this is how it starts, the question is how will it end

I've been working at the antique store the last few days as the owner decided not to reopen since she had the new location in Rosenberg that was doing well and she has put the buildings up for sale and needs to clear out what she hasn't already moved to the other location so she was having an 'estate' sale there at the old Miss Hattie's. She expected a big crowd, which had my sister and I shaking our heads because...Wharton, so she hired my sister and Jim who also had worked there and me to help with the enormous crowds and sales. Long story short, we did have a slow steady stream of people for the 2 1/2 days but no crowds, big or otherwise, and just one extra person besides the owner and the other vendor would have been sufficient for the amount of sales, so while it didn't keep me particularly busy Friday and Saturday, it did keep me away from the news.

Saturday, during a quiet period, I started a post...

What is the matter with that man? Not satisfied with threatening N. Korea with fire and brimstone he has now turned his eye to Venezuela, threatening a military take-over there because 'the place is a mess', not that he even knew where Venezuela is. John Kelly has started bringing an atlas with him to meetings says one of the rogue WH twitter accounts. He is even verbally attacking and threatening the few Republican senators that are finally showing some sort of spine as well as some of his own appointees.

Never mind, I know what's the matter with him. He's an empty shell who is incapable of creating anything and so he destroys instead. Well, that's just one of the many things wrong with him. There is so much wrong with him that he is a joke, albeit a dangerous joke, not just here but abroad as well. There's an interesting article on Alternet about how Trump is perceived by leading European officials and it ain't pretty.

Number one is his obsession with Obama and his primary motivation seems to be undoing everything Obama did...“It’s his only real position,” a European diplomat told the site. “He will ask: ‘Did Obama approve this?’ And if the answer is affirmative, he will say: ‘We don’t.’ He won’t even want to listen to the arguments or have a debate. He is obsessed with Obama.” Which of course we know since nearly every executive action and directive has been aimed at undoing something Obama did regardless of how good for the people it is, the most recent two being rescinding the ability of residents of nursing homes to sue for mistreatment and ending the highly successful program aimed at ending teen pregnancy which has been reduced by 40% under the program...

That's as far as I got but I recommend reading the article.

Now here it is Sunday and I've spent yesterday evening and most of the day today reading about Saturday in total disgust of what happened. Nazis marching down the street with torches in their khakis and white polo shirts spewing racist and white supremacist garbage, every single one of them a privileged asshole who has never in their lives experienced any form oppression. Armed Nazis wearing helmets and holding shields gathering for a 'peaceful' rally around the statue of a fucking traitor to this country to which he pledged his fealty, gathering in defense of white supremacy, gathering in support of Trump, of getting their history back as if the history of this country wasn't created by and written by people just like them, armed groups gathering in camo and body armor who were there to protect the Nazis during their demonstration and violence while the police stood back and watched it all without trying to stop them, not until one of the Nazi terrorists ran his car into a crowd of anti-Nazi protestors killing one and injuring 19 others.

This happened here in America yesterday.

And what was Trump's response? Did he condemn Nazi ideology, did he refute their support of him? Hardly. He namby pambyed around saying we should be united and condemn all that hate stands for, blaming 'many sides' for the violence. It was so vague and non-specific that the nazi crowd is seeing it as a positive.

Well, the nazi terrorists, and make no mistake, there is no difference between alt-right, white supremacists, and nazis, no matter what they call themselves, were eventually run out of town and denounced in the most concrete terms by Virginia's governor and some republican politicians are doing the same, most surprising among them to me was Ted Cruz who called them what they are, nazi terrorists, and condemned them roundly. They'll be back though. There is another such rally planned for September 11 at A&M University in Texas. I think they're testing the waters, trying out their tactics for the civil war they want to start if Trump is removed from office and Trump will embrace them as his own personal loyal army. It's going to get ugly folks.

This nation harbors a heart of hate and oppression. We have been at war for nearly every year of our existence. We whites have enslaved and committed genocide. We have repressed and subjected. With our completely unfettered access to guns, more Americans have died at the hands of our own citizens than have died in all the wars we have fought combined...see sentence 2. I'm afraid we are becoming what we have always been. Still, I never thought we would inherit the soul of Nazi Germany.

fear and rage in America

People don't seem to understand the difference between being poor and being oppressed. You can be poor without being oppressed. I have been poor at times in my life but I have never been oppressed and it was easy for me as a white person to find employment (although not as easy as if I were a man) in order to better my circumstances.

Poor means you don't have enough money to pay all your bills and buy food. Poor means the quality of food that you can afford to buy is poor. Poor means you may not own a car and definitely don't own a house. Poor means you work for a pittance and have to have two or three jobs just to make ends meet. Poor means you wear hand me down clothes that you get at the thrift store. Poor means you can't go to the doctor when you get sick and just forget about the dentist. Poor means that you go to schools with no resources. Poor means having to drop out of school so you can get a job to help support your family.

Oppressed means that once you reach middle school, police are stopping you on your way to school to search your backpack. Oppressed means that if you drive through certain neighborhoods, you get pulled over by police. Oppressed means that when the police stop you for no good reason whatsoever, they start being physically abusive so that when you try to protect yourself, they arrest you for resisting arrest and once in police custody they beat the shit out of you. Oppressed means that when you stand up for your rights, the police arrest you. Oppressed means that the police bust into your house on a raid, throw a flash bang into your son's crib burning him severely, terrorize the occupants before finally figuring out that they are at the wrong house and they get away scott-free from all the damage, pain, and medical expenses they caused. Oppressed is being homeless and being shot dead in the back by police. Oppressed is the police arresting you over and over for blown out of proportion offenses or no offense at all in order to create a rap sheet that prevents you from gainful employment. Oppressed is the police not responding to your calls for help or if they do, someone gets killed. Oppressed is having your 14 year old daughter walk to the mailbox to fetch the mail and have police stop and throw her to the ground and arrest her for prostitution. Oppressed is waiting at the bus stop on your way to work and being arrested for prostitution. Oppressed is all the opportunities never even offered to you not because you are not qualified but because your skin is the wrong color or your name sounds black. Oppressed is being called a thug for burning cars and breaking shop windows if you are black but just a college boy letting off steam if you are white. Oppressed is being sent to jail for the same crime that a white person gets away with. Oppressed is being singled out by the police for abuse. Oppressed is the city abandoning any repairs or improvements in your neighborhood. Oppressed is having a peaceful demonstration and the police show up in riot gear with tear gas and batons and start abusing and arresting people. Oppressed is six cops beating you in the head and kicking you as you lay helpless on the ground. Oppressed is having no hope and no future and nothing to lose. Oppressed is being demonized by the press which never shows the good you do. Oppressed is being unarmed and murdered by the police and having them go free to do it again. Oppressed is people being in fear of you or thinking you are a 'taker' just because of the color of your skin.  Oppressed is being judged without anyone taking the trouble to find out what your story is.

These people in Baltimore and Ferguson and LA way before that and in many other communities in this country, they aren't just poor. They are poor and oppressed. That's been their past and is their future. You don't have to condone violence to understand it. But you do have to understand it to fix it.  

And you have to understand that these people are not in this situation from lack of will or effort or because they are lazy or ignorant or because they want to be criminals. These people are in this situation because they were born into it and have been systematically prevented from rising above it.

You can't pull yourself up by your own bootstraps if you don't have any boots and sometimes the rage and frustration at the injustice erupts.

And still, the oppressed will do this.