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Let us not frame white systemic and cultural violence as “dark days.”
Let us not echo their favorite mantra: “This is not who we are. This is not what America is about.”
Let us not show more outrage for Nancy Pelosi’s office chair than we have shown for dismantled institutions that protect sacred life and promote our common good.
Let us not grieve for the “sacred halls” of an empire's capitol, or for belatedly shattered national illusions, more than we have grieved the lives of those unjustly killed over these past four years, whose names we could not or chose not to learn.
Let us not sit on our hands and expect “Joe and Kamala” to end the devastation of human lives and families, or repair shattered communities and life systems.
Let us not praise Republiklans' empty gestures of regret or their last-minute social distancing from this administration.
Let us not equate insults with injustice, civility with sincerity, or anti-fascism with unjustified violence.
Let us not talk about privilege more than we talk about systemic oppression.
Let us love our more distant neighbors who have suffered under or defeated coups by the U.S. government. They haven't seen their last.
Let us not forget that the next president has been granted the same authority over military and federal police that this one had, and will want more.
Let us not draw false equivalencies between Black Lives Matter and a mob of MAGAts. One is a diverse 7.5-year movement for human rights and expanded democracy; the other rejects easily-known facts and wants an authoritarian white/anglo republic rather than a democratic one.
Let us not turn this most recent coup attempt (and there have been several) in to debates about the merits of violent vs. non-violent tactics, or about damaging property, in the pursuit of justice. This state is the very definition of violence; and we're all caught in its cycle.
Let us not suggest that this coup attempt negates our urgent need to reduce military funding, demilitarize police departments, end qualified immunity, and shift funds to systems proven to increase human wellness & reduce violent crime. Such suggestions are embarrassingly foolish.
Let us not use this coup attempt to offer any discouragement to those who sacrifice to build a world where we no longer have any need (or feel any need) to rely upon soldiers, border agents, and police.
Let us not make this coup attempt in to a conversation about ANYTHING except the latest incursion against the fragments of democracy that some of us and some of our ancestors struggled and died to build on this empire’s unstable foundation of bones and blood money.
Let us be about the relationships and the work, more than the words.
