insurrection – Natalie J. Case

One year ago today, I was working from home and had one of my monitors tuned in to watch the certification of the electoral college votes. I was watching not because I expected anything would happen, but because I was relieved that we would finally have a competent adult in the White House.

Well, I expected a few theatrical objections from the Republican side of things because they’d already proven that they were incapable of behaving like rational adults. I didn’t expect to be watching a full-on insurrection.

In fact, I was so incredulous when it started to be clear that something was happening, that I called my mother to confirm what I was seeing was real. For clarity, I don’t have cable tv, I was streaming on YouTube, so I was looking for confirmation that the news was showing the same thing.

Needless to say, not a lot of work got done the rest of the day as I watched the coverage.

There was a lot of shock and some fear on my part, a lot of disbelief too.

In the days that followed, as more and more information came out, that disbelief turned to anger, and over the last year, as we learned more and as social media posts made during the insurrection went viral, that anger grew.

In the last year, some of those people went on trial and went to jail, or had to pay fines. The length of the sentences grew as they went along, working their way up to those who committed the more heinous acts that day.

This is not over, not until those at the top face justice. Not until the full truth about who was involved behind the scenes is known. Not until those in office who were involved are expelled.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the very existence of democracy in America is on the line.

On this anniversary, I hope a somber remembrance will lead us to better days, dear Readers.

Photo by Louis Velazquez on Unsplash

On January 6, 2021 the United States of America came under attack. This attack did not come from some foreign enemy. This attack did not come from radical Islam. This attack did not come from “antifa”.

This attack was perpetrated by our own homegrown, right-wing, “Christian” radicals.

This attack was enabled by law enforcement.

This attack was an attempt to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States in order to seat a dictator, an attempt directed by that would-be-dictator. This man stood at a podium and told this mob of devotees to march on the capitol and fight.

There was no widespread voter fraud. No ballets were “dumped”. No machines changed votes. The few cases of fraud that have been found were people voting for the would-be-dictator for their dead relatives.

The only reason people believe that there was fraud, that this election was irregular, is because the would-be-dictator told them there was.

This was not a protest asking the government to “please stop killing us for no reason” or to demand justice for vigilantes with badges to be held accountable. This was a base of people who have been continually lied to, regularly riled up in an “us against them” mentality and launched at an institution of the United States because one man wants to be king.

Like all cults, this may have started out as a fringe group of mostly harmless whackos, but the time has come for us to intervene. It’s time to bring in the deprogrammers and rip out the core of this cult before any more Americans are injured or killed.

I am reminded of this poem I wrote all the way back in 1992:

The Mirror

in the maddening chaos
of a wicked, walled-in world
where bigots rule the masses
their hate like flags unfurled
a generation’s genocide
comes off without a hitch
as the hatred born of pain and doubt
climbs to a fevered pitch
building through the centuries
of prejudice and fear
growing in the decades
of trials and treasured tears
the madness swirls and eddies
like the ocean’s tides and waves
feeding like a cancer
on the terror it creates
it seethes beneath the surface
just barely out of sight
waiting for the moment
it can slip into the light
a cold, dark hand, like death itself
slinks slowly from the dark
to reach into the shaded spot
found at a nation’s heart
as daylight dawns, the aftermath
finds a country on its knees
gazing into its history
bared for all the world to see
we sit in utter silence
star in shock at what we see
for the horror in that silence
is the mirror in front of me

As always, I hope you are staying safe and sane, Readers. I love you.

Cover Photo by ElevenPhotographs on Unsplash

Tag: insurrection

one year on

the mirror