America Is Scary Everyday
Not Just Halloween
Happy Halloween!
Today is a day normally reserved for spooks and tricks and treats.
On a typical Halloween kids trick or treat, older teens to young adults dress up and party, others go to haunted houses or watch scary movies and keep the lights a little bit lower.
Idk what comes after that, I’m not there yet, but one thing I do know is this year hits a little different. This year we are all subject to tricks and no treats. And the news is just plain scary.
All Tricks— No Treats
The theme of this today is the Not So Great Pumpkin.
Today I think about kids in Chicago who want to be kids and trick or treat. Get some free candy. Keep the dentists in business.
I think about how those kids are probably being held back from enjoying what the, lets face it, little white kids in rural and red areas are able to enjoy today with no fear aside from typical American nonsense—aka guns.
In cities like Chicago, the kids have the normal threat of guns (Merrrika) but even more likely they face the very real possibility of ICE intervention with stupid tactics like tear gas.
ON KIDS.
In the super scary neighborhoods like Irving Park and Lakeview, ICE has been tear gassing residents for no reason at all. Just because the Not So Great Pumpkin and Cosplay Barbie says they can.
For those unfamiliar— here are pictures of these neighborhoods:
Spooky stuff.
But Wait…There’s More
Another frightening aspect of this Halloween is something that is somehow both well documented and under discussed.
The Not So Great Pumpkin and his cronies are cutting SNAP benefits…EBT won’t be refilled, people are going to starve.
That is not hyperbole. And contrary to what someone I considered a friend said to me last night, this isn’t me being ‘worked up about politics.’
This is REAL LIFE. And if I cussed I have a lot of words that could go after the word real. This administration really makes me sometimes want to join the club of cussers.
But anyway— here is the deal.
I GREW UP ON SNAP. I GREW UP ON FOOD STAMPS.
I am not ashamed of that. I had my ‘stompers’ back before it became a reloading debit card and when they looked like this:
I know what it is like to depend on these things for sustenance. I know what it is like to count down the days until that book came in the mail and you could go to the grocery store and get a box of noodles.
Millions of people still rely on that to survive, and because the people in power (republicans) want to protect pedophilia and cut healthcare to those same people…they will use the ability to access food and survive as a bargaining chip to get what they want.
To quote philosopher Childish Gambino…This is America.
It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way
This is not how it is supposed to be. If we saw any of what was happening in another country and the leader and/or people happened to not be white…we would intervene. That is the American way. But right now we sit and watch.
Today is Halloween. And I almost forgot because every day in this country under these people is an absolute nightmare already.
Be safe this weekend.
-T