Thread by @Spartan2dn

#WednesdayWisdom

My initial reading of this article left me in a reactionary mode: WTF? We wouldn’t be in this cesspool of #tRumpToxicity had folks at NYT & other media done their jobs. I ran the gamut of how we arrived here:
🚨 extreme partisanship
nyti.ms/2RLlg02

✅ Russian meddling
🚨 gerrymandering
✅ voter apathy
🚨 under-representation of women in gov’t
✅ failure of education system (I teach middle school)
🚨 income inequality
✅ shitty and corrupt #GOP
🚨 Jill Stein
✅ F*cks & Friends at Fox
🚨 evangelical neighbor
and so on...

Followed by inventorying my outrage. Like many, I was sickened by the Muslim ban, horrified by family separation and incarceration at our borders, pissed and fatigued by daily #tRump sh*t show, resentful I had to call my MoC to plead for gun reform, basic rights, including

healthcare, reproductive rights, clean air/water, and stop housing children in cages! Damn, I can’t even get him to host a townhall or acknowledge my phone calls. Then the gates of Hell flew open late Saturday with a viral video exposing what many of us have fought hard to ignore

deny, rationalize, and debate: a vile, undeniable and inexcusable display of racism- all dressed up in "White Privilege", including my own, donning red #MAGA hats. Is this what we are up against? Is this symptomatic of what the writer describes as our "fraying Democracy"? If so,

where and how do we begin to fix this. Have I deluded myself into thinking justice will prevail- as it usually does for those of us owning white privilege- and the 2020 candidate will somehow be perceived as more "likable", less threatening. Can she or he fix systemic inequality,

racism, and fear which has thrived and festered in our country from its earliest inception and through the decades? The writer suggests progressives may be more focused on finding perfect 2020 candidate than building a coordinated, unified, and sustainable movement. Speaking

for myself, I am done with revisionist history, including my own cherry-picking. I will stop with the pity parties, rehashing how we got here, thinking my tweets are a substitute for meaningful and measurable action. Instead, I will take the tools so many of you have modeled and

shared, engaging in social/political actions which are concrete, inconvenient, require compassionate listening, and challenge me to further confront and let go of my privilege.

I meant to add, please ask me how its going from-time-time to raise my level of accountability? ☘️💙💫