More ‘regrets’ of white womxxn!

Another older white womon strides determinately toward me and I think I can tell by her step what she’s about to say: the shame she feels voting for tRump and the confidence she feels finally seeing the truth.

She doesn’t disappoint. I tell her she’s part of a growing group of older white womxxn who have recently had the blinders at least lowered if not removed. She nods grimly and claims she listened to her husband and voted in conjunction with him.

His recent death has liberated her. She momentarily appears confused and almost lost, like a dementia patient wondering how the hell she got here. But she speaks with the painful knowledge of the early morning risers.

I ask her what in particular led to her seeing the truth. She looks at me as if I’m the demented one so I hastily explain again that I’ve met so many white womxxn who formerly voted for tRump but now regret that vote.

She bitterly tells me she believed tRump cared more about her than Hillary did; that tRump cared more about everyone. Now she is filled with disgust listening to his hatred and not just against womxxn but against refugees (altho she says immigrants) and Black and brown people. Plus she’s aware of his attack on clean air, clean water, protections of National Parks.

She HATES fracking and with both arms, she sweeps large arcs to point out the thousands of fracking wells burning huge flames into the night sky. “Do you smell that?” she demands? The air stinks here and the rumble of trucks never ceases.

I ask her about the people of the area, if they are engaging in actions. She shakes her head vigorously, telling me about Balmorhea, the state park that has been closed since May under the excuse of ‘structural damage’ to the spring-fed swimming pool. “We all know this damage is not due to age or use but to earthquakes we all feel and the hammering into the land by apache oil. And get this,” she continues with a sneer, “apache has VOLUNTEERED to pay for fixing the pool. Do you think they would have volunteered if they thought we couldn’t prove it’s their reckless disregard for our springs that has caused this damage?”

I tell her I share her pain and disgust. I was in Balmorhea in 2015/2016 after Standing Rock and when there were only about 2 fracking sites but thousands threatened and helped set up the protest water protector camp less than a mile from the springs. The local people didn’t feel strong enough to prevent further fracking – even though there already was a fracking site ‘spill’ but instead wanted to focus on recording what the oil companies were doing.

The result is thousands of sites and irreparable damage to the natural springs and habitat of the area.

So sad.