We stand on the shoulders of the greatness and bravery that came before us. It’s our turn to stand up and demand not only our civil rights as citizens, but our humanity and our dignity in the face of a political party and a president elect bent on dragging us into the the cruelty and bigotry of the past.
77 "likes"! That breaks a record for comments on Substack. If you liked this, please consider subscribing to my Substack, where I recently reposted one of my Leonard Cohen interviews. The way I visualize it, Lucian and I have adjoining virtual offices in the Substack sphere, much the way we both wrote for the Village Voice back in the 70s counter-culture days! (He was a staff writer; I was a freelancer).
I was the young wife of a soldier in 1970, training for Vietnam, protesting the war in Vietnam. I’ll protest now too. For my daughter and all daughters, for my granddaughter and all granddaughters. For my immigrant neighbors, for black brown and white friends. For my every gay man or woman.
I have read that some undocumented migrants who have been in the country for many years, even decades, and who had children here, are leaving detailed notes in their homes about their children's health and medical conditions and prescription drugs. Why? In case their children come home from school one day and the parents are not there because they were rounded up by Stephen Miller's gestapo for deportation. Can anyone begin to imagine the horrors that are about to be unleashed on decent, hardworking people in this country, simply seeking a better life and safety for their families?
Miep Gies, in her book about Anne Frank, detailed these awful roundups in Amsterdam where she helped hide the Frank family. I hoped to never see such a thing, but now.....
I think Trump and Miller will soon find that this mass deportation effort is far too complex and costly and politically damaging. Not to say cruel. There will be an outcry of rage from coast to coast.
💖 Old white woman hears you. Remember marching on WDC? Remember thinking we made some progress? Fascism is always waiting in the wings, ready to pounce. Always.
In watching Lawrence O'Donnell last night I was happy to see him read DT's words rather than showing the clip where we would have to look and listen to DT. Enough is enough, I hope other broadcasters follow suit, post his words or read them. Don't force us to look at DT.
Me too, Marcia. He is toxic—- a loathsome, ignorant, soulless serial liar… a sexist, a coward, and a traitor.
Germany made a gigantic mistake in the 1930s as the little man with the mustache cleverly made his way to power. We have just made our own gigantic national mistake. We were caught with our pants down in 2016 — no one this tawdry and disgusting had ever been elected president. Fool me twice, shame on me. We are ready now.
Thank you, Smirky Jan. My wife and I cannot stomach the sound or sight of Trump and have curtailed our tv and MSNBC time accordingly. Trump is toxic. Let’s take LKT’s thoughts to heart and do our best to resist the pending dictatorship and watch the infighting and intrigue that will begin on 1/20/25. ETTD. Everything Trump Touches Dies.
On the other hand, seeing Trump as he deteriorates further is important. I think some of his voters have never seen him in one of his pathetic rallies. Fox News cuts away when he seems to be on the brink of really, really bad.
I don't think trump's voters care what or how he says anything. In their vote they are expressing the grievances, the ones they have been told by The Big Bad Fox are caused by the Democrats.
This may be the best historical comparison for our recent election that will ever be written. I so appreciate the historic grounding we need right now.
i took a walk after lunch this afternoon because the weather in palm springs right now is so perfect that a bunch of people from all over the world are making changes so they can come be where i live for a while. my route took me by the local chabad where i saw my neighbors putting up sheets of plywood over the windows that were recently broken. it's ballistic glass. the way the local nazis break it is to throw heavy objects from moving vehicles. i have 11156 days clean and sober through AA today, when my friend and neighbor, a lubavitcher rabbi, asked me how i am doing i told him "i have a grim and obstinate desire to hang on to my sobriety come hell or high water." he replied "we will not surrender who we are." i can stand with folks like that.
In the immediate aftermath of the November 5 debacle, I began reading David Greenberg’s new biography of John Lewis. It is quite consoling. There are many things that we will need to do now. A dear friend of mine was one of the few who were prosecuted by that ridiculous special prosecutor whose name I cannot recall whom Trump appointed after he lost the last election before this one. Like almost everyone else in that predicament, my friend was acquitted when he got to trial. But the financial cost was enormous. One thing we will need to think about doing now. Is figuring out how to financially support anyone who is on Trump’s enemies list and is prosecuted, or subjected to a horrendous tax audit, or any other form of persecution.. Another thing that we need to do is start thinking about ways to chip away at the sick macho and misogynistic culture that has brought us to this place. That started a long time ago and it certainly is not a new idea, but it really needs to pick up some serious steam. There are probably a lot of other things that we can get working on as soon as we have all finished grieving and I hope that will be very soon.
