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Lunabell

(5,920 posts)
Thu May 28, 2020, 01:29 AM May 2020

People, I'm so sad, angry, hopeless, helpless.

My country is devolving right before my eyes. I worked hard in the 80's to protest Apartheid in South Africa. I protested the Klan marching in Tallahassee, Florida. I have been vocal. I've never backed away from a racist.

I have actively opposed racists and have even risked my safety to call down an asshole white man who was using racist language as he tried to fix my car in a Winn Dixie parking lot in Monticello, Florida. Made him get his fucking head out of my car, I was so furious.

I don't know fucking what else to do. What do we do to stop this madness of racism in this country? It isn't enough to get rid of trump. How do we change the hearts and minds of the brainwashed?

Sorry if my language has disturbed you. I'm just so goddamned hurt and angry and so sad. My heart is breaking.

26 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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People, I'm so sad, angry, hopeless, helpless. (Original Post) Lunabell May 2020 OP
it's said this has always been present (mb from time immemorial) but sprinkleeninow May 2020 #1
Love to you too. Lunabell May 2020 #2
love is good! also know that you are the crown of creation! sprinkleeninow May 2020 #3
... alwaysinasnit May 2020 #4
We are all there in this moment of grief. But this, too, shall pass. You are not alone. Hekate May 2020 #5
I suspect that most of us feel the same. Cornus May 2020 #6
I was so angry last night I thought my head would explode. I hear you. Maraya1969 May 2020 #7
The Trump presidency has unwittingly exposed the rampant racism in this country. zanana1 May 2020 #8
I agree. Richard58 May 2020 #17
All decent people are sad and angry, but we are not hopeless and helpless. NNadir May 2020 #9
Things are far better than they were 50 years ago. maxsolomon May 2020 #10
nope llashram May 2020 #18
OK, then things are DIFFERENT. maxsolomon Jun 2020 #24
you are entitled llashram Jun 2020 #25
Hard to believe I'm the optimist in this exchange. maxsolomon Jun 2020 #26
You're really at ground zero for that bullshit. Warpy May 2020 #11
I am so afraid MF45 is going to start a lite civil war kimbutgar May 2020 #12
If by insane cult members you mean the military police, well then, posse comitatus might be for you. Missn-Hitch May 2020 #21
Considering the material you are dealing with, soldierant May 2020 #13
Thank you and don't let up Shiv May 2020 #14
My heart goes out to you, Lunabell. Niagara May 2020 #15
I don't blame you, Lunabell Trueblue Texan May 2020 #16
Same. These last two months have been an absolute nightmare. Initech May 2020 #19
My astrocast warned me about some tangential Mercury conjunction happening lambchopp59 May 2020 #20
You are not alone Lulu KC May 2020 #22
I feel for you Shiv May 2020 #23

sprinkleeninow

(20,133 posts)
1. it's said this has always been present (mb from time immemorial) but
Thu May 28, 2020, 01:50 AM
May 2020

orangeous especially gave license to practice it out in the open and in our face

we're in a really bad scene presently and it's been mounting for the past 3+ years

I love you, my sister/brother in humanity.

Lunabell

(5,920 posts)
2. Love to you too.
Thu May 28, 2020, 01:57 AM
May 2020

I'm just an old Beatles fan who believes that All You Need Is Love. I am in tears I am so sad. What the fuck else do we do?

sprinkleeninow

(20,133 posts)
3. love is good! also know that you are the crown of creation!
Thu May 28, 2020, 02:06 AM
May 2020

discrimination, prejudice and racism are running rampant more so bc of
you-know-who giving the nod to these travesties



Maraya1969

(22,441 posts)
7. I was so angry last night I thought my head would explode. I hear you.
Thu May 28, 2020, 07:04 AM
May 2020

But one thing that is good - these people are being outed like never before. I have a good feeling those cops will face murder charges, just like the ones who killed that young runner who was shot down.

Years ago they would have gotten away with it. And also to see the rage that explodes on Twitter and other places when it happens now is good to see.

Then, for me I always go back to my firm belief that everything happens for a reason that is good, even if it doesn't look that way at the time. When I look at the tragedies in my own life I see them now as stepping stones for my own growth. I have a different belief in personal death so maybe that doesn't make sense to many people.

But it is kind of like that saying from Desiderata: "No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should"

Other than that can I give you a virtual hug?

I believe we are getting better. Remember what it was like in the 60's and compare it to now. We are definitely getting better.

zanana1

(6,085 posts)
8. The Trump presidency has unwittingly exposed the rampant racism in this country.
Thu May 28, 2020, 08:03 AM
May 2020

I used to think that racism wasn't as prevalent as it used to be. Now I realize it's a much bigger problem than I thought it was.

Richard58

(239 posts)
17. I agree.
Fri May 29, 2020, 11:53 AM
May 2020

Prior to Obama becoming President I had high hopes that racism was becoming a thing of the past and that we as a nation were getting better. But once Obama became President I was shocked at all the racist vitriol that was spewed at him for 8 yrs. It was so maddening. Then we got the openly racist Trump and my heart sank further. Now all the bigots feel free to say their hateful thoughts out loud. I am now convinced that at least a third of our population is made up of racist, sexist morons who are proud to be white nationalist scum. It's so depressing! I don't have much hope for our nation when I see so many people revel in their hate.

