WHAT SHOULD WE BE TALKING ABOUT
Cindy Maddera
So far this week, in yet another attempt to distract us all from Epstein files and what he might say to Putin in their meeting, The pRAPISTendt has deployed the National Guard in D.C. and announced a review of Smithsonian exhibits. He has also shut down the scientific research department of the E.P.A. and a project that tracts the cost of severe weather damage. He’s taking a stab at the removal of gay marriages and he’s firing any White House Official who does not agree with him. If you are a history nerd, you might be seeing some parallel behavior with dictators of the past…like Hitler. I am most certainly not a history nerd and even I can see those parallels. The very idea of deploying our troops in our very own cities is unsettling and a bit scary. But then I saw pictures of guard members posing in selfies with tourists and I’m pretty sure a large number of them see their deployment for what it really is.
This is not about preventing crime. It’s about political theater and federal control. - Clinique Chapman, Chief Executive of DC Justice Lab
This is also racism because teenage black boys are going bear the brunt of this. I can tell you that a lot of the people I see during our morning walks who are sleeping in Tower Park, are young black men. In the state of MO, a person ages out of foster care at 21. A person in foster care is completely dropped from any help or housing once they reach that age. Now, Kansas City’s cost of living is fairly low, but a single person still needs to make about $90,000 a year ( about $44 an hour) to live comfortably. Those types of jobs are pretty hard to come by when you do not have anything higher than a high school diploma. The average rent for a 492 SqFt studio apartment is around $991/month, with basic utilities like electric, water and trash. There is no way I could have lived in this city when I graduated from grad school. The average pay for research techs was about $30,000/ year if you were lucky. This was $2,500 a month that went to taxes, student loans, rent, food, gas to get to the job, car insurance and maybe cable. There was no savings or emergency fund. I was one bad car accident away from being homeless if I did not have family support. Those young men in the park do not have family support.
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I’m taking a very British response to all of this nonsense by keeping calm. Panicking and getting riled up will not solve anything. I am a white woman in America and while it is disgusting, this allows me certain privileges. I can and will be a Miep Gies. In everything I’ve read and watched about Miep Gies, I’ve seen her sense of humor and quest for joy, even while trying to keep her friends safe from Nazis. So, I’m leaning into that example by keeping my wits about me and seeking out the joyful things that are happening around me every damn day. Like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Now, I know I don’t seem like the celebrity gossip type and I am not, but those two when she announced her new album on him and his brother’s podcast were cutie pututies with their smitten grins.
And I’m one hundred percent here for it.