Systems

I've been thinking about Plessy v Ferguson. Random? Not really. That supreme court (1896) upheld the idea that racial segregation was constitutional. It has never been overruled. It sits in the shadows like some rancid, not quite dead snake, that keeps reeling its head. Brown v Board (1954) sort of over ruled it by stating that separate but equal was unconstitutional (equal protections clause of the fourteenth amendment), at least in educational institutions. 

Eisenhauer signed the Civil Rights Act (1957) and LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. 

And. 

On Monday afternoon police shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr.  He was ten feet away from them, holding a knife. He was shot multiple times.  

Black Lives Matter has been around for six years. In the streets. That is where my hope for change is. 

We're all worried about the Supreme court and we should be.  I am. Specifically because of Roe v Wade but on Monday the court ruled that Wisconsin can't count ballots if they arrive after election day. Justice Kagan wrote a dissent in which she said that nothing could be more supercilious or improper than refusing to count ballots because they arrive after midnight. It was a shot at Kavanaugh. Justice Ginsburg may be gone but the struggle continues. 

I've been thinking about the Jane Collective. From 1969 to 1973 they worked to help women find doctors who needed an abortion. They even learned how to do simple abortions. If the court overturns Roe, or just upholds laws that make legal safe abortion hard to get there will be a battle. 

I don't really know what the future will look like. I'm not sure what the battles will look like. I just know that through out history the courts and the congress and all the rule makers have done some terrible things. And people continued to fight. I think Justice Ginsburg was know to respond to defeat by getting back to work. 

I've been really nervous right before I go to sleep lately. I have mini panic attacks.  I feel like something is wrong.  And then I remember. Something is wrong. Lots of somethings are wrong. 

A group called Joy to the Polls have been working with various artists to get music to poll locations where people are waiting hours in line to vote. People dance in line. There have been drummers. And marching bands. The wonderful Chef Jose Andres has been providing food for people in line. People helping and bringing joy. 

This is what I hope it looks like.