05/10/23 (Special Episode)

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, May 10th. Donate a day’s wages to charity day!

And hey! What a wild coincidence! If you don’t know, we are still in our first fundraising spring for We Are Voters, which is my nonpartisan nonprofit that is developing a whole new way to teach civics in America. Both through classroom programming as well as community events. It’s fun! We’re trying to raise $25k, which is super ambitious, I know, but also vital to keep us going. So if you can, literally anything you’re willing to today is appreciated. And tax deductible!

Okay, well, that was uncomfortable.

And now, the news.

Hate in Texas

-Brownsville via CNN

-Allen via NPR

-Abbott tweets are on Twitter. I won’t link to him and do not encourage you to follow him. But you can see them there is you want. He’s feckless, he’ll delete nothing.

Special episode today! There are two episodes of the news in your feed, so after you listen to this, go check out the other one! It’s funnier!

I’m going to warn you right now, this is not a fun episode. These are not fun stories. And I don’t know… as I was writing and prepping this episode, I just… I don’t know. I was already feeling a way before I started prepping this episode, and now that I’m here it’s just… hard. Some hard stories.

But we’re going to do our best.

In a matter of hours, 16 people were killed in two different parts of Texas.

First, in Allen, where a gunman killed 8 people, and injured 7 others, in a mass shooting at strip mall. The guns were, of course, purchased legally. Because this is Texas and Greg Abbott once lamented that the state had fallen to 2nd in the nation in terms of fire arm purchases. Don’t worry, he sends his thoughts and prayers.

Now, this is the only podcast, or really place in the world, where I don’t cuss. And I’d like to keep it that way. So just… a hearty “blech” to you. My guy. (“My guy” is also becoming it’s own little curse word. It’s polite, that’s for sure.)

The shooter posted a ton of heinous white supremacist stuff online, including pictures of him with TWO nazi tattoos AND his body armor included a RWDS patch. Which stands for Right Wing Death Squad. And while other news outlets are tripping over themselves to not say it, I’ll join the few actually stating facts… he was a nazi and this was a hate crime.

And as the country reeled from eight deaths, which included a family of four that lost both parents and their three-year-old child, leaving their six-year-old as their only survivor, news outlets had to break in on another mass killing in Texas. This time in Brownsville, where a driver hoped the curb and killed eight, injuring ten others, outside of a migrant shelter.

The motivations of the driver, who tried to flee and has previously been charged with assault and intoxicated driving, are still unclear. And certainly I won’t put any beliefs onto this person until we know for sure. Or have some evidence. Brownsville is a border town.

Here’s what I can tell you – Greg Abbott, who sent all of one whole tweet saying he was sorry about the mass shooting in Allen (but nothing about the nazi tattoos and beliefs of the shooter), has ONLY tweeted about border security. 8 deaths in Allen? Sure, he’ll you know – toss a tweet into the ether? 8 Brownsville? No time. In fact, the ONLY mention of Brownsville came on Monday, when he posted a video of a two foot tall run of barbed wire and said this: “This is one thing Texas is doing to secure the border. This is the area near Brownsville where migrants were crossing in large numbers a few days ago. We now have it wired shut. Other areas will surface for crossing. We will wire them shut also. More to come.”

And again, we don’t yet know what the driver’s motivations were. But the leader of the state, how blew off the mass shooting that happened two weeks ago because the victims were, in his believe, also here illegally (not all of them were, and also that changes nothing), has said nothing but talk about border security.

So actually, in many ways, he’s said everything.

Meanwhile, this weekend, a handful of Trump administration folks (and we’re talking some high-up folks) are being hosted at a Trump resort for the next stop on Eric Trump’s nationwide ReAwaken America tour (because they hate the word woke, but they’ll name it this? Also, the A in Reawaken is capitalized, so it’s grammatically incorrect. Not that they care.) Eric Trump and the former Trump officials will be joined by a cacophony of pro-nazi, pro-Hitler, anti-semetitic grosses. Please go watch Monday’s Rachel Maddow and hear her talk about it. Anything more that I say will just be copyright infringement.

But, if you cannot look at what happened in Texas this past weekend, and not see a direct line between everything… pal, I don’t know what to tell you. But these are the facts. And ignoring it would be easier, but it would be impossible.

I’ll be honest, maybe it’s because I just drove from Oceanside to LA with nothing but my thoughts and Dawes on in the background, but I’m feeling a little upside-down. And I think it’s the Texas of it all. And no, I didn’t expect that this episode would just be therapy but guess what… it’s free to make a podcast! Kind of. The feed is free. Anyway, I spend a lot of time thinking about Texas. In big and small ways. And I know I’d feel this way if what happened this weekend happened in a different state. Or in two different states. This is America, and this is a purely American problem. We have had multiple mass deaths in different states, or the same state, the same weekend.

Because the moment requires that we stay here. Stay focused. And, and here’s the hardest part… this moment requires love from us. Not love for everyone. This isn’t that. I’m not here to say that if your existence threatens the existence of others, oh I’ll still find love for you. I know some people but push back a little on that but like… I’m just not going to find love in my heart for a Nazi (spoiler alert for what we’re talking about). I’ve made that personal decision and I’ll tell you something… not hard to do. Not hard at all. Very easy decision.

But, this moment does require us to hold and keep a very specific kind of love. A love that says that our best days are in front of us. The must be, because they certainly aren’t behind us. Not for everyone. And if our best days are not for everyone, they are not for me. And that’s the kind of love we’re all going to work hard for and hold.

And it’s not going to be easy. But what is the alternative? When I let myself get quiet, a herculean task for me, as most of you know, the to-my-bones feeling is how easy it would be to say “nothing will change.” This moment is hard, and fear is not easy. But it’s easier.

What is harder, what sometimes feels impossible, is remembering that change, forward-movement, is the only thing. It is the only way.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

That is Martin Luther King Jr. in his 1963 letter from a Birmingham jail. Those words, from a letter helpfully titled “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” are, for me, the start and end of everything.

I’m a Californian. A Southern Californian, at that. But when I tell you that I love Texas… and it’s hereditary! It skipped my mom, but you better believe my Grandma loved Texas. Never lived there! Loved it anyway. No idea why.

I love Texas. But I love it the way I love America… with my whole heart of servitude that knows it deserves better.

And it’s going to take a lot to get it there. It’s going to be really hard.

And of course, that word is going to include getting people like Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz, Chip Roy, and many other out of office. But it’s going to start with love. Not love for everyone. NOT love for everyone. But a love that allows us to believe that we deserve better. That better is possible. A love that fills up our reserves. A love for service and a love that allows for optimism.

Optimism feels impossible in these moments. But it is the only way.

I’m very sorry.

And that’s it. That’s the special episode.

It wasn’t going to be a special episode. It was going to be news about Texas, and then other stuff. But you know… I’m also surprised when I find an emotion.

There are two episodes of the news today. It should be in your feed (if not – why aren’t you subscribing to the show?).

As always… I’m proud of you.