OMG… BUH BUY MICTH MCONNELL! With him not acting as Senate majority leader anymore there are so many policies and bills that can come through. Really hoping for that $2,000 stimulus check because as I understand it, the bill already passed in the house, but there are so so many more things to be hopeful for. I believe there was also a Marijuana legalization bill passed in the house and without Mitch in the way it may very well make it through too. Progressive policies may have a fighting chance under this administration and just… OMG… I forgot what hope felt like with that circus of an administration that preceded this one to come.
Just picture it, a U.S. with legal weed nationwide, just wow. They better clear every Marijuana charge ever, including dealing, because we know it’s not immoral, so we should stop punishing people for it. What’s more is we need to give those locked up for distributing it help setting up their own dispensaries if they so wish, as to not give all the financial gain to white people for doing something that blacks have been doing for decades. It’d be just like when Elvis rebranded Rhythm and Blues, a black dominated genre, as Rock and Roll, so that white people would listen to it. No more of this shit. Back to happy, OMG WEED!!!! No more stigma!!!!
Then there is climate policy, maybe we’ll have a fighting chance against climate change, I can only hope. I hope there will be few enough politicians owned by oil companies that we will get real legislation passed. Progressives are still going to have to pressure the fuck out of politicians because no matter how serious you think climate change is, it’s worse, but holy cow now that pressure may have a real substantial effect on policy makers. Maybe we’ll be able to have policies and politicians that see short term prices as irrelevant when an inability to tackle climate change is an existential threat to or species. Maybe we’ll have people making big decisions that can see further than three feet in front of them.
Then there’s Black Lives Matter. Please, please let’s enact some real change, please. Let’s stop blaming people for their actions when we can’t say we wouldn’t act the exact same way if put in the same situation. Poverty creates crime, we know this, our country created the poverty in black communities, we also know this, therefore… we know that the U.S. created all the problems we see in black communities including the black on black crime. You can say “but everyone is responsible for themselves” and while that is true, if that is the total sum of your understanding of human action then you do not have a full picture of what it is to be human. When a woman is pregnant and sometimes struggling to deal with all of the emotions pregnancy can bring, we give them understanding because the hormones associated with pregnancy are causing that difficulty right? When someone loses a loved one we give them room to be on edge because of that pain, yes? Well what happens when that pain isn’t the years it takes to recover from loss or the nine months of pregnancy but a lifetime of racism endured by black people and those they love? You either choose to understand pain and give people room or you don’t, there’s no room in this society for double standards, especially ones so cruel. Help black communities and make the real systemic changes that should have been made long ago. Pay retributions to all black people since most of them are the direct descendants of the slaves that built this country and those that aren’t are oppressed by the racist policies that still hold back the black community today. Create strict policy that does not allow us to discriminate even through implicit bias so that we are forced to look at our implicit biases and change them. Allow the U.S. to come to terms with its internalized racism so that we can actually fucking overcome it.
Hopefully what is happening in DC won’t turn into a problem but only time will tell. I have hope and I’m going to cling onto it for as long as I can while trying to remain vigilant. I hope anyone who is reading this is doing well and maybe can find their own hope because we all need it at this time. I believe we can get better, and I am going to try my best to help get us there. Much love to everyone, especially the black community right now, and I will see you next week.
Steven Wilhelm 