Tag: Memphis Women’s March

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Editorial Opinion

Resisting From the Left

CREDIT: Josh Cannon

Josh Cannon

The modish word “proactive” presumably says something both quantitatively and qualitatively more than “active” does, and there is compelling reason to believe that it and other linguistic transformations are not lapses or even inventions so much as they are collective and subconscious adaptations to revisions in reality.

That said, here’s a word with an established meaning that circumstances may contrive to give a new twist: “resist.”

That’s a word which, in one form or another, has spontaneously begun to multiply in headlines and articles and bold magazine blurbs and broadcast promos dealing with the current American political situation.

The Women’s March of January 21st, a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, was one manifestation of a pent-up — and now exploded — urge to resist. The Women’s Marches, we should say, since the turnout of protesters was massive and everywhere. And so were the spontaneous outbursts that greeted President Trump’s abortive ban on free movement to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim nations. And many more parallel assemblies, for better or for worse — the angry horde that presented right-wing demagogue Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking at the University of California being a case in point of the latter, arguably.

The very word “resist” has now begun to expand its range even further. It no longer requires even an implied object. The current wave of mass actions is not merely a reaction to Trump — though it certainly owes much to his provocations. Trump himself was undeniably the beneficiary of angry collective energies in the election year just past. It can be argued that his campaign was the other side of the coin that also produced the left/socialist movement of Bernie Sanders.

Whatever its origin, and however bifurcated, anger persists, and it seems ever clearer that whatever shade of populism may have reared up behind Trump, it will not stand by the reactionary and wayward nature of the regime that his cabinet appointments and cavalier attitudes now portend.

One example of the mounting popular mood was on exhibit Saturday morning at a town meeting held by 9th District congressman Steve Cohen at East High School. (See Politics, p. 7.) Presumably as a precaution, there were numerous police officers on hand, but at no point was there anything resembling a disturbance amongst the thousand or so attendees, who manifested an impressive unity behind a diverse set of common goals.

The key moment of that event came when a woman rose to exclaim, “We are not fighting back! We need a grass roots growth like the Tea Party. We need a Democratic Tea Party now.”

Now, that’s proactive resistance. More is sure to come.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Good Signs, Bad Signs

Last week, the Flyer threw a party to celebrate its 20<30 Class of 2017. It was held at the Old Dominick Distillery on Front Street, yet another old downtown building being beautifully and creatively retrofitted. Three hundred folks showed up, most of them young and full of sass, hope, and dreams.

And Memphis has a lot to be hopeful about, if these young people are an indication of the talent pool living here. I was blown away by the diversity, the brains, and the ambition on display in that room.

And then I met Senator Brian Kelsey. I’m kidding. Well, not about meeting Brian Kelsey. We did meet, and it wasn’t as awkward as either of us probably expected, given that I have written some less than complimentary things about the man’s politics. I congratulated him on his work with fellow senator — and Democrat — Lee Harris on behalf preserving our Memphis Sand aquifer, and we chatted pleasantly for a few moments with a mutual friend.

And that gives me hope, too. I’m sure that I’ll have plenty of reasons to criticize Kelsey’s politics in the future, but it’s always a good thing when political opponents can find common ground — or water, in this case. That’s the way things used to work, before we all got funneled into our ideological information silos, before the era of fake news and “alternative facts.”

A couple days later, on Saturday, the Memphis Women’s March brought hope to thousands more people in downtown Memphis. It was a cathartic and energizing demonstration, one that was replicated all over the globe, as women and their allies served notice they wouldn’t quietly surrender to the forces of regression that have taken power in the nation’s capitol.

It’s easy to discount the power of protests, but people taking to the streets drove President Lyndon Johnson into retirement — and eventually ended the Vietnam War and helped bring down Richard Nixon. Change can happen from the bottom up. Sometimes we forget that.

Now we have a president who lies like others breathe. I don’t think it’s a moral failing in Donald Trump’s case; I think it’s a mental illness, a crippling narcissistic disorder. How else to explain his going into CIA headquarters and trying to gaslight intelligence workers? Who does that? Trump told them he hadn’t attacked or disparaged them. A lie. He said his Inauguration crowd was the largest in history. A lie. He said he’d been on the cover of Time magazine more than anyone else. A lie. He even lied about whether it rained while he was giving his Inaugural speech.

