Reuters' photographer Jim Bourg claimed in a tweet on Friday that he heard at least three Trump supporters speak about hanging VP Pence from a tree as a 'traitor' during Wednesday's Capitol riots.
www.dailymail.co.uk
Photos from the scene showed a gallow as well as a mannequin with "traitor" written across its white T-shirt and a noose slung around its neck.
www.businessinsider.in
As I watched, bewildered that this was even a possibility, I decided to read the comment section to get... some sort of gauge of where we are now.
Then I came across a sentiment that seemed to make things worse.
"The Left Pushed Us Too Far"
In and of itself, a common sentiment of this day and age. But I was wading through a ton of "OH, THIS IS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE BLM PROTESTS".
And in my heart, I felt that spark of radicalization that I had to snuff out right quick.
The protesters and rioters (two different people of the same party, and it's important to stress that) of January 6th had the feeling that their duly elected President was stolen from them. I don't agree he was duly elected, but I know they believe that. But due to that, some extreme members of that fringe element was going as far as preparing to restrain whoever they came across. And... I'm seriously hoping the new 'hanging' angle is conjecture.
Now don't get me wrong, it's a grievous thing to feel robbed of what you chose. I can easily say it's a grievous thing because such a thing happens to Blacks often.
Gerrymandering is not only common, but often held up by Supreme Court. That speaks nothing of
Voter Suppression,
Gangs of people that intimidate, and closing down
district voting stations just to make it harder to process and tally all the votes.
And let's not forget good ole fashion
Purges.
And that's just elections.
Redlining is still as present as ever.
Education is still unequal. And even with the same level of education, studies show it's more likely that a white person will
have a better job than compared to a black or brown person.
Police Brutality, etc.
And every time I pointed out the actual life I led... here comes some person from the majority who didn't live it, so helpful to tell me it's not true or not that bad. Do you have any idea how infuriating that is?
We're told not to complain, just to try harder, and that these are all just 'made up things to excuse your lives'. We're not allowed to protest in a non-violent way because it is unseemly to the majority that we'd complain about anything. We're not allowed to voice dissent because the majority doesn't want to accept it or believe it. And when enough is enough, that same majority feigns outrage that we just don't silently protest even though they weren't even listening to that.
And in an instant, it all clicked. And I was ready to take the cause to another level. If you want to see what pushed too far feels like, I have generations of that built into my very blood. I can lead a Master Class. I looked at Generations of my family's lives, my people's lives in this country, and others ignore that for One Summer of
"Enough is Enough"?! I never supported violence when trying to get out a message, but I finally saw why people felt it was the only logical step.
Because talking sure doesn't do anything but give the majority an easy chance to ignore you.
This is not just a info dump. This is actually me being terrified. For a brief second, I found the door to my own radicalization through a youtube clip and a comment following it. All of the injustices I felt, that my family felt, that has been documented and ignored by this country since we were taken to it. And I wanted to fight. For a second, logic left and rage was the only reasonable choice.
It really is that easy to be swayed. It can happen to anyone. And we alone must choose every day to be logical, thinking members of an unified society.