Yesterday was amazing. So many different things came together, a beautiful and inspiring melding. One was the use of the word "woke". Another was the book The World We Knew by Alice Hoffman. Another was seeing the movie Harriet, about a true American hero and listening to the sound of her beautiful and powerful voice singing the words to "Stand Up".
"That's when I'm gonna stand up
Take my people with me
Together we are going
To a brand new home....
Can you hear freedom calling?
Calling me to answer
Gonna keep on keepin' on
Those words are and were a clarion call to all who seek true social justice, to those who already have been fighting, to those who are almost there and to those who still need to be 'woke', to awaken to a new day, a vibrant and life changing day, one in which the power of women, the role of women is critical to its success.
Hoffman's book, a deep read with lots of underlying meaning and knowledge, is the story of a mother and grandmother who sacrifice it all to save the 12 year old daughter from slaughter by the Nazis, the demons come alive in this world. Two sisters come into play, including the knowledge and fierce intelligence of one who has been shut down because she is a girl, not a son, even as she and her brilliant mother create ....well, I will not spoil all, but suffice it to say that the women in this world are the ones who knew and understood what was there, what was yet to come, and to resist and sacrifice to the last moment possible.
Now, why inspiring? Simple. It reminded me, reinspired me, caused me to feel the power of women, the unused power of women, particularly in these times where backwards men and subservient women are pushing back on the gains made by women, the roles in society they now have, the bright future they must "keep on keepin on' if we are to succeed and leave a better world for our daughters, and yes, our sons, too. Society is infinitely better for all when there is justice, equality, and acceptance of people as people, not as colors or orientations, or ethnicities or whatever. Why does it make a difference if on those infernal forms in doctors' offices if I check white or Native Hawaiin Islander?! Who cares and what use is this? Is this yet another means of categorizing and listing people?
Sound paranoid, right, but in this world where people are being struck off voting lists under truly flimsy new bigoted laws, when the president plays tit for tat - or quid pro quo - with our country, what with invited foreign interference, a new insistence on loyalty to him as opposed to loyalty to the country, and threatening to shut down the country if the impeachment inquiry continues on, well, think. This, with a new FOX poll!!!! reporting that about half of the American people already favor impeachent.
Information is power and we need that information out there. The Democrats are following the rules of the House, carried out by the Republicans during Clinton's inquiry, but the shoe is on the other foot now and they are shouting, spitting into the winds, returning to the schoolyard of their pathetic mentor as they weep and cringe and wring their hands. The truth will out; it always does and here it is.
The items above inspired me with fresh energy. They reminded me that there is a ton of work still to be done and even should we convict that trash living in our national home, there is so much work to be done with our nation, with the population, with educating them and reminding them that we are not all these hyphenated Americans but simply all plain Americans. Period. We all came here from elsewhere at one point or another and that is enough. We are all Americans.
Women understand the necessity of affirmation of life, of persisting in the struggle for survival, in understanding the dangers posed to their children if we do not correct the situations. Women know that people need to be 'woke', to become active in social justice, in rights, in freedom.
So, can you hear 'freedom calling'? Can you feel it not only in your bones, but in your hearts and to the very depths of your soul. Slavery is an abomination, physical, mental, economic. Choose your poison. And remember - slavery still exists in the world, be it the kidnapped kids and women forced to become slaves of all ilks, or the slavery system present in some Haitian circles, or in Arab countries or right here in the good old USA. Just go the fields. Go the factories. The dirty, messy factories. Slavery, the owning in any way, of one person by another, must be eradicated and never make the grievous error of thinking it gone. Or forgetting the power and courage needed to challenge it
In the midst of the worst era of slavery, the Nazis and their "labor" camps, at the height of their deepest weakness, if we can use that oymoron, the Jews were able to rebel, in camps, in the forests, to set up family camps in those forests, to wreak whatever havoc they could and they survived. And the slaves of America persisted in running away, to become free.And the children that the bereft mothers sacrificed for so that they might live, well, that power must be remembered too.
There is no difference between the pulling over of a DWB car and the driver and occupants demeaned and even in danger and the dragging off a train or bus of a 'Jewish looking person' or today, right here in America, of every Hispanic looking person, or person with black, brown or even olive skin tones being harassed and asked for papers!!!! Here in America. how many of you actually carry around, wherever you are, proof of who you are, that the documents are not forged? Be honest.
So this morning I awake - well, did not really sleep - with new energy and yes, new anger. Those who allow the wrong, the bad, the evil to prosper, without any word of opposition to it all - well, you are as complicit in this as deeply as anyone else. Just staying quiet allows the evil t o perpetuate itself, to dig in deeper. Wiser people than I have tried to teach us that lesson.
So- we keep on trying to find and keep that freedom, even if it is "far across the river", even if it demands sacrifices, all so that the world of Hoffman's The World We Knew does not return in force or worse.
We all need to be 'woke'. All of us.
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