Dena Eakles

Disarm the Police

The ruthless killing of Black men and others by police is being challenged, as it should. Thinking people and those who suffered the consequences of force run amuck are working towards creating new systems. Phrases like “defund the police”, “disarm the police”, and “abolish the police” are being discussed as we come to this fork in the road.

Some are willing to explore the possibility of life without policing, as we have known it. They are championing funding for mental health care and community support. They’re educating us on the historical roots of policing that was created to maintain the wealth and property of the upper class. And they’re upending the myth “to serve and protect.”

In truth we should all welcome this evolutionary moment. But some do not believe in evolution. And it shows. We were all handed a system and some are determined to stick with it – for good or for bad. Their resistance to change shows in “Back the Blue” signs. It shows in comments of how people should obey the police. “If you are innocent, no need to run, right?” Wrong.

As an institution the police force is beyond repair. Doubt it? When a twenty-six year veteran, instructor and past union president of the police force can’t tell the difference between a Taser and a gun…they’re either lying or living proof that the system is beyond repair. Some police are driven by fear of other, some by hatred and some are all too clear what betrayal to their comrades will mean.

Make no mistake; we have arrived. The conversation has begun and we will either go kicking and screaming into that good night or we will embrace what should have happened long ago.

Disarm the police. Demilitarize our lives.

We’re better than this.

photo: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

No Mandate for Kindness

The Wisconsin Supreme Court once again shut down the mask mandate for the state. Within moments jubilation was resounding in the streets, in the market, on social media and even in our little library.

Sitting quietly there, I heard this conversation from behind, “Oops, I can’t believe I forgot my mask. “ Then another, “You don’t need it. Do you have your shots?” The voice got closer and she coughed right behind my chair, “yeah, you don’t need masks now, no mandate.”

Yep. She’s right, there is no mandate for common sense and there never was a mandate for kindness.

To all who have received shots and believe you are impervious…clearly you have not read the fine print. Vaccinations may or may not stop you from contracting the virus. It may only decrease the severity. And your ability to carry the virus means you may still spread it to others.

Tuesday was Election Day. I was grateful to see our poll workers masked and distancing. But apparently other towns were intent on flaunting their “freedoms” and callously displayed the ignorance gripping our nation and refusing to let go.

It doesn’t matter if you believe that masks work or don’t. It doesn’t matter that leadership is more eager to battle than to help. It doesn’t matter if you’re a liberal anti-vaxer or a conservative science hater. The sideshows don’t matter.

What matters is your consideration of others. What matters is your willingness to recognize that in this moment of time we are all interconnected. What matters is your ability to care.

People are still dying. Mutations are still occurring. This worldwide crisis is separating living human beings from those who are merely pretending.

The only way to beat this pandemic is to become respectful human beings. Therein lies your freedom.

Photo courtesy: Dcpeopleandeventsof2017/wikimediacommons

Reversing Apathy

“It will never change”. This phrase pops up a lot these days when conversations turn towards conscientious gun laws, ending systemic racism, reversing climate change…you name it.

Whatever demands we move towards more humane and dignified living, people are quick to say, “it can never happen”.

Really? Of course change can happen. Change is the one thing you can be sure of…but how will it change? In what direction will it change? Will we dive deeper into division, pummeled by lobbyists devoted to violence and war? Will self-serving politicians and clergy manipulate us? Or will we overcome the apathy that accompanies our unconsciousness?

In a matter of four years, we changed from a country whose whispered racist undertones rose to a crescendo. Who are we, with our doubts and our unconscious apathy, to think we can stop it from changing again – this time for the better?

Martin Luther King was very right when he spoke of the silence of our friends and the mediocrity of whites as being the greatest enemies of humanity and justice. And I add this to his list of enemies: doubt. We doubt our power because we do not know our power. We have not yet understood the strength of our humanity.

When we realize our interconnectedness, we will stop being satisfied with our own personal status quo. Activists call it intersectional thinking. I call it common sense. When empathy and compassion reign in our hearts, they will again reign in our land.

As a nation we refused to protect ourselves from a pandemic just as we have repeatedly refused to protect ourselves from gun violence.

But it’s not too late.

Change will come, of that there is no doubt. But the direction change will take… that is still within our grasp. Get in the game.

