It's Not Over Yet; Not in America

Let it go?

When reading Trump news, after a while, I find myself seething and having to repeat to myself, “Let it go, let it go, let it go.” Then I force myself to get up and step away from the computer, the phone, whatever technology bringing me the latest update of his atrocious behavior. Next thing I know I have the Frozen song stuck in my head!

It was fashionable as a teenager growing up in Orlando to be full of angsty disdain for Disney. I’m an adult now (a little distance helps) and I love Frozen. I even like the absurdly overplayed song. Now I’m wondering if the message, “let it go,” is a wholly responsible one.

I realize I’m taking it a bit out of context, yet Elsa is running away. While the overall message of the movie is one of compassion, tolerance and, above all, love, the empowerment of the song, Let it Go, is slightly overshadowed by the fact that she literally runs away, abandons her people, and isolates herself. Talk about avoidance. We all have childhood trauma to deal with—I’m still dealing with mine; thank goodness for my therapist—and learning to let those toxic feelings go is positive and liberating. I would never be able to handle the world without the phrases “let it go,” “this too shall pass,” and “I only have control over myself.” But there is a fine line between healthy acceptance of your own limits, and rationalizing avoidance.

The effort it takes to ACT against the crazy things that are wrong in our world is overwhelming. Past liking something with an angry emoji—maybe adding a comment—on social media, it’s easy to feel powerless. I see so much motivation and good being done that I can almost feel the crowd—virtual, or not—hear the rally shout, see the signs and banners of solidarity (#shelter&solidarity, #indivisible, #metoo, #BLM). It makes me feel guilty. COVID-19 has made it even harder.

Now we are being forced to choose between standing up and showing our commitment and passion for justice, and public health safety: my physical well-being is threatened by my moral obligation. My obligation, however, toward my fellow persons’ lives encompasses both of these issues. It is infuriating that fulfilling these obligations are, currently, mutually exclusive.

I believe being stuck at home with an over-abundance of time and news access has allowed greater attention to our existing issues, especially those that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. As we get closer to fully reopening, we will face a new challenge: the attempt to make us forget.

The copious gas-lighting America is about to experience is perfectly outlined by Julio Vincent Gambuto, (“The Great American Return to Normal is Coming,” forge.medium.com). With the horror of George Floyd’s execution, there will be even greater pressure (incentive) on the government to provide distractions, revive a sense of need to redirect our energy back to work, shopping, oppression. Ironically, now would be a perfect time to scare us back inside on a real—not loosely enforced—lock down “for our safety,” scare us into keeping our mouths shut and off the streets. Too bad we weren’t encouraged more clearly to do that back in January.

We do still need to stay home as much as we can. Returning to work is going to require an extreme amount of vigilance, training, and caution. We must keep wearing masks and refuse to be shamed by those calling us “wimps” for doing so. Over 100,000 people are dead in America alone. This is not over yet!

They will try to put down the activism we see around us right now by gas-lighting and manipulation followed by the denial of all things COVID-19: all the repercussions and issues it laid bare. The same way Trump calls every reporter a liar, it will begin by accusing real news of being fear-mongering propaganda, (“The air wasn’t really cleaner; those images were fake. The hospitals weren’t really a war zone…The numbers were not that high; the press is lying. You didn’t see people in masks standing in the rain risking their lives to vote. Not in America,” Gambuto), they’ll claim that wasn’t a man being killed in the street out of racism; he must have been violent before he was targeted.

Yes, the pandemic could have been curbed earlier, dealt with better to minimize long-term social distancing, but the real cause of my absolute rage is that we should not have such a lack of civil rights to make protests necessary. Equality—race, sex, orientation, economic, all of it—should be our reality. I should not have to choose between my health and justice. This should not be happening. Repeating history—stagnation and ignorance—should not be happening. Slavery should not have happened. So, no, we can not let it go. It is wrong to let it go. It is wrong to ignore. It is wrong. The belief that anyone is born to be below—to be lesser than—is ridiculous. Divine right is a king’s way. America said no to king’s 244 years ago. We did not choose to include everyone then. We must learn from our first mistakes. We should be proclaiming, “Not in America!” Instead, we have been pretending this is not our America. Let it go? No.

May nerd-dom abound and include!