendations. If someone in your community is misinformed, inform them.

7. Why is it okay for government officials to get a haircut, but not common citizens?
Mostly because of income disparity. Government officials have the means to pay plenty of people to assist them with many everyday tasks. Have you heard that 45's valet that serves his food has tested positive? Has your valet been tested?

8. Why the fear, when this virus has a less than 1% death rate?
A question back: Why is up to 3000 U.S. deaths per day a shrug? But more to the point, we simply don't know the mortality rate due to a lack of testing. Science will help us learn more if testing -- both testing for infection and testing for antibodies -- becomes more available. But death rate is only one part of this highly contagious disease. There have been hundreds of thousands more that have experienced COVID as a serious, life-threatening disease, with long hospital stays, dependence on a ventilator, and long recovery times. It's a trauma that will stay with them.

Another question back (given your 1% figure): which one of your 100 family and friends are you willing to sacrifice to show how un-afraid you are?

8.5 Why have coroners questioned death certificates listed as CV-19?
I hadn't heard this, but without researching, my science brain tells me that because this has been a very fast (1,322,000 U.S. cases in four months) and chaotic pandemic, it is difficult for medical professionals and coroners to keep up with the immense numbers of deaths. Looking it up, on the contrary, the coroners in at least one state -- Pennsylvania -- fear that the death toll from COVID is UNDERcounted. I think that coroners, like the rest of the medical professionals in this country and around the world, are feverishly (hopefully not literally!) working to do their very best in chaotic conditions.

9. Why are areas like Chicago and NY gearing up for mass va*cc*ination?
A question back: Why the asterisks in vaccination?
But more to the point: ummmm, to protect the citizens?

(Once a vaccination is available, we'll go through another trauma as anti-vaxxers make their faulty arguments.)

10. What makes one person essential and another not?
Really? Do I need to explain this?

11. Doesn't shelter at home mean there is a whole population of people not staying home so we can?
Yes.

12. Why are they dividing us?
Who are "they"? I don't think we are divided, I think we are temporarily separated. We should be – and the people I know are – united.

13. How do people not know that we are a Republic, not a democracy?
By taking civics classes. Which I suggest writers of lists like this do.

14. Where has the flu gone?
The official flu season is October 1 - March 31. The flu will be back later this year, as always. It hasn't gone anywhere. And I suggest you get a va*cc*ine.

15. Why do the homeless consistently demonstrate the lowest infection rates?
They haven't. Where is your data, anonymous Facebook inciter? Because you are lazy, I provide it for you. The homeless are potentially at even more risk given their lack of resources, their increased rates of pre-exisiting conditions, and their sometimes congregate living situations. Now is the time to support the most vulnerable citizens in our communities, not spread misinformation.

16. Why are they telling us to mask up after 2 months of lockdown?
It was chaotic at the beginning. There is more known now. Guidelines have been in flux from the start. At the beginning, too, "they" were worried about hoarding of masks and a lack of equipment for medical personnel. "They" were right. So when the pandemic evolved, recommendations evolved. As they should. Wear a mask when you go do your essential tasks. It will protect your neighbors.

17. Why is the CDC saying kids need to be masked when they return to school or attend church, when they know cloth masks restrict oxygen?
Cloth masks do not restrict oxygen. (I want to say "idiot" here but I also want to be generous).

18. What is this oppression and loss of liberty doing to the mental health of our kids...to us?
This is a charged question. (At this point I start to wonder why I am validating these stupid questions; but I'm more than half-way and so I forge ahead). Ignoring the charged language, I will say: mental health is a legitimate concern in these fraught times. We may be facing a whole new crisis as the pandemic continues.

19. Why have most other death rates dropped since the virus?
They haven't.

20. Why did world leaders meet in China in October 2019?
Are you talking about the Potato Blight Summit in Beijing? Or are you trying to instill fear and conspiracy theories?

21. Why are the common people being controlled by the government and no one is controlling the government?
Have you called your Members of Congress lately? Do you plan to vote in November? <fighting fingers from typing I D I O T again>

22. Why are hospitals paid more for Covid 19 deaths?
Because of the bi-partisan CARES Act, which allowed for an increased payment. There is no evidence that hospitals are fraudulently benefitting, however, and in fact COVID cases are probably undercounted due to lack of testing.

23. Why are some doctors speaking out and then getting silenced?
Many medical professionals have been intimidated by their administrations against speaking out about lack of PPE and other equipment. This is outrageous.

