I’ve noticed a vibe shift (my own original term) in the What A Swell Democratic Party This Is (h/t Cole Porter) Primary.
Iowa was the first real battle of this primary season and we all felt the vibe going from campaigning to actually entering into the electoral arena and battling it out for votes.
There’s always been anger between the various factions here at Daily Kos but I feel the vibe shift has been ratcheted up as the result of this power we’re all experiencing.
There’s also a lot of anger throughout this country, and I’m feeling the reality of that more and more in the context of our national politics.
What happened in Flint Michigan is also what happened in New Orleans, Louisiana and in cities and towns throughout this country. The pain of that is real and enduring and has turned into a true anger because no one has been held accountable and justice has not been done, and the pain goes on and the problems cause more pain and when you feel nothing will change, anger arises.
Of course there are those exhausted citizens who are just turning to drugs and suicide as they see the world become in their eyes a hostile place where they can’t even sustain anger any more.
When anger is real and derived from a struggle for political power, I believe it should be handled seriously and not just blown off as being “childish,” “uncivil,” all that jazz.
This is Black History Month so a story does come to mind.
I read about how non-violent protest was taught to those young Black people who, in one instance, forcefully integrated lunch counters and stores and other public but segregated spaces.
There was a ton of political fights and squabbles and arguments and hard work that went on just to find what should be protested and how to protest it during the Jim Crow era, when practically everything was corrupt and racist and dangerous for Black people.
Young people were given classes in non-violent protest — how to deal with getting beaten, arrested, spit on, jailed, yelled at (and believe me, that can be a terrifying weapon when fueled with hatred), every unbearably uncivil and cruel behavior one could think of up to and including murder.
Martin Luther King, among others in the movement, would often “ask permission” to pray during these protests and they would pray for their oppressors. This wasn’t a trick, it was a real and clear expression of spirituality. This spiritual response was also a power, an energy, which allowed an unarmed protester to go up against armed authorities with their guns and dogs and water hoses, go up against a powerful hatred and fear and contempt, and still be able to function as the protest demanded, to still keep in mind during all that what would get you through and what you were fighting for.
We felt the power of that spirit after the Charleston massacre this past year, when we heard one of the victim’s family say to the killer “I forgive you.” There was nothing weak or soft or false in that forgiveness. These were Bible study people, and studying sacred works over a period of time creates its own power, I believe.
Sticks and dogs and water hoses hurt. Words hurt, too.
Injustice hurts in an unbearable way for most of us. There is real anger in this country over too many years of the most vulnerable of us carrying the largest burden in an atmosphere of disrespect and contempt for our brothers and sisters who deserve and have a right to dignity.
So how to manage that anger?
Let it arise and acknowledge it. Let it manifest. Then let it subside, which it will do naturally. It might take more than a minute, it might take days or even weeks depending on what triggered that anger. And sometimes it’s just that our egos hurt which everyone can make fun of and mock but no one is immune to.
We are not childish, none of us, even those who I can’t stand encountering and whose words trigger my own anger. This is a real phenomenon and it’s part of being a citizen.
On to New Hampshire.