What It Means

Just hours ago, the United States Supreme Court, filled with five of the most conservative, Republican, misognistic, racist, bigoted justices ever, have furthered their intent of putting women in this country in the dark ages.  These men, today, ruled in favor of a privately owned corporation's "rights" to "regulate" the private lives of their female employees by denying access to birth control pills because it is against their religious beliefs.  The corporation, long held as a non-living-entity, was deemed a "person" through this same court's ruling of them in Citizens' United.  This same court has now thrown us back into the deep dark ages while these same old white men with their Viagra can continue to have as much sex as they want, without thought of the repercussions of those acts.

I, like many of my progressive women friends, are angry, understandably so, for the future of our daughters. Roe v. Wade was a right, access to birth control was an unquestioned right, whether it worked or not (I have a couple kids from failed birth control pills), our rights of personhood, rights over body and choice were all thrown out the window in favor of some ideological man's interpretation of an ancient book that is admittedly misunderstood but written in hyperbole, allegory, parable, and philosophy.

Anger doesn't begin to describe what I feel.  I was born Freedom Summer.  I am fifty years old and never thought that my ten and twelve year old daughters would be catapulted backwards into a world filled with racism, bigotry, misogny,and religious fanatacism all because a few rich white men were angry that a black man sits in the house that slaves built.  That these same men would systematically destroy the nation over these past fourteen years, first with an illegal presidential victory decided by a court and not the people, then an illegal war, then the genocide of millions in the flood, the continued ruining of men for private prison profit, the recent inhumane treatment and denial of living water for a city on the lake, and now this.

When I started writing about political, social, and cultural matters back in 2007, some thought I was just being radical.  Others called me boogie.  Still others applauded my continued spotlight on what was happening and the teacher in me challenging them to take action, to alter belief, and to speak up.

Today, I was temporarily stunned silent.

Never did any of us think this would happen.  We all thought reason would take over from fanaticism.

Then today.

And fanaticism has temporarily won.

Tomorrow, we pick up and fight again.

The ACA still is the Federal Law of the Land and birth control coverage is included, even if some nutty corporation thinks they have supreme headship over their employees making barely a living.

What does this all mean? It means everyone, every one of us must vote, must continue to use the tools of our disposal and write, talk, speak, draw, sing, rap, play, or dance the truth so that everyone can understand what is really happening.  We do not want the dark ages again.