Not to diminish what Ms. Parks did, but she was a plant for the cause. The true hero is Claudette Colvin, who at 15 refused to give up her bus seat to a white person (pre-dating Rosa Parks) and whose lawsuit went on to challenge and end segregation on buses. I highly recommend reading the story of her life as described in the book “Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice”.
As a raving fan of Rosa Parks— who should replace Jackson on the $20.00 bill—I will pursue knowing about Claudette Colvin, and I’m ashamed of my ignorance.
I’m on the third book by, Taylor Branch about the ML King years. The black people in the south and more specifically in Mississippi had a worse time than any of us are having now, to the point of being killed because they were trying to register to vote, think about that, just registering to vote. And that right had been given to them. They stood up and fought and eventually won that fight. Reading this history is inspiring and even though it’s dark and horrific it gives me hope for what we are facing. To everyone here reach back into history and find your own inspiration. I’m an old Vietnam veteran and at 75 I can still protest and fight back, and I will. Someone here said they were taking it easy and I agree but on Sunday I’m going to my local county democratic social hour to regroup, talk, commiserate, with one another and figure out what’s next. So there’s my little bit of advice, read some history and get to work and start rowing before we take on more water.
You know I love you, Lucian, but if you’re going chronologically you could have easily noted that women were jailed, tortured, and died for the right to vote before all those others you list .. and women wouldn’t be in the last paragraph AGAIN, dammitol.
I do know you, and I'd like to explain. Writing a column like this is a series of subtractions, not additions. I had to make up my mind how many and which movements to include in that list. I could have kept going to the coal strike of 1902, to the Wobblies to the Civil War, for that matter. When writing, you draw lines. I drew mine. You would draw yours another way. Que Sera, you know?
I know, I know. It’s just that “editorial decisions” just about always default to women mentioned last. Women were *tortured and died* for their rights.
Thank you for your eloquent words, Lucian. I just read a terrifying post about how Trump will not only deport immigrants but will keep Americans from leaving the country and confiscate our bank accounts. I don't know if that's true but I do know that this isn't Nazi Germany and we aren't ignorant. We know how to fight. There are eighty million of us and we're not going to stand for his BS.
Any of us that want to prioritize addressing carbon toxicity (dirty fueled climate change) would like to add everyone under 18 years of age (who are inelligible to vote) to the population that will be impacted by the choices of the new (old and worn out) administration!
My Trumpster friends kept telling me that the Democrats would confiscate my bank accounts. The joke is on them; by the 15th my checking account will be empty.
You are correct, Sir. The resistance begins today. Again.
Remember that the Orange One was only elected by 32% of those eligible to vote.
He was allowed to be elected by the 38% of eligible voters who chose to not cast a ballot.
He does not have a mandate. We can make his term a nightmare by standing up for our rights at each and every turn. And we will.
Amen. We need civil disobedience on a massive scale.
Here, here!
"It's coming to America first
The cradle of the best and of the worst
It's here they got the range
And the machinery for change
And it's here they got the spiritual thirst
It's here the family's broken
And it's here the lonely say
That the heart has got to open
In a fundamental way
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A."
--"Democracy" by Leonard Cohen
F-ing genius saint.
👍👍
77 "likes"! That breaks a record for comments on Substack. If you liked this, please consider subscribing to my Substack, where I recently reposted one of my Leonard Cohen interviews. The way I visualize it, Lucian and I have adjoining virtual offices in the Substack sphere, much the way we both wrote for the Village Voice back in the 70s counter-culture days! (He was a staff writer; I was a freelancer).
Here's one more "like" from me.
