Open letter to Grandmothers Respond

Dearest Grandmothers, Womyn, Sistars!

It is with great trepidation and regret that I feel compelled – after  asking you to pretend these babies are our very own grandchildren – to write these truths to you that I’m sure you already know but that our behavior and actions are not reflecting.

We are NOT going to be able to end our nation’s policy of separating babies and children from their parents in our spare time!

Nor are we going to be able to end our nation’s practice of incarcerating refugees from our foreign policy of war and looting their countries of origin when it’s convenient for us to do so!

Nor are we going to be able to terminate our employment of ICE to intimidate and subjugate these refugees when we’re not occupied by our biological families.

We are NOT going to be able to ensure the reunification and freedom of refugees in between our pursuit of the amerikkkan nitemare, our continuing our lives ‘as usual’, safeguarding our privileged lives undisrupted by the very policies that are guaranteeing our undisrupted lives.

We are NOT going to be able to bring justice to the lives of refugees – and in turn our country – during a one week caravan, a 24 hour action, or a one day descent on washington d.c.

I KNOW we value freedom and justice – for everyone. I KNOW we are acutely horrified and deeply care for the families, the mothers and children who are right now suffering in ways most of us on this caravan have never come close to suffering. I KNOW we want to end this.

But I ask you, do we want to end the suffering of refugees who have made it to our borders as much as we want to continue our lives as usual?

Do we really want to say we’ve done enough or that we are now content we’ve done our best, or that our children and grandchildren are safe and we embrace that safety above all else? Therefore we can relax, pat ourselves on the back, and be content that we tried?

Let us rent a house for a month in d.c. BEFORE the election! And reserve the campground outside d.c.! Let us demand tRump, congress, supreme court IMMEDIATELY end separation, torture, rape and incarceration of refugees. And let us be determined to capitalize on our caravan action as awesome and inspiring as it was, before it fizzles and especially before another child is snatched from another mother.

Let us increase our actions, let us be motivated by the vision that these refugees are OUR children, OUR daughters, OUR grandchildren today, this minute, attempting to survive in prison detention centers.

"I don't care tRump got elected...I'm a strate white male..."

Making the coffee shop rounds in Quad Cities!

So today I’m at a relatively new café & bookstore in Davenport “The Brewed Book”, where I’m seeking a date/time for one of my readings/gatherings/discussions, as I’m calling my presentations!

I’m also framing this work I’m doing, spreading the messages in my book, as the mobile version of a door-to-door campaign, except I’m going town-to-town, city-to-city – any and everywhere folks are pondering the question “But What Can I Do?”

Yesterday I was at the sweet Theo’s Java Club – around the corner from a small organic family-owned grocery store, believe it or not – talking with the very open barista and leaving my card for Theo!

This is also an interesting café, located in an economically devastated neighborhood in the midst of a couple colleges and many rental units. They did offer one organic coffee choice and instead of a tip jar, the fellow behind the counter said that the owners pay him generously, he doesn’t depend on tips, and that the café was donating any tip money to the local food bank this month!

The co-owner, Tony, spoke with me for a long time and purchased a book! He is open to me doing a reading, at least he is prior to reading my book but after speaking with him, I think he’ll still be supportive of a reading.

Our conversation started with me expressing horror when he pointed out the nuclear power plant around the corner, declaring he worked there for thirty-some years. He rolled over my inquiry about his health, dismissing the idea in support of the best source of cheap energy to meet the needs of the country.

I frame the issue as our willingness to risk human life and life of Mother Earth in exchange for that cheap energy. Tony calmly reiterates that we will disagree about this one thing.

He told me he wrote a (sarcastic) “I don’t care that tRump was elected…” piece that started “…I’m a strate white man, no police officer is going to shoot me” and “….I was born in this country, no one is going to deport me” and so on.

He also talked openly about racism existing in the area and the presence of Black and brown people now living here, a white town he was born and raised in that is no longer as white.

This café is providing coffee drinks cheaper than corporate places (not to name names) and a lovely space with floor-to-ceiling book shelves stacked with mostly used books.

I highly recommend a visit to both these cafés when passing thru the Quad Cities!