NNadir

(33,368 posts)
9. All decent people are sad and angry, but we are not hopeless and helpless.
Thu May 28, 2020, 11:33 AM
May 2020

Decency will return to our country if we make it happen.

maxsolomon

(32,984 posts)
10. Things are far better than they were 50 years ago.
Thu May 28, 2020, 03:13 PM
May 2020

This era is not a regression. Technology has made it possible to expose the police killing of black men to the public at large. It has shined a light on what was previously hidden.

This is a good thing. Consciousness is growing.

Unfortunately, this is also generational. You and I (56) won't be here to see Racism gone.

llashram

(6,265 posts)
18. nope
Fri May 29, 2020, 12:15 PM
May 2020

Last edited Mon Jun 1, 2020, 11:24 AM - Edit history (1)

I was there 50 years ago as a veteran from another military incursion into a country that finally drove that very same military out with almost 60,000 dead and hundreds of thousands of American wounded and a couple of million Vietnamese killed and wounded. Sounds familiar really as fairly recent happenings in other countries attest.

Per things are "far better than 50 years ago" when I was that vet with unrecognized PTSD, in a racist country where Nixon and Atwater were spewing their political vomit all over POC. Sound familiar? And a ticking timebomb in my body. NO!!!! Things ARE NOT better. Just the reporting that can take lies and disseminate them as truth and truth that they disseminate as lies.

Minneapolis has been brewing a long time in this crockpot, the current potus has contributed, along with the systemic and generational racism that this president has stirred into boiling over by giving the white supremacists of this country a voice and encouragement to be who they truly are, racists.

maxsolomon

(32,984 posts)
24. OK, then things are DIFFERENT.
Mon Jun 1, 2020, 11:18 AM
Jun 2020

I'm not going to get into a point by point comparison of 1970 vs 2020 with you.

I feel things are better now. I saw it every day in this city before quarantine.

Too bad you don't.

Warpy

(110,907 posts)
11. You're really at ground zero for that bullshit.
Thu May 28, 2020, 04:20 PM
May 2020

I live in a part of the country where people who look like me (pale) are just another minority among minorities. We're outnumbered by people who identify as Hispanic and that's just fine with me.

As long as I'm not having a bad day, my approach is oblique, "Where did you hear a stupid thing like that?" puts the onus on somebody else and makes them unable to get defensive and that flummoxes them.

If I'm having a bad day, I've been known to let fly and I once made a longshoreman blush, so I know a lot more words than wingnuts do. I know how to use 'em in complete sentences, too.

Your country isn't devolving, it just lacks a government right now and only has a posturing idiot who is trying to embolden these assholes. They were always there and they were always assholes, they just had better sense than to be assholes to random strangers, preferring the company of fellow assholes where it was safe.

So thank you for letting him have it and telling it like it is. Every bit of potty training helps. I don't have any illusions about changing a bigot's alleged mind. I do want him to keep his fucking racist mouth shut around me, and that part is doable.

kimbutgar

(20,876 posts)
12. I am so afraid MF45 is going to start a lite civil war
Thu May 28, 2020, 08:05 PM
May 2020

Sending his insane cult members out to engage minorities.

soldierant

(6,648 posts)
13. Considering the material you are dealing with,
Thu May 28, 2020, 11:44 PM
May 2020

I think your language is pretty mild.

I worry about this constantly:

What do we do to stop this madness of racism in this country? It isn't enough to get rid of trump. How do we change the hearts and minds of the brainwashed?

Thank you for all your work to combat racism..

Shiv

(113 posts)
14. Thank you and don't let up
Fri May 29, 2020, 02:31 AM
May 2020

I'm still a bit young to have seen the cycles of these things, but I have a strong feeling and thinking about the history I do know this is largely a matter of an ebb and flow, and things are at a crest right now.

With how hard it can be to keep track of days lately I'm not sure if it was a couple days ago or more, but my mom just recently had this bizarre vivid nightmare that ended with her shooting a racist a-hole in the forehead. This is the woman that raised me to be nonviolent and pacifist. It was shocking to hear her describe it because it was the last turn I expected the dream to take when she related it to me.

What makes me hopeful despite the carnage and how things probably, like they usually do, will get worse before they get better, is that the pace of things really seems to have moved up on people being fed up, racists losing their jobs and being more and more widely decried when they reveal themselves on viral media. I've been discussing it quite a bit, hence the bad dreams all around here lately, but the consensus reached is that a tipping point, a critical mass, has been reached again.

Wishful thinking maybe, but what it reminds me of in my experience is how the ground suddenly shifted in the U.S. and a lot of the world on gay marriage. A younger generation that didn't get why it shouldn't be, more people having someone they knew to relate to if that is what it took to get them to empathize, it just clicked and while a backwash still yells loudly, things lurched forward until the next set of snags slowed it back up.