24. Why did Obama give the Wuhan lab $334 million dollars?
He didn't.

25. What does a computer geek have to do with a pandemic and why does he want 7 billion corona virus v*ccines?
Again, why the asterisk? Which computer geek are you talking about? Thousands of them have been infected. Most of them would like a vaccine, as would most of the general population.

26. Why ID 2020, Agenda 21 and 2030?
What does this even mean? There is so much shit in these questions I'm beginning to regret that I tackled this.

27. Why did the CDC have a job posting for pandemic relief workers in November 2019?
Could it be because the Moron-in-Chief fired the pandemic response team the year before?

28. Why did Dr. Fauci say in 2017 that the Trump administration would be faced with a “SURPRISE PANDEMIC" and then runs the pandemic team?
Fuck this I'm getting tired of this. I don't even want to look this one up. We have been expecting a pandemic for years. Pandemics are not new. They are just different from each other.

29. Why are they infringing on Christians’ religious freedoms?
"They" aren't.

30. Why can 500 people shop at Fred Meyer or Home Depot, but we are not allowed to go into a church building?
Which Home Depot are you shopping at? Mine has a line out the door due to limited numbers being allowed in. A question back: Can your gods hear you from inside your home?

I don't care if you are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or vote for unicorns. If you're not asking these questions, you should be.
I'm not asking them, but unlike some, I'm willing to answer them.
Done.

Michael Ramirez

The Protests

"No mother would ever willingly sacrifice her sons for territorial gain, for economic advantage, for ideology." – Ronald Reagan (but apparently some sons are willing to sacrifice their mothers)


There is no doubt that these are devastating times for all of us. The human toll has been immense. There have been unprecedented job losses. There have been unprecedented deaths. The whole world is hurting, plain and simple. We hope for a swift return to normalcy, whatever that may look like.

But normalcy can only happen when the virus has stopped spreading. And the virus will stop spreading when we don't let it spread. That happens when we stay home. It's painful. There is no doubt. We truly are all making a sacrifice.

This pandemic crisis has been compared to a war. But today's enemy is microscopic, at once nowhere and everywhere. This enemy doesn't have a weapon other than itself; it doesn't have a policy, other than to invade and replicate. It has allies: close spaces and uncovered noses.

And this week we passed a milestone. The United States has lost more people to COVID-19 in the last four months than we lost during a decade of the Vietnam war. Though that comparison is fraught, it's still a sobering perspective. And we don't yet have an end in sight.

RJ Matson

Like during a war, we have been asked to sacrifice. During WWII, our parents and grandparents had to deal with rationing of food and goods, price ceilings, sometimes having their freedom of speech curtailed, and being drafted into the armed services. Heavy stuff. Our sacrifices today are simple, and frankly, quite comfortable. Stay home. Wear a mask. Stay six feet from others. Wash your hands often. But unlike during a war, not everyone has made these sacrifices graciously for the greater social good. Many on the far-right have been protesting and outright refusing to follow the experts' guidelines.

War is often protested. The United States saw many protests against the Vietnam War. Citizens wanted our soldiers home and safe. The sacrifice of human life was too great. There weren't widespread protests during WWII. Americans may have grumbled about rationing, but they knew their sacrifice was for the common good, for America and for the world.

Last week, about six weeks into our national lockdown, protests have popped up across the country, demanding that the country be reopened. Some of the protests have been quite militant. Many protesters have been carrying large weapons and white supremacist signs. These protests popped up after a series of inflammatory (and arguably unconstitutional) all-cap tweets from the Inflamer-in-Chief, "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" and "LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!"

The protesters' demands? Well, see for yourself in photos.

(Images mostly from Newsweek and Times of San Diego.)

Oh the irony!

Really? You'll sacrifice grandma for a haircut?

This one literally made me sick to my stomach. How dare they usurp the oppressed black experience for a round of freaking golf?

Will you and your friends be volunteering in the hospital?

You'll get your wish. Unfortunately, so will your Auntie Louise.

The below was a disturbing image from a protest in Chicago, one that the Auschwitz Museum condemned. This charged phrase, "Work will set you free," was erected above the gates to Auschwitz and other concentration camps. These are the most hateful words this scum could've chosen for her sign. Disgusting and disturbing.

JB refers to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who is Jewish

Protesters in Ohio also brought anti-Semitic imagery:

Perhaps the most disturbing of the protests was when armed protestors entered the Michigan statehouse. Many men came armed with big guns, Confederate flags, swastikas, nooses, and of course pro-TЯUMP sentiments.

