History Books
Even as we're in the thick of it all, we know that the daily assaults on decency will one day become history.
Reflecting on the past. Looking forward to the future.
Dear friends,
I often find myself daydreaming about how the history books of the (hopefully not too distant) future will portray this moment in time. In my daydreams, the books tell of a terrifying era when violent madmen ruled the world, but the people rose up in great numbers and took control, removing the madmen from power and serving them justice. In my daydreams, I envision Nuremberg type trials holding the corrupt and cruel rulers accountable, and sentencing them to years (life?) behind bars.
I'm of an age where we were taught history (albeit the white settler version) in school, and even my kids learned a fair bit about the past throughout their years in public school. Do they still teach history in school these days?
In my youth, I was quite the history buff, and, as far as I can recall, in all the history books I read, it was pretty clear, in hindsight, that fascists, dictators, lunatic leaders, murderers and rapists were consistently (and rightfully) painted as the bad guys. Genocide - bad. Warmongering - bad. Fascism - bad. Likewise, resistance fighters - good. Nonviolent protesters - good. Allies of the oppressed - good. Voices for peace and justice - good.
I'm sure you probably came away with the same understandings as I did about what went right in history, and also what went so horribly wrong.
There is a general belief that we study history so that we won't repeat the same mistakes. Ha!
Predictive history.
I recently read ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS (Oof! I highly recommend this hard hitting, poignant book). I think of this title as an example of predictive history. I mean, based on most horrible events of the past and how populations have generally responded in the aftermath, Omar El Akkad is probably right. One day, all decent people will have understood how horrific Israel's brutal genocide of the Palestinian people was (is). One day, everyone will have always been against it, but in the meantime, governments far and wide have done their utmost to repress objection, and many even continue to support Netanyahu and his crimes against humanity. If we study history to learn from our mistakes, why is the world allowing genocide to happen again right before our very eyes?
Along the same lines, I'm pretty sure that future humans will scratch their heads and wonder how the hell the orange menace and his cruel cabinet were allowed to wreak so much pain and suffering worldwide for far too long. I'm pretty sure that, one day, everyone will have been against this too.
Remember, this too shall pass.
Even as we're in the thick of it all, we know that the daily assaults on decency will one day become history. Just this week, the insufferable puppy (and human) killer Kristi Noem was unceremoniously removed from her position as Secretary of the Homeland Security, where she ransacked the American coffers while directing ICE to commit unholy terror on communities across the US. Over this past year of Noem-endorsed corruption, cruelty, and lawlessness, nobody knew how, if, or when it would end, and then, all of a sudden, one fine Thursday afternoon, Kristi was kicked to the curb via a Truth Social post. Of course, the Pedo-in-Chief is trying to replace her with someone equally vile, but perhaps that might not be so easy for him now that most Dems and even a few Republicans have had a full year to realize what's at play and that the regime is not actually playing by any rules. So, even as we're in the thick of it all, or maybe because we're in the thick of it all, it's easy to forget that what is happening now is not going to be happening forever. But when we stop to take a few deep breaths and look at the history of previous reigns of terror, we remember that this too shall pass.
Who doesn't love a little schadenfreude?
Lock. Them. Up.
You can count on Andy Borowitz to give us hope for what's to come. We got a little taste of relief and delight this week watching Kristi Noem get thrown under the bus. Hopefully, Pam Bondi, and maybe even a few others will follow soon. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to wait for the entire regime to collapse before we actually get the pleasure of seeing the Grifter-in-Chief and his odious clan and enablers locked up, but I am hopeful that this day will come (sooner rather than later). And what a sweet day that will be. We'll all be dining out on delicious schadenfreude for years to come. Every time we crack open a history book recounting how these vile scoundrels finally faced the music and paid the price for their actions in these dark times, we'll celebrate all over again.
I know this might seem terribly naive, but it's what keeps me going. Until I am proven wrong, I need to keep believing that justice will prevail.
Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe!
Of course, that justice isn't going to just appear out of nowhere. It's all of us together who are weakening their foundations, poking holes in their walls. It's all of us who got Kristi fired. It's all of us doing our part to keep our neighbours safe, to alert each other where and when to take action, to throw sand in the gears of fascism until it grinds to a halt.
When those history books are written about these terrifying times, I hope the authors also write about the millions of people who stepped up and eventually brought this regime down. I hope those historians write about the organic and effective rise in mutual aid, about community care and nonviolent activism. I hope they write about the incredible surge in creativity and arts as forms of resistance. I hope they describe in great detail how the NO KINGS protests kept growing so that each one was bigger than the last one which just happened to be the biggest protest in the history of the United States until this one. I wonder how many more millions of Americans will show up on March 28th for the next NO KINGS protest. I hope this next NO KINGS day is one for the history books.
This isn't the end.This is the space between what was and what's coming. We are part of the history that's being written, and we get to be the good part. We get to be the ones that future humans will read about in history books and admire for our moral clarity, our courage, our creativity, our loving hearts.
Go make some good trouble that will make your descendants proud.
Here's to the future that we are creating with love and gratitude,
Jessica (she/her)
