I was only a year old...

... at the beginning of the "Conservative Revolution," and to see the degree of hate seething beneath the surface the closer and closer that we get to Election Day is astounding, though not shocking.

Sometimes you think that the hate was left back in the history books, but when it boils to the surface, it's shocking. Sometimes, I think this country would be done a world of good if the words "by the content of your character" were taken not only as a mere phrase, but also a way of life.

We have to win to kill this monster that has been unleashed once and for all.

fire hoses, dogs, bombings, assassinations

it was not a good time

we've had a generation where much of the hate was suppressed, but Palin et al have been rubbing the hell out of that bottle and the genie is out - only this one does not grant wishes - they've unleashed the furies

You're frightening me, but not in that Palin way because you're actually telling the truth.

Is it comparable? Feels creepy to me.

but the same evil is being stirred up

it's like a damned Stephen King novel where the demon is being disturbed.

Hitler did it; Lindbergh did it; McCarthy did it, Wallace, Maddox...

When DC was burning after the MLK assassination, James Brown came to town, went out on the street, stood on top of a car with a bullhorn and implored people to just go home, stop rioting. They listened. I liked his music before that; I liked him after, despite his personality flaws. That was only one of scores of cities that were burned. That was a reaction, of course, not the root cause. The root cause was the evil that brought it on - the use of state troopers, firehoses, dogs, etc. to suppress peaceful protest. To tell people they had no rights, that they had to shut up and go home, accept whatever "the man" wanted to do to them. That they were inferior, could not attend the state university, could not use the public restroom or drink from the water fountain. We have come a long way from that, would be starting at a different place. But The MLK assassination looms large. It came from an atmosphere of self-righteous indignation that "they" were presuming to take their rightful place in "our" world. Well, the "southern strategy" recruited all those bastards and their bad seed are the right wing of today.

accept that it is still with us. I knew that when *ss was elected he was out to destroy everything that we had accomplished but it never occurred to me that much of it was just buried under a thin layer of suave. It is heart breaking. I now cry when I sing "We Shall Overcome".

Though I knew there still were some stubborn holdouts who clung to their bigotry and ignorance, I had no idea there was a movement waiting to break through. I'm afraid people, myself included, became too apathetic, assuming the worst had been defeated.

I'm still having a hard accepting how bad everything has become.

and never will. That phrase they use is only used to beat down folks who support Affirmative Action. People like Tucker Carlson who has so much hate inside him, it's eating him alive.

"Content of your character" is just a phrase to them to throw in people's faces whenever someone calls them on their racism.

some of us, even if we were kids, thought we could move forward.

And it turns out, there's a whole segment of our society that didn't agree for a minute. And those people have been encouraged by a cynical Republican party for political gain.

It is shocking. I've teared up more than once today, just bookmarking the threads chronicling the hatred. Thinking of all the people who have gone before us, who laid down their lives, who gave everything for this fight. Who have never for a minute had the luxury to forget, this is a fight we have on our hands.













All I can think is, don't be afraid. Stay together. Take care of each other.

" ... and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."


- Martin Luther King Jr.

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

Hate will come out from under the rocks it's been hiding under so the light of truth can finally shine on it.

Make no mistake, though, this is a time of celebration.