Tom’s Tales: Far far away with nothing to be done.

I’m going to write something now about the ugliness happening back home. I can’t promise it’s going to be profound, and I certainly don’t think the world needs another white person declaring himself a “good white person.” I just don’t know what to do. I wrote to Senator Merkley, hoping he’d remember that when we met him in June we told him we were moving to India, and to Representative Blumenauer, since we are his constituents. But they’re already deeply on my team, so what am I going to tell them they don’t already know? What I really want are email addresses, or 1,000 email addresses, or however many email addresses I can get a hold of decent people who voted for their Republican representatives to urge them to write to said rep.

Many of you family members and loved ones have been hoping for impeachment since January 20. I haven’t gone there with you. It’s not how our Constitution works. Sometimes, we lose elections. We work like hell to make sure the damage done is limited, then work even harder to flip things around the next election. No matter how much we hate the winner of an election, we have to live with it. In the past few days, Trump has put an incredible number of lives in danger he was elected and sworn to protect. By not standing against hate, he has created an atmosphere where these monsters declare they are justified in their hate and supported by the most powerful man in the world. If that’s not “high crimes and misdemeanors,” I don’t know what is.

But that’s all just politics. And a shot in the dark at that. This runs much deeper than politics. The things that those assholes are so afraid are disappearing make my life easier, too. White privilege is real. Impeaching the president isn’t going to change that. I saw Michael Moore speak awhile back. He tried to assure the crowd that what we are experiencing is the cry of the dying dinosaurs — they are going to freak out as they watch their way of life die out. But that was 15 years ago. And those kids in those pictures are kids. They represent a whole new generation of hate. I know that almost every one of my students I’ve taught in the last 18 years stand proudly and courageously against the hate, but I also know I’ve taught a very few who very well could be waving those wretched symbols. If the dinosaurs are dying, they’re regenerating themselves before they do. How will this end?

In the meantime, from the other side of the world, we can only try to represent the America we dream of. It’s a message people around here want to hear. And we can write write emails. Lots and lots of emails. If you have contact info for people who live in Republican districts, voted for Republican representatives and are disgusted by all of this, please let me know.

The message above was scrawled on the wall one day on my walk to work. Best wishes, friends.