
Kent State taught us that white deaths matter more
than Black students shot at Jackson State the week before.
Will protests-to-come under attack by armed and masked militia
teach us that Brown and Black people under attack is indicia,
within the borders of a nation dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal to the oppression,
of rich men of ill will in hiding from congressional oversight
and protected by the US Supreme Court’s judicial might?
I see the writing on the wall, not graffiti, after all,
but executive orders illegal and ill-tended to destroy
the hoped-for dreams of every American girl and boy
not born into wealth, in no need of human labor
to offer enough cash to create a way to savor
all that life could offer a middle-class caste
now turned in serfdom, as in decades long past.
We are not in a culture war.
We are in a class war.
We are in war we thought civil war had ended.
Yet, we continue to watch the republic untended
by leaders who did not see the need to fight
and believed compromise with bullies was right.
Workers sold out over and over again.
Blocked in every effort to build strong unions.
Students sold out over and over again.
Blocked in every effort to get a sound education.
Children sold out over and over again.
Blocked in every effort to find safe protection.
None of us now treated with human affection.
None of us now safe in our streets or our beds.
None of able to take a breath without dread.
Whether you voted for this, or not.
This is what you wrought.
Now, this is what we’ve got.

IT IS ALWAYS IN THE NUMBERS
Reports indicate attendance at NO KINGS events is somewhere between 5.2-8.2 billion persons. It is possibly much larger than any assumed count. For example. If one counts those registered with organizations who counted attendees, one simply gets a flat number of those who bothered to join through the organization. I registered and reported my attendance. By the time I attended three more persons joined me. They remain uncounted officially. I am sure this is true for families and friends of most attendees.
In the past, for individual rallies, law enforcement using drones mapped the crowd and made estimates using “so many persons per square inch” of their photos to create crowd attendance figures. While major big cities may have done so, mine did not. Local news did not. nor did Law enforcement in my locality. I am certain this happened in much of small town America. So when these numbers are posted, assume they are sorely undercounted.
Nevertheless, no matter the total count, the wide extent of events across the country in red and blue states and cities, in small hamlets, on rural roadway intersections, outside nursing homes and senior care facilities is significant. And, such small groups are likely not part of the count. Yet, the fact they showed such resilience and disgust for what is happening and took to the streets gives us cause to hope we can face down fascism and remove those traitors to our core American beliefs and to our Constitution from office; from School Board, Board of Health, City and County commissioners, mayors and city council, to Congress and the White House.
Local politics is sometime hard to unravel, especially for races where platitudes replace true positions and no party affiliation is required. We have tools those who came before us did not have, the internet and email addresses. Ask candidates for specific position statements. If they do not answer or provide gibberish, there is your answer. Be an informed voter. Help register new voters. Help motivate and take voters to the polls. We must now march to the polls as we marched through the streets. As Winston Churchill said, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Now, the hard work begins. Please remember the joy you felt on No Kings Day and let it propel you to even greater efforts. We now know for certain, what we believed. We are not alone.
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