And here I thought BLM was for the Bureau of Livestock and Mining.  There is so much noise today, every day, about racism and rump. I've heard there are apps out there that will filter out all mentions of the name of our president.   Not a bad idea.

People with African noses and brown skin have legitimate grievances from slavery, Jim Crow, policing and harsh inequalities in economic and incarceration statistics. So do many others. Japanese were in carcerated en mass and suffer under rediculous stereotypes.  Hispanics in Arizona were terrorized by Arapaio and he got pardoned today. Jews that live all around me here in Portland are terrified at the resurgence of Nazi-ism. The natives of this continent were actively exterminated by our government and settlers, and they have a right to be mad about it. And in the midst of all this the white skinned middle-aged dudes are committing suicide both actively and passively at astounding rates.

There's plenty wrong, no doubt about that.

When I walk around the park that is in front of my house, I feel racial tension. There are blacks and hispanics walking there, but they are either in the company of a white person, or they are walking as families. Today the Latinas were in conversation and tending to the children, but the men are watching for trouble. When they see me coming, a big white woman moving fast, and they look hard.  They don't nod in return.  I saw a Middle Eastern family too.  The women were similarly dedicated to their kids, and one man swung his keys on the end of a lanyard as if to say fuck with me and I'll take your face off with my keys.

I wish we could all just chill out.  I don't think the tension will reduce until the next changing of the guard, and I hope it comes soon.

The Swiss were rallying to trim him down to size, so he opted not to go. This doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is that a Jewish charity would pay him to be their keynote speaker. They haven't had enough yet? They are that desperate??

Yesterday the Kansas crowd had a protest at Grant High school, first thing in the morning. Perhaps they did not know how well organized the queers are here. Perhaps they did not consider that in the face of hate, the Portland LGBT crowd is capable of responding with love and humor. Whatever the case, I hear that the Kansas churchies were tormented with silly gay flirtations and outrageousness. In one particular case a local man stripped off his pants, and wearing only some very short shorts went up and started complimenting one of the self-righteous about his swimmer's build. The Kansas bunch also has a series of protests scheduled at synagogues, and because they are also anti-queer, the queers are supporting the Jews in facing them down. It is a beautiful thing.

In response to something I read on my FL (about a Canadian mother who put a swastika on her child's arm and lost custody of her children), I googled "neonazi", and then "swastika". I discovered the story "Swastika tops Google searches" from Sunday, July 13, 2008. When swastika searches are a "Hot Trend", you have to wonder what is going on. The google-watchers say that there was not a single big swastika-related news story or blog post that morning.
( explorations in the news )