Thanks LKTIV. Thank you for your family's service on this Veteran's Day.
https://youtu.be/DU-RuR-qO4Y?si=kGn-1iT5tNYaLagh
I was the young wife of a soldier in 1970, training for Vietnam, protesting the war in Vietnam. I’ll protest now too. For my daughter and all daughters, for my granddaughter and all granddaughters. For my immigrant neighbors, for black brown and white friends. For my every gay man or woman.
I have read that some undocumented migrants who have been in the country for many years, even decades, and who had children here, are leaving detailed notes in their homes about their children's health and medical conditions and prescription drugs. Why? In case their children come home from school one day and the parents are not there because they were rounded up by Stephen Miller's gestapo for deportation. Can anyone begin to imagine the horrors that are about to be unleashed on decent, hardworking people in this country, simply seeking a better life and safety for their families?
I want to scream!!!
Miep Gies, in her book about Anne Frank, detailed these awful roundups in Amsterdam where she helped hide the Frank family. I hoped to never see such a thing, but now.....
I think Trump and Miller will soon find that this mass deportation effort is far too complex and costly and politically damaging. Not to say cruel. There will be an outcry of rage from coast to coast.
Deportation is another Trump lie, like his imaginary wall that got him elected, but never appeared.
Exactly. What a piece of trash he is.
But this OLD, black woman is sick and tired of being worse off than when she was 18...
I'm a 77 year old white woman, holding your hand! Together we can beat their asses.
💖 Old white woman hears you. Remember marching on WDC? Remember thinking we made some progress? Fascism is always waiting in the wings, ready to pounce. Always.
In watching Lawrence O'Donnell last night I was happy to see him read DT's words rather than showing the clip where we would have to look and listen to DT. Enough is enough, I hope other broadcasters follow suit, post his words or read them. Don't force us to look at DT.
The sight or sound of The Rapist makes me vomit.
Me too, Marcia. He is toxic—- a loathsome, ignorant, soulless serial liar… a sexist, a coward, and a traitor.
Germany made a gigantic mistake in the 1930s as the little man with the mustache cleverly made his way to power. We have just made our own gigantic national mistake. We were caught with our pants down in 2016 — no one this tawdry and disgusting had ever been elected president. Fool me twice, shame on me. We are ready now.
Thank you, Smirky Jan. My wife and I cannot stomach the sound or sight of Trump and have curtailed our tv and MSNBC time accordingly. Trump is toxic. Let’s take LKT’s thoughts to heart and do our best to resist the pending dictatorship and watch the infighting and intrigue that will begin on 1/20/25. ETTD. Everything Trump Touches Dies.
On the other hand, seeing Trump as he deteriorates further is important. I think some of his voters have never seen him in one of his pathetic rallies. Fox News cuts away when he seems to be on the brink of really, really bad.
I don't think trump's voters care what or how he says anything. In their vote they are expressing the grievances, the ones they have been told by The Big Bad Fox are caused by the Democrats.
This may be the best historical comparison for our recent election that will ever be written. I so appreciate the historic grounding we need right now.
Thank you sir.
i took a walk after lunch this afternoon because the weather in palm springs right now is so perfect that a bunch of people from all over the world are making changes so they can come be where i live for a while. my route took me by the local chabad where i saw my neighbors putting up sheets of plywood over the windows that were recently broken. it's ballistic glass. the way the local nazis break it is to throw heavy objects from moving vehicles. i have 11156 days clean and sober through AA today, when my friend and neighbor, a lubavitcher rabbi, asked me how i am doing i told him "i have a grim and obstinate desire to hang on to my sobriety come hell or high water." he replied "we will not surrender who we are." i can stand with folks like that.
Thank you for reminding me that it's about courage & wisdom that buttress serenity, not resignation or impotent rage. (6/7/97 here.)
Check out this website:
Weareworthfightingfor.org
I play Scottish Highland bagpipes and I'm ready to lead a march or charge into battle. No surrender.
Bagpipes. There is for me a powerful, visceral feeling when I hear them. What’s that about? Let’s march.
Calls to the blood, for those who hear it. I stand ready. Foemen, wrath is coming!
Me too! Ready to fight - no bag pipes.
I mean I can't play them!
