Sunday July 4, 2021; 10:39 AM EDT
I was taught as a youngster that the US was the greatest country ever, both at home and in school. I imagine this is the same education kids in every terrible country ever got. And my parents were biased, they were immigrants who would have died for sure in Europe during WW II if the US hadn't taken them in. #- Over time they came to see the reality that the US is a seriously flawed country. But nothing would have prepared them for what we've seen in the last five years. My mom died in February 2018, so she did live to see Trump elected, but did not see the January 6 insurrection, and all the looney tunes that followed. She also missed out on the 1619 Project which was, for me a real head-turner. #
- I knew slavery was part of our legacy, but I didn't know that it was pretty much our whole legacy. We fought and won a Civil War to purge ourselves of slavery, but that wasn't enough, Jim Crow undid a lot of the good that was done in post-Civil War America. The Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965 and re-authorized in 2006, has now been gutted by the Supreme Court. And the Republican-run states are rapidly moving to deprive citizens of color their voting rights. #
- The fact is the US is an awful fucked up country. It doesn't live up to the promise of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution for a huge portion of the population, and that means it doesn't mean shit for the rest of us. #
- I am an American, nothing is going to change that, but if you asked me do I feel this is the greatest country ever, I'd say that's an idea we have to purge from our minds, the US is the opposite, it's a fat, lazy, spoiled, ridiculous excuse for a country. If we want to amount to anything we need to take a 180 degree turn now. #