He left thinking he’d won them over, but post-speech interviews with CIA leaders and workers revealed that he’d done just the opposite. People, this president’s disconnect with reality is a serious liability for all of us — liberal and conservative. He doesn’t have any discernible principles, except self-aggrandizement. Spouting alternative facts doesn’t work when you’re running a country. This will come to a head. It may take weeks. It may take months. But this level of madness won’t stand for four years.

There is precedent. In December 1973, conservative Republican Senator Barry Goldwater wrote a private note that said, “I have reason to suspect that all might not be well mentally in the White House. This is the only copy that will ever be made of this; it will be locked in my safe.” In 1974, after nearly two years of investigations and hearings, it had become clear that Nixon had ordered the Watergate break-in to Democratic headquarters and tried to cover it up. Goldwater led a delegation to the White House to tell Nixon it was over, that he’d lost Congress and needed to resign. I will not be surprised if history repeats itself.

For the country’s sake, I hope it’s sooner than later. I don’t agree with Vice President Mike Pence on much, but I’d much rather have a president with whom I disagree politically than one who is of questionable sanity.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Forward, March

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived downtown Saturday morning. I had some reservations but decided to attend the march at the last second. I didn’t even make a sign. If I had, it would have said something like “Oh, FFS.” Or “Meryl Streep Is Properly Rated.” Or “Make America Read Again.” There’s always next time. Believe me, there will be a next time.

It wasn’t my first rally or protest, but it was definitely the biggest. I don’t think I’ve ever been part of such a large group of women before. But if it was truly a “woman’s march,” the crowd should have been much larger. I say this because it was about as diverse as an East Memphis yoga class.

People get defensive when this is brought up, and I don’t mean to sound dismissive. Yes, people of varying ages, races, and genders showed up. I’m proud of the thousands of marchers who gave their time to stand up for women.

It was a good first step. The next step is intersectionality.

As I was leaving, I overheard a conversation between two black women.

“This was good. I needed this.”

“Me too, but I wish I’d seen this many people out for MLK Day.”

“Yeah … Wonder why that is?”

This is where I wanted to butt in and say “Because racism,” but I am pretty sure it was a rhetorical question. As King wrote, the white moderate “prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”

I feel bad if women of color didn’t feel welcome or included in last Saturday’s march, but I can’t exactly blame them.

Justin Fox Burks

Women’s March in Memphis

Justin Fox Burks

Why should they trust white women who keep siding with white men? Fifty-two percent of us voted for a candidate who openly boasted about “grabbing them by the pussy” without their consent. Four years prior, more than half of us voted for a guy who counted women by the binder-full in a debate. Too many white women either don’t vote with their own interests at heart or are counting on everyone else to get it right. Now we’ve got a mess to clean up.

The day after the march, I attended a friend’s birthday brunch. I didn’t know everyone at the table, which is always a bit of a social landmine for me because I have no poker face. Here’s what happens: Someone says something with which I disagree. I am physically unable to supress an eyeroll. People I know either engage me or move along. People who don’t ask if there’s something I’d like to say. Cue rant, followed by debate or awkward silence.

We were talking about safe topics like football (well, not safe in the literal sense, but you know what I mean) and work. Everything was fine. And then a woman at the other end of the table said “So, like, these — air quotes — marches. What are they protesting exactly?”

That’s when the room started spinning and everything went dark. All was silent but for the echo of her voice. What are they protesting? Really? And what’s with the air quotes?

I should have told her people protested for Black Lives Matter, gun control, criminal justice reform, and a whole slew of issues that are important to them. I should have told her I can’t speak for anyone else, but here are a handful of the reasons I went:

Because the new president needs to be reminded at every turn that he is accountable to the entire country, not just the people who voted for him.

Because the Affordable Care Act insures millions of people, and if the GOP has a better idea, well, what’s the holdup?

And if we can’t have health insurance for all, we need Planned Parenthood more, not less.

Because our bodies belong to us, and we’re smart enough to make choices for ourselves. We want to be able to start our families on our own terms with affordable reproductive care and child care.

Because Idiocracy wasn’t supposed to be a documentary.

Because democracy doesn’t end the day after the election. Or the inauguration. You don’t have to agree, but this is how I feel. And this is America, and it’s our right.

But I didn’t want to ruin my friend’s brunch, so I bit my tongue and stared at my plate. Yes, that’s right. In less than 24 hours I went from “We won’t be silenced” to “I don’t want to make it weird.”

That approach won’t work anymore.