In the immediate aftermath of the November 5 debacle, I began reading David Greenberg’s new biography of John Lewis. It is quite consoling. There are many things that we will need to do now. A dear friend of mine was one of the few who were prosecuted by that ridiculous special prosecutor whose name I cannot recall whom Trump appointed after he lost the last election before this one. Like almost everyone else in that predicament, my friend was acquitted when he got to trial. But the financial cost was enormous. One thing we will need to think about doing now. Is figuring out how to financially support anyone who is on Trump’s enemies list and is prosecuted, or subjected to a horrendous tax audit, or any other form of persecution.. Another thing that we need to do is start thinking about ways to chip away at the sick macho and misogynistic culture that has brought us to this place. That started a long time ago and it certainly is not a new idea, but it really needs to pick up some serious steam. There are probably a lot of other things that we can get working on as soon as we have all finished grieving and I hope that will be very soon.
Not to diminish what Ms. Parks did, but she was a plant for the cause. The true hero is Claudette Colvin, who at 15 refused to give up her bus seat to a white person (pre-dating Rosa Parks) and whose lawsuit went on to challenge and end segregation on buses. I highly recommend reading the story of her life as described in the book “Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice”.
I second that, Carol. Claudette Colvin was deemed to be too controversial for the cause, as an unwed pregnant teenager.
You’re exactly right!
As a raving fan of Rosa Parks— who should replace Jackson on the $20.00 bill—I will pursue knowing about Claudette Colvin, and I’m ashamed of my ignorance.
Don’t be ashamed at all! I only learned about it in 2009 when I heard it on NPR. And the last I knew, she was still alive. Here’s a great summary. https://www.biography.com/activists/claudette-colvin-rosa-parks-bus-boycott
Ms. Nelson: Went to the site& learned about that brave former teen. Thank you!
You’re welcome.
But Rosa Parks is still a very important hero in the resistance movement.
I'm 71 years old. I got tear gassed at 15 protesting the Vietnam War. I say "Bring it on mother f'kers" .
I fear they will bring on more than tear gas. In the early 70's civilians didn't own AK47's.
I’m on the third book by, Taylor Branch about the ML King years. The black people in the south and more specifically in Mississippi had a worse time than any of us are having now, to the point of being killed because they were trying to register to vote, think about that, just registering to vote. And that right had been given to them. They stood up and fought and eventually won that fight. Reading this history is inspiring and even though it’s dark and horrific it gives me hope for what we are facing. To everyone here reach back into history and find your own inspiration. I’m an old Vietnam veteran and at 75 I can still protest and fight back, and I will. Someone here said they were taking it easy and I agree but on Sunday I’m going to my local county democratic social hour to regroup, talk, commiserate, with one another and figure out what’s next. So there’s my little bit of advice, read some history and get to work and start rowing before we take on more water.
Good on ya, Bill… from one Vietnam veteran to another.
You know I love you, Lucian, but if you’re going chronologically you could have easily noted that women were jailed, tortured, and died for the right to vote before all those others you list .. and women wouldn’t be in the last paragraph AGAIN, dammitol.
I do know you, and I'd like to explain. Writing a column like this is a series of subtractions, not additions. I had to make up my mind how many and which movements to include in that list. I could have kept going to the coal strike of 1902, to the Wobblies to the Civil War, for that matter. When writing, you draw lines. I drew mine. You would draw yours another way. Que Sera, you know?
I know, I know. It’s just that “editorial decisions” just about always default to women mentioned last. Women were *tortured and died* for their rights.
I like your optimism, Lucian, but how can we believe there will be more elections?
The entire column, from first word to last, is about not letting that happen.
Thank you for your eloquent words, Lucian. I just read a terrifying post about how Trump will not only deport immigrants but will keep Americans from leaving the country and confiscate our bank accounts. I don't know if that's true but I do know that this isn't Nazi Germany and we aren't ignorant. We know how to fight. There are eighty million of us and we're not going to stand for his BS.
Any of us that want to prioritize addressing carbon toxicity (dirty fueled climate change) would like to add everyone under 18 years of age (who are inelligible to vote) to the population that will be impacted by the choices of the new (old and worn out) administration!
My Trumpster friends kept telling me that the Democrats would confiscate my bank accounts. The joke is on them; by the 15th my checking account will be empty.