I really hope, and hope you can to, believe maybe we are experiencing the same thing on race.

It could be that the last desperate dying gasp of a movement of hate is feeling cornered and will go the way of the whigs.

Niagara

(7,406 posts)
15. My heart goes out to you, Lunabell.
Fri May 29, 2020, 02:58 AM
May 2020

Last edited Fri May 29, 2020, 01:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Barack Obama had recently mentioned a website to help the battleground states for this year's election. Please be patient with me as I'm on my phone and not my PC while trying to provide a link for you.
https://votesaveamerica.com/adopt-a-state/?fbclid=IwAR0vML0PcfOFOI7a52hHo9Srlr7ZawV_jABJt_7gaxXg2Z8aepG3nJN8NmU

We certainly could use the help in ramping up the turnout for Nov. 3. This might help you take your mind off all the current ugliness and help turn this into a positive change. Tell your friends and family that support Democratic causes too.


Take care and have a virtual hug!

Trueblue Texan

(2,372 posts)
16. I don't blame you, Lunabell
Fri May 29, 2020, 07:54 AM
May 2020

I feel so heartbroken at what we have witnesses this week and knowing this is what black people have lived with for four centuries. What CAN we do besides stay awake, reject racism where we see it, call it out in our society, in our families, in ourselves. It seems on every front we are falling apart, but we can't give up. There are people like you and me and the rest of the DU family who feel the same as we do. We just have to hold one another up and keep fighting for justice.

Initech

(99,914 posts)
19. Same. These last two months have been an absolute nightmare.
Fri May 29, 2020, 12:22 PM
May 2020

And the last three days, this nightmare has become a living, breathing definition of hell. I can't imagine things getting much worse.

lambchopp59

(2,809 posts)
20. My astrocast warned me about some tangential Mercury conjunction happening
Fri May 29, 2020, 05:48 PM
May 2020

And advised to put up the deflector shielding against the whirlpool of hopelessness it's all to easy to sink into right now.
I've had to struggle to keep my head cool in some difficult personal and work related circumstances as well. I couldn't sleep well last night after backtracking through the week's headlines, today being my first day off from 4 tens.
We cannot do anything but allow these raincoat exhibitionists to expose themselves for what they are. And man are they ever, defending their free dumbs to blow their germs and spit on people, to ignore the most basic of safety guidelines, and now to either line up behind the worst, murderous, racist, xenophobic and impossibly stupid elements of our citizenry...
Or to finally admit that ignoring all the warning signs has brought multiple calamities to our nation.
It's heartbreaking. My doctor has once again upped my dose of blood pressure control.
You are assuredly allowed to use whatever language you feel the need to blow off steam. I believe I can safely state we're coming to a state of this nation where only a small minority aren't tremendously disturbed by all this.

Lulu KC

(2,547 posts)
22. You are not alone
Sun May 31, 2020, 10:57 AM
May 2020

For those of us who have been in this for a long time, it's hitting us in a certain way. I remember being so young, thinking we were going to fix it. All of it. It is just painful and it does feel quite hopeless.

Although I cannot turn away from the news yet (I mean, I'm in bed at 2 a.m. listening to the police scanner while my dear husband sleeps--that is obsessed!), I know the answer is to do what we can and then live our own lives the way they need to be lived. There are more of us than there are of them.

But we also must rest and restore. The old taking care of ourselves thing, like the masks on the airplane.

Just know you are not alone. Far from it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts--now I know I am not alone, either.

Shiv

(113 posts)
23. I feel for you
Sun May 31, 2020, 02:55 PM
May 2020

Just last night, I had what I can only explain as mild PTSD-like emotional flashback to Occupy WS and Occupy Flint, which I followed somewhat with a friend and shared some nights when I didn't spend till half the morning out, with my mom. Trying to keep abreast and find information that was being discovered and so on.

The moment was preceded by was watching another Flint live-stream and had the news on the tv, my mother and I were talking, and I went to tell her how this was resonating with that previous period for me, which had occurred to me that afternoon but been distracted.

I was suddenly emotionally choked up and overwhelmed, though I wasn't actively sad or angry or upset just at that moment. I had a few moments of trying to get the words out to her, to explain what was going on. She was concerned cause I was suddenly trying not to sob. It passed after a minute or two, and by the time I got through it and letting her know what I just felt happen, it occurred to me and almost made it wash back just how seriously this may trigger a response in people of her generation who lived through this all in the 60's and 70's.

Thankfully, a portion of that moment of sudden emotion was positive, it was profound. After an hour or two of talking about it, I figured out that part of what I was feeling was a difference in my experiences back with OWS times, that THIS moment had a clear and obvious point to everyone, that THIS moment had a clear and obvious purpose. It felt more and deeply powerful, tempered with cautious optimism.

I found it very interesting that for her it felt more like Ferguson than any memories she had from small town life back when she was my age, though she has always told me my father, whom grew up in a large urban environment, had always been twisted up after his experiences with that time in their youth. It's amazing the different things that lay down strongest memories, close and distant, immediate or historic.

Thank you and again, I feel for you

everyone could us a some days!

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