covid diary: day 84

Hey so remember yesterday (seems like a year ago) when I said that there was one Christian religious group Trump hadn't yet managed to piss off? Welp. Today we got a quote from fundamental Christian televangelist Pat Robertson, who said of Trump sending the troops in against protesters, "It isn't cool." Of course, Pat Robertson also said that devastating tornadoes were God's punishment for people's lack of prayer; that the slaves in Haiti made a pact with the devil to win independence from the French, so God sent them the 2010 earthquake; and that Satanists and homosexuals were behind the Nazi agenda ... among other greatest hits. So you might want to consider the source.

But I'll grant that it definitely isn't cool to post all these troops on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And it's definitely not cool to call in soldiers armed with bayonets (bayonets!!) to quell the right to free assembly.

Protests continue across the country, and show no signs of stopping, although supposedly there was less violence last night than there has been during previous nights. And listen, I live in a majority white town, in a majority white county, in a majority white state. And I'm a middle-aged white lady with some preexisting conditions that make it highly unlikely that I'm going to go out and march with protesters and use my white body as a shield. But that's not all I can do. I can (and do) read black writers and listen to black speakers and listen to my black friends. I can (and do) donate to bail funds so protesters don't have to go bankrupt protesting a system that's designed to keep them impoverished. I can (and do) keep learning how to be a better ally. And most importantly, I can (and do) have conversations with my boys to make sure they understand the fuller context of what's happening and to do my damnedest to teach them so they don't grow up to perpetuate systems of racism that harm and disadvantage people of color. If nothing else, they will understand the privilege they have as white men and why it's so important to be an ally to and amplify the voices of people who don't have that level of privilege.

So that's the plan. Keep them safe, keep them alive, teach them how to be good men.

Nationwide cases: 1,851,520. Deaths: 107,175.