Samain Thanksgiving Moon
A man who lives on Conifer Mountain, across from us and next to Black Mountain, posts on Pinecam.com as the weathergeek. He provides those of us who live in the Shadow Mountain, Black Mountain, Conifer area weather forecasts tailored to our peculiar microclimate. His tagline to his posts is: “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.”
As I woke up, weathergeek’s tagline crossed over into the political. Why? Because of this picture. The father of a student at Isabella Bird posted it on facebook with the note: this is personal.
I’ll say. Both Ruth and Gabe go to elementary school in Stapleton and live near it. They attend Schweigert Elementary. And, they are both Jewish. This is the sort of toxic display, coming from an equally toxic inner world that frightens Jews in particular. By extension this evocation of Nazism and the holocaust puts fear into the lives of all of us not perceived as, well, white, straight, Christian and patriotic Americans.
In Ruth and Gabe’s neighborhood. At an elementary school in their neighborhood. Not. Acceptable. Ever.
Here’s how weathergeek came into this. My immediate thought was to blame Trump, to connect his racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic, climate denying campaign rhetoric with this specific act. But, of course, I can’t. Not with the information I have now. This kind of graffiti pops up in American cities and small towns from time to time. Just go on the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center if you don’t believe me.
And so. Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get. Trump and his rhetoric is now the national climate for acts of hate. I expect people like the KKK, Westboro Baptist, climate deniers, women haters, anti-Semites have been emboldened to act both by Trump’s rhetoric but also by the violent, thuggish behavior he not only allowed but reveled in at his rallies. In other words the climate relative to non-white, non-male, non-European, non-Christian, non-straight life is turbulent and chaotic, tending toward personal acts of violence and scorn.
When we get a particular weather event, we have to follow the evidence to certainly connect it to the change in the national political climate. Once we’ve done our work often enough and comprehensively enough, we will be able to connect individual events with Trump. The “alt-right” video from the Atlantic posted below is one example. As we gather these instances, we must begin to create a defense strategy. The safety pin is one such strategy.
On these matters I believe defense is the strongest act right now. Reaching out to the government for help against these grievances will prove futile. Jeff Sessions as attorney general? Come on.
How would that defense look? I don’t know. It might be small reaction teams formed in churches, synagogues, Buddhist temples, mosques; or, in local branches of the Democratic party, the NAACP, JCC’s, the ACLU, civil rights and human rights groups. Even many small businesses and other non-profits like unions and Planned Parenthood might form teams, too.
What would they do? Not sure. At least go to the site of an incident and do some investigating, produce a report, send it to the Southern Poverty Law Center or some other place serving as a clearing house. On site they could also co-ordinate efforts to help victims with money, legal help, emotional support. They could also co-ordinate, as was done by parents in the instance of Isabella Bird school, actions to erase graffiti, repaired damaged homes and buildings. Probably other things occur to you and I imagine, if these teams came into being, that there would be multiple ways they could engage with acts of hate.
In Stapleton. Swastikas on an elementary school. In a community where my Jewish grandchildren attend elementary school. Never again. We must all say it and mean it and ally with each other to prevent this virus from spreading.