Above meme credit: Lisa Ann

The Pathological Sickness of Patriarchy

Maybe its my age, maybe its being queer, I am not sure what’s driving my lack of patience with male violence against women, but on a scale of 1-10, I’m at 20.

I don’t know what the experts will tell us about the twenty-one year-old white male who gunned down predominantly Asian women in Atlanta.

He’s blaming it on his sexual addictions. Officials don’t want to believe it’s a hate crime.

Give me a break. It’s all of the above and it smacks of the misogynistic disease that runs rampant in this country. It’s the pathological sickness of patriarchy.

And greed and patriarchy feed on power. Man camps are known to be breeding grounds for sex trafficking and the mutilation and murder of young women and men – predominantly in Native American populations and other marginalized people who live where resource extraction is big business.

OK, nothing new. Boys will be boys right? Out of state, away from their families, too much money on their hands and too much to prove…but this is where I get really lost.

Someone knows these guys. They are sons and fathers, brothers and friends of someone. Someone knows the sick propensities they exhibit. Someone knows and is not telling. Someone is letting it happen.

And because pathological patriarchy is power based, it threads through our police, judicial, military and governmental systems.

We are trained to look the other way.

How many reading this know what a man camp is? How many care to find out? What about the Circuit Court Judge in Milwaukee County assigned to Children’s Court arrested this week for trafficking in child pornography? A story buried as fast as it came up.

Friends, we are way beyond “Time’s Up”. And I am asking, where are the men and women to end this nightmare? Wake up.

For more on Stop AAPI Hate

In Numbness We Stand

On February 25th, the United States carried out an act of military retaliation on a Syrian village making Biden the seventh consecutive president to bomb the Middle East. Senators Kaine and Murphy called for congressional hearings on the legality of the bombing. Representative Ro Khanna made it clear that without imminent threat the president must get Congressional approval…but so it goes.

We are a nation of people unwilling to end war. Words like “necessary deterrent” and “collateral damage” have made us numb to the blood on our hands. The Syrian village was bombed in retaliation to an earlier airstrike in Iraq that killed a Philippine contractor and wounded a United States soldier – let that sink in. Various reports indicate that we killed 3 to 22 people. Nobody knows for sure and those that care are intentionally not heard. Oh and the village was “believed to be” occupied by militias. That’s right, “believed to be”.

The smoke and mirrors of both parties in using our military, our soldiers, and our name to preserve and protect the precious oil in the Middle East is horrifying. And yet it continues. It continues because we have grown numb. We accept the headlines and stop reviewing the details.

We have forsaken the sanctity of life. We cannot be bothered to demand tools of diplomacy be our first choice. Yet our weapons become more sophisticated, more deadly and more expensive.

And today’s greatest lie is “we must preserve our way of life”, while we bomb villages, and destroy the earth for fossil fuels and to fill a few wealthy pockets.

We have relied on “might is right” for far too long. I look forward to the day when one human life is as valuable as another and this Christian nation lives up to its boasts.

Photo compliments of Creative Commons Attribution – Wikimedia Commons

A Bit of Concern

On March 10^th, the state of Texas is set to re-open all businesses, lifting mask requirements and stripping local authorities of the right to enforce face coverings. People fretting over the economy and weary of state control are rejoicing.

Regardless of where you stand on vaccinations, the reality is that only 15 % of the entire population of the United States has received one and the new virus variants continue to rise. Speculation is that the common flu has been kept in check with the vigorous applications of social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing. But the woes of the economy outweigh the human components.

And the Lone Star state and Ole Mississippi are heading down the path of exploiting workers for the sake of the Almighty Dollar.

So when the restaurants and bars are open 100%, and the mask-less servers are scurrying about, will they be offered paid sick leave if they contract covid?

Will hotels offer housekeeping workers any benefits to offset the risks they run?

Is anything in place for the caregivers in hospitals if a new wave spikes and demands their super human effort?

And no relief is on the way for the millions soon to face eviction as the federal moratorium on evictions ends this month.

Apparently the game of politics is still more important than human life. During the first year of the pandemic we were led down the path of division by a bully too afraid to face the truth. And now leaders willingly subject our most marginalized people to unnecessary harm.

Someone is exercising a bit of concern, Kroger, the grocery chain in 35 states, will maintain their mask mandate until all frontline workers are vaccinated.

Here’s to the realization: that what happens to one, happens to all.

