Recently I heard this song by Killer Mike about Ronald Reagan that blew my mind. History like this–wow. And the ending makes me exclaim every time. Such a brilliant culmination of everything he said before that, and such a strong, real response to that weird flag waving, teary-eyed nostalgia I remember, when Reagan died.
The auto-captioning doesn’t understand Killer Mike’s accent very well. Yes, he’s my age, born a year before I was. I played the video for Ming, and he liked it too. The part about slave labor in prisons, and the drug war–all that is important to me.
kid me
I was a kid when Ronald Reagan was president, and I remember him. My dad watched the news a lot, and I remember those hearings. Oliver North, his sadness, shame, wrongdoing–his sad look, like he would cry. I noticed white men thinking they could get away with anything. Taught they were all-powerful–built up, then tsk-tsked. Put up on a pedestal to watch them fall.
Mercy to a country who hires an actor for a president. But are all presidents actors? I remember when Trump was running for president, how confused I was. “Is he even a politician? This is a joke, right? Did he…go to school for this? Does he even know stuff?” I already felt disconnected from politics, but that was the shit icing on the bullcake. Or the kick in the pants that kicked me out the door.
Wow–United States, who are you? Weirdass country we got going here.
war hero is an oxymoron
As for Oliver North, I remember quietly noting as a kid how “war hero” is an oxymoron. Talk about a pyrrhic victory. You’re good at organizing death? Well, I’m good at organizing life. Booyah!
He’s good at making sure people get killed, and you think he’s going to be an honest person who’s trustworthy, truthful, above board, devoted to the well-being of anyone? That’s silly. The whole honor in war thing is such a scam. People make up rules for the ok ways to kill and not-ok ways to kill, but it’s just doom. I’m not buying it.
Peace is important to me. I’ll organize and work for it. But being up against that kind of money is chilling. Please note what percent of the US budget is “defense.” And I’m daunted by the overwhelming amount of inappropriate ambient trust. “The government does it, so it must be ok,” is chilling. Trusting politicians to do what’s best for us is like trusting violent, abusive people to take care of children.
I hear, “There’s no such thing as a perfect world–we have to work with what we’ve got.” But I want to do better, at least.