(images below by Jeff Kowalsky / AFP - Getty Images)

This image is probably the most iconic of them all:

For a little comic relief, the internet has been busy (caution – not for sensitive souls): Someone is Photoshopping Anti-Lockdown Protesters' Guns into Dildos.

The whole spectacle in Michigan was disturbing. This is not my America.

I want to make clear: I believe everyone has a right to protest. I do not want anyone's freedom of speech to be squelched. But without masks, in close proximity, they are not asserting their freedom of speech or their own "right to die." They are endangering others' lives. With weapons, they go a step further: terrorism.

Everyone has a right to protest whatever they choose, but not if it puts other lives in danger or engenders hate. I don’t welcome purposefully spreading a disease so that you can go golfing. Its not the protester’s life at stake. It’s my mother’s life. It's the pizza guy's life. It's my nurse friend's life. I reject intimidation and hate. It’s not the protest that’s the problem, it’s the method. Find another way. How about you call your representatives?

And what's with their proclamations that they liken the lockdown as "socialism" or "communism?" I wrack my brains trying to understand this perspective. And all I can come up with is:

What are their demands?

They ask for death in exchange for freedom. If it were only that simple. I would say: Darwin, get to work. I would be fine with that. But it's not their body. Oh, it may be, but it's also the body of everyone with whom they come in contact with their germy breath. Your right to freedom ends where my nasal passages begin.

They demand "My body, my choice." Oh the irony is rich, and laughable if not so tragic. Will they be first in line to escort women to Planned Parenthood?

And when they proclaim they do not wish to live in a fear, I wonder if they will be the first ones to volunteer to hold someone's hand as they lay in their hospital bed without family able to be at their side. Not holding my breath. Or maybe I should. Less chance of transmission.

Once again, the right shows their true colors. There is no consideration, or even a thought, for others, let alone empathy. There is, however, an abundance of hate.

 Once again, they defend the Racist-in-Chief and spin leftist conspiracy theories over something that is global. And blind. And deaf. True to form, protests from the right include hate. It is part of their fabric. And this is at the base of what is wrong with our country. It starts with "w" and ends with "ite."

Do we even call them protesters? Coming heavily armed, with hateful slogans that work to intimidate? What is their true goal? Is it really going back to work, getting a haircut, going golfing, or rejecting a life of fear? Or is it inciting fear themselves? What do we call armed mobs with white supremacist slogans again? Oh yeah. Terrorists.

It should be obvious by now that these protests are organized by those on the far right. Right-wing organizations are instigating them, with conservative mega-doners behind the funding. Makes sense. Does anyone really believe these idiots could organize all by themselves? And it's got the stink of the Slime-in-Chief's stamp of approval. You know it's unsavory if he is ok with it all. He has called the armed protesters toting anti-Semitic signs at the Michigan Governor mansion, "very good people." All of this is simply a dangerous attempt at keeping the Disgustoid in power. Frightening and sickening.

But, please, let's not forget: these covidiots are truly the minority. There are millions of us who are sacrificing for the greater good and will not be intimidated. And I believe these hateful ones are in the minority of conservatives as well. Former Pennsylvania Governor and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and former President George W. Bush agree. There is no room for partisanship. We have a common enemy, one who doesn't see red or blue. These militant protestors disgrace veterans as well as the rest of us who are doing our best to keep our communities safe and take care of our neighbors. After you read Mr. Ridge's piece, take heed of Dubya:

A Message from President George W. Bush@TheCalltoUnite pic.twitter.com/FIn9wuOPTF

— George W. Bush Presidential Center (@TheBushCenter) May 2, 2020

(Late breaking: unsurprisingly, SCROTUS has blasted Bush after his plea for unity.)

We all want freedom. But with freedom comes responsibilities. And if you don't behave responsibly, then you are acting like a toddler. Which makes sense for the covidiots, because their role model is none other than the Toddler-in-Chief.

I, like you, like all of us, am hurting. But we are willing to hurt a little longer for our neighbors to stay well. We are willing to have a temporary suspension of some freedom to move about the community in order for medical professionals to stay well. We're willing to give up our freedom to not breathe through fabric so that the grocery checkers stay well. (WTAF, Stillwater, Oklahoma? Violence so as to not have to wear a mask? You are sick.)

Never thought that wearing a mask would be a form of resistance. But let's get to it. Resist, Brother and Sister Resisters. Resist a lot. We're all in this together, and together we'll get through it.

Stay healthy, friends.