Give Way to the Living

If we are to emerge as human beings from this pandemic and economic insecurity we will do well to submerge ourselves in some basic truth telling.

The reign of fossil fuels is over. The latest message to the folks living in Texas was very clear. Source your food, water and energy locally.

The war on drugs was an abysmal failure. It gave way to exploitive incarceration of people of color and those of lessor means. It opened the door to senseless violence and greed.

The rise of white supremacy and the infiltration into our police and military is not new. Protection of property over people is a right of class. That class employs ruthless tactics and people to maintain control. The unraveling of the commons was an intentional construct to divide us and to protect property.

The belief that “might is right” deems the powerful as unstoppable. But power without humility is devoid of Love and shows itself in dehumanizing ways. Power, without humility, exploits every bit of Creation. Without Love you are an agent of death and creator of your own demise.

But in the midst of the destruction, there are people turning around centuries of injustice. They’re standing on the shoulders of their ancestors and refusing to sacrifice Love and their humanity regardless of outcome. They’re reclaiming human wisdom with compassion and kindness.

You will find us on front lines as Water Protectors, Mutual Aid Workers, Seed Savers, Community Builders and more. We are emerging in every facet of society.

Look around; you have a choice. Continue to prop up the cult of death in its many forms, or give way to the living, because it is our time.

Photo credit: Learn more about John Trudell John Trudell was a poet, recording artist, actor and speaker whose international following reflects the universal language of his words, work and message.

Someone is Being Served

Once again a large part of the country has been upended by catastrophic climate. Once again we’re not prepared. I wonder how long it will take for people to get a grip on our new reality. Old systems no longer serve us. Privatized utilities that can shut power during unprecedented cold, do not serve us. Building pipelines for Canadian tar sands during a pandemic does not serve us.

Estimated numbers of sex trafficked victims tripled over the past year does not serve us.

But make no mistake someone is being served.

People pretend to not see and then it’s too late. You become victim.

Amazon may soon have its first union in the United States, and by all accounts they are using the same union busting tactics deployed long ago. Infiltration into the ranks, blatant lies and not so veiled threats prevail.

Too many of us are complacent or revel in false exceptionalism. Too many succumb to the allure of wealth. Too few have cultivated the empathy required for people to live in a society that can benefit all.

If not for the brave souls determined to chart new courses, I would feel total desperation.

But there you are on the front lines helping feed and house people, finding creative ways to educate our youth, standing for social and environmental justice which we now recognize as one and the same. There you are, the ones who have turned hope into action; the ones who refuse to look back or to call what we are leaving behind “normal”.

Because normal it is not. Kindness is normal. Compassion is normal. Destroying racism is normal. Declaring our need for peace is normal. Loving the earth is normal.

Someone is being served, someone will be served, let it be all of us.

Get in the Game

Drama is afoot as the Senate considers the conviction of Donald Trump in his involvement in the January 6th insurrection. The well-greased machine called the GOP seems to have decided it’s in their political interest not to rock the boat. And the feisty, but not well-organized Democrats seem content with finger pointing and fretting.

And I wonder where the patriots are?

I listened to Trump’s speech the morning of the insurrection and I watched the vote count being disrupted by white terrorists. There’s no doubt in my mind that he was a puppeteer. And I have never forgotten his remark that he could kill someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.

Seven people died, along with the sanctity of the Capitol and the peaceful transition of power. And Trump never uttered an apology.

I challenge my Christian conservative friends to hold Trump accountable. Party loyalty cannot mean supporting white supremacists that threaten death to elected officials. It can’t mean ignoring the blatant symbols of confederate flags and nooses. It can’t mean allowing this hatred and ignorance to be the leading wing of your party.

And to my Democrat friends who are accepting that nothing can be done to stop the GOP stonewalling: you are wrong and you are lazy. You have given up on the system you profess to uphold. You can contact your Republican Senators and demand their attention to truth. But don’t stop there. You can and must reach out to friends and family who were caught in the drama of the last four years and invite them to take a stand with you. This is not a politics as usual unless we allow it to be.

And don’t stop there. Challenge the puppeteers who intentionally keep us divided.

Use your voice. Get in the game.

House Managers present video on January 6 insurrection.

Photo: Public Domain File:2021 United States Capitol VOA 1.jpgCreated: 6 January 2021

Author: Dena Eakles