Years ago, I watched a C-Span webcast of a nearly four-hour roundtable discussion between such figures as Jesse Jackson, Julianna Malveaux, Tavis Smiley, Michael Eric Dyson, Louis Farrakhan, Cornel West, Dorothy Tillman, and others, entitled We Count! The Black Agenda is the American Agenda. Some feel it was too critical of then-President Obama, some feel it was fair, and some have no idea what I’m talking about. Which is neither here nor there, as my point in bringing it up is one particular part during Louis Farrakhan’s turn to speak his piece. It was a part that gave me goosebumps, and this is from someone who is hardly a fan. Farrakhan has problems, but he also has virtues, and this particular segment put them on display, as he spoke powerfully and to the point, energizing not just the audience, but almost everyone at the table around him (Jesse Jackson exists in a quantum state of zero energy). To quote:
Farrakhan: Now, remember - our dear sister Julianna Malveaux mentioned A. Philip Randolph. Man, that was a long time ago. And the cry was, ‘Jobs and justice!’ In the March on Washington in 1963, the cry was, ‘Jobs and justice!’ In the 20-year anniversary of the March on Washington, the cry was, ‘Jobs and justice!’ We are now in 2010, and what is the cry?
Audience: Jobs and justice!
Farrakhan: Well, wait a minute! (slaps table; audience roars) How long are you going to sit around begging white people to do for us what we have the power to do for ourselves?
The transcription doesn’t do it justice. His thundering question was met with a roar of applause that went on for some time, and I imagine more than one audience member was moved to action in the ensuing days/weeks/months as a result of this one call. I bring this up because I was reminded of it while watching the June 29 episode of Real Time With Bill Maher, wherein another controversial figure made an appeal to people to wake up and rise up. The reminder was bittersweet. Michael Moore came on the show to say that the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh is not set in stone yet, and that there is a (highly unlikely) path to stopping it. Now, I don’t want to debate the merits of Moore’s plan; that’s not my point, here. Basically, he wants the Democratic Senators to hold the line while the people rise up and storm Washington to prevent the confirmation going forward until the 2018 elections give the Senate back to the Democrats — or something like that.
Like I said, I don’t want to debate it.
What I want to do is point out one (of many) differences between it and Farrakhan’s call to action. Quote:
(crosstalk)
Moore: The people in Nevada, uh, they’ve got an incredible Democratic Congresswoman who’s running for Senate. They are-- have already voted for her. They love her. Arizona: an incredible Democratic Congresswoman, already elected by the people of Arizona, running. And - uh - where - where they’ve already got two Republicans Senators who want to stop Trump: McCain and Flake.
Maher: Yeah, but-- So you’re saying--
Moore: And then you’ve got the beloved Democratic Governor in Tennessee--
Maher: But this depends on us--
Moore: --who’s running as - uh - for the Senate. Why can’t we do this?
Maher: Because they-- Because the Republicans control the Senate, and Mitch McConnell’s gonna call a vote before the election!
Moore: (in a whiny, singsong, mocking tone) I know, I know, and - it’s - he’s - he’s gonna call the vote and then what’re we gonna do?
Bradley Whitford: You can’t just--
Moore: You know, they don’t think like that! They don’t think like that!
Whitford: They don’t think like that.
Moore: They go to--
Maher: I know, but-- I know--
Moore: They go to magical thinking, and they go, ‘A fertilized egg is a human being!’
Maher: Yeah. I - I - I still-- I st-- I still don’t--
Moore: ‘A fertilized egg is a human being!’ They say it over and over, and they’ve got millions behind them. When are we gonna start talking like that?
Okay, so apart from the fact that Bill Maher is physically incapable of shutting the fuck up no matter who is speaking or how profound the words are, look at what Maher is saying. He’s saying, “No. We’re fucked. Stop talking like we’re not fucked.” That’s the difference. Farrakhan didn’t have a Bill Maher at the table, interrupting him every five seconds with yabut yabut. Because Maher is so invested in being The Realist, he’s forgotten a simple principle: Nobody changes the world by accepting it the way it is.
Full disclosure: I think Kavanaugh will be confirmed, and we cannot stop it. Having said that, Moore’s path to blocking the confirmation might be ludicrously thin and treacherous, but he’s not wrong about it existing, and he’s definitely not wrong about fighting for it. Especially by engaging in some magical thinking, which is frankly about the only way Kavanaugh doesn’t get confirmed: magic. But — and here’s my point — that’s not a reason not to do it. Every Democrat near any camera should start screaming into it nonstop. Doesn’t much matter what they say — Kavanaugh wants to appoint Trump as Supreme Emperor, a President under investigation can’t appoint justices, McConnell Rule, secret plot to murder everyone on food stamps — doesn’t matter. Just make it loud and outlandish enough to swing more cameras their way. That’s how Republicans do it. I hear a lot of complaining the Democrats can’t get air time. Well, yeah, because Republicans sell more ads and copy, because they shout crazy shit. So start shouting crazy shit.
It doesn’t have to be science denial, but it does have to proclaim the politically impossible possible. That’s how Republicans did it, so we know it works. They refuse to accept reality, so they change it. About to lose the Supreme Court for a generation? Make up some bullshit about election-year appointments and refuse to do your Constitutional duty. The Democrats already handed you a gift by blowing up the filibuster during your obstruction of the Obama Administration, so use it. Boom. Justice Gorsuck. They don't care about reality. They don’t care about what people think. They don't care if all is lost and it seems impossible.
As recent “impossible” candidate (and even more recent primary winner) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “They’ll tell you you’re too loud, that you need to wait your turn and ask the right people for permission. Do it anyway.”
And as a wise man tried to shout over Bill Maher, “When are we gonna start talking like that?”
Here’s what the right knew way back when: Even when you lose the impossible fight, you gain something. The loyalty of a growing base, media presence, something to point to on the campaign trail, energized voters who go out to pull the lever, angry their wishes are being thwarted...
We should know that, too. We should have that. All of that. All damn day. Fuck all the dark money and voter suppression and gerrymandering. We have something they don’t: numbers. There are signs those numbers are starting to wake up. So get louder. If the Ocasio-Cortezes and Moores are allowed to voice magical thinking uninterrupted by the Bill Mahers, and we buy into that magical thinking, history has shown us that something magical will happen. Will. Happen.
As Farrakhan told the audience in 2010, we have the power to do this ourselves. Always have. That’s important to remember as Trump and Company run roughshod over our institutions and our values, doing their level best to make you feel powerless. Even if you believe we’ve lost, that just means we have nothing to lose, and when you have nothing to lose, bet it all. Go all-in on magical thinking. You’ll be surprised how much of it comes to pass if you fight, talk, contribute, and vote like it will.
Go be magical.