Today I remembered this post I made on January 2nd of last year:
With white supremacists successfully bullying the first Black (+ 2nd female) president of Harvard into stepping down just six months into her tenure on the pretense that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, 2024, America’s decision year on whether or not to turn towards fascism, is hard out of the gates.
The rest of the year did end up having as two of its big themes “Black women: should they lead?” and “Criticizing Israel: antisemitic?” And of course, the turn towards fascism has been something to behold! The richest man on earth sieg heiling at the inauguration!
One takeaway for me: people are still in denial of how much hatred Black women face in our society. The intersection of sexism and racism—talk about meeting the devil at the crossroads.
I knew we were in trouble when in the spring someone I love texted me a picture of a barn in Virginia, the side of which had been painted in ten foot tall letters with the slogan, JOE AND THE HO. Despite being basically liberal, they thought it was pretty funny, really. They struggled to understand why I flinched in horror.
I don’t know what the way forward is. I do believe that the work we have to do is heart work.
