May 15, 2026

If you haven't already seen the speech by a Louisiana resident who identified himself as Marshawn, please do so now. The whole speech is wonderful, and at one point he calls the MAGA movement, "the last breath of the Confederacy". I agree with everything he says about the racism of MAGA, but I am not as optimistic about the generations to come as he is.

I wish I could be more hopeful about the future, but as Richard Wright said, "if this state of affairs had lasted for 2 or 3 years, we could say it was unjust; but it has lasted for more than 200 years"!!! The racism of this country isn't going to vanish after the midterms and it isn't going to vanish with a new administration. In fact, this "last breath of the Confederacy" strengthened during a Democratic Administration with a Black person as the president. Those who have always been privileged reacted regressively to the first sign that the privilege may not last.

Wright tells us that racism has become such "an accomplished fact of life" in this country. I feel that the only thing that has any hope of ending it is a generational sustained effort of real work, education, and privileged groups recognizing their privilege and dismantling the system that gave them those advantages.

It is one thing for the younger generations to vote against the outright fascists, but will they be willing to actually combat the deeper structural issues that keep reviving the worst parts of American history? I, for one, need to see it to believe it.