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1. Some easy truths and some hard truths on Confederate statues. First, some easy truths:
2.If you want history, read a history book. The only thing a guy on a horse in the town square tells you is who they put in the town square.
3. And don’t think we haven’t noticed the same people saying "we need to preserve history " are whitewashing history textbooks.
4. Since you're so concerned with history, how about some monuments to the black, brown and native people in your town's history?
5. Statues and monuments aren't history- they're celebrations. More importantly they're messages.
6. History is written by the winners, and these statues were put up to say “around here, we’re still in charge".
7. The statues say “treason wasn’t treason because white supremacy is patriotism”.
8. It’s undeniable when you consider most of those monuments were installed in a few historic periods of white backlash. 
9. In fact, what makes these statues- these messages- important is that the message was backed up by action.
10. They’re messages exonerating treason, backed up by actions: Jim Crow laws, the return of the KKK, fighting school integration…
11. No letting Northerners off the hook either, and not just because of the monuments on the grounds of the Capitol. washingtonpost.com/news/postevery…
12. And the statues may have been put up back in the day, but they’re still there. That’s a message too.
13.Leaving them up says “around here, *we’re* still in charge”. And again, what makes the message important is that it’s backed up by action
14. Police brutality. School-to-prison-pipeline. Voter suppression (a euphemism for stealing democracy from people). Jim Crow’s still here.
15. Ok, those are the easy truths. The rest of this is aimed at fellow white people.
16. The statues are still up because we’re still letting them stay up. Leaving them there says we’re ok with or indifferent to Jim Crow.
17. And our message is important because it’s backed up our actions.
18. Every election where we vote for the party of voter suppression. Every election we chose to sit out of.
19. Our inaction is an action too. We choose where our time and energy go. It hasn’t gone to democracy.
20. Let’s not forget, civil rights is about democracy. And if every citizen doesn’t have access to democracy, it’s not really a democracy.
21. And every civil rights movements has been led by the subjects of oppression. I mean, duh, but that’s an indictment of the rest of us.
22. The beneficiaries of oppression let its victims fight our fight for us because we don’t see it as our fight.
23. But if you believe in democracy and justice then it is your fight. Otherwise you’re using the same “we” and “them” as the klan.
24. I’m not leaving myself out of this. Been bitter and disgusted about voter suppression for decades now. Almost zero action.
25. I was cheering from the sidelines. The message wasn’t connected to the action.
26. Well when the status quo is minority rule, sitting on the sidelines is siding with minority rule.
27.*We* let all of this continue, to the point millions of POC are illegally blocked from exercising their franchise
28. Which means *we* let Trump win. Because he wouldn’t have won without voter suppression and the propaganda that comes with Jim Crow.
29. In other words, Trump’s win is part of the same dynamics that put confederate statues up and kept them up. He knows it better than we do
30. I mean, look at this:
31. Treason, Jim Crow, the return of the KKK, fighting school integration: that’s Trump.
32. And the treason isn't a coincidence. #TrumpRussia and the confederacy aren’t treason to people whose country is white supremacy.
33. A white supremacist was elected thru the tools and tricks of white supremacy, with the active and passive help of whites and our media.
34. Ok, so what now? What now is we match our actions to our messages.
35. A start: call your reps about ICE and police brutality. Show up at city hall. Show up. Find local ways to protect your values.
36. There are a million things we can and should be doing. Just pick a few– even just one- but really get involved.
37. And no matter where you live, there’s one monument to the confederacy you can help take down. Not Sessions - Trump.
38. His win was the result of our collective inaction, and that’s on us. But it’s also the product of treason and illegal voter suppression.
39. His term is the fruit of the poisonous tree. It’s illegitimate. With collective *action* we can get rid of him.
40. We can pretend Mitch “I Steal Supreme Court Seats” McConnell and Paul “I’m Full of Shit” Ryan would ever impeach him.
41. We can pretend taking both houses in 2018 isn’t a total long shot, and that it won’t be rigged again.
42. Or we can stop treating 🇺🇸 like a spectator sport and admit it’s on us to throw the illegitimate, treasonous, nazi-defending bums out.
43. We can do this. Wouldn’t be the first time we pulled together to do something big and important.
theguardian.com/world/2016/dec…
theguardian.com/world/2016/dec…
End rant.
