Shouts and honking horns . . . and a country being born?

Hey, hey, ho, ho . . . I don’t know. it’s been four days ago, as I write, that the second No Kings rally was held across the country – across the world. I can still hear the blaring horns; they sounded like music. Something fused and bubbled in the blare, a sense of connection and shared values, that isn’t going away. That was the uniqueness of this rally, or so I hope and feel at some deep place in my heart.

I attended the rally, with my sister and two friends, in Appleton, Wisconsin, where I now live – one of about 2,700 such rallies across the country. The several thousand people packing the streets of downtown Appleton were part of the 7 million people throughout the country who felt called upon to – shall we say? – join the future. This is my takeaway. This is why I’m writing about the rally today. Yeah, it’s over. But it’s not “done.”

No faux king way!

In case you have never heard the name "Valetina Gomez" before, she is a 26 y/o Columbian immigrant and a right-wing extremist Republican candidate for Secretary of State in Missouri who faced a resounding defeat in the primary election last year. One day after her brother's support for her campaign, he was fired from the office of New Jersey mayor.

She came to public attention when she burnt a copy of the Qur'an during her election campaign to attract media attention and generate votes. But the self-confessed “biggest bitch in America” uses the verbal equivalent of "shock and awe" against Muslims, Blacks, immigrants, and gay people to make a name for himself. 

Here are some samples of her recent obnoxious remarks:

* She recently burned a copy of the Qur'an.

* Muslims should never be able to hold public office in the US.

* Muslims want to kill every Jew, Christian, and Hindu.

* She cheers the slaughter of innocent children in Gaza. 

* She is banned on Instagram, Facebook, and Wikipedia due to her incendiary remarks and call for violence.

The human condition includes a vast array of unavoidable misfortunes. But what about the preventable ones? Shouldn’t the United States provide for the basic needs of its people?

Such questions get distinctly short shrift in the dominant political narratives. When someone can’t make ends meet and suffers dire consequences, the mainstream default is to see a failing individual rather than a failing system. Even when elected leaders decry inequity, they typically do more to mystify than clarify what has caused it.

While “income inequality” is now a familiar phrase, media coverage and political rhetoric routinely disconnect victims from their victimizers. Human-interest stories and speechifying might lament or deplore common predicaments, but their storylines rarely connect the destructive effects of economic insecurity with how corporate power plunders social resources and fleeces the working class. Yet the results are extremely far-reaching.

This Wednesday, October 22, a coalition of organizations working to better public safety in Ohio led by Ohio Families Unite Against Police Brutality and OFUPAC will host an O22 2025 Memorial Press Conference inside the Ladies Gallery at the Ohio Statehouse. October 22 is the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality, and this year we will use our collective voice to honor the more than 1200 Ohioans whose lives have been cut short by police brutality in the state since 2000. Out of Ohio's 88 counties, 78 are home to families with loved ones killed by police brutality.

This year’s O22 memorial event will take place inside the Ladies Gallery of the Ohio Statehouse from 10:30am-noon. Speakers will include families who have lost loved ones to police violence, and State Representative Darnell Brewer (OH-22), who will be introducing new legislation.

Speakers will share more about their loved ones while highlighting legislative solutions to strengthen our public safety systems. OFUPAC will also release their new policy brief, titled How We End Community Violence in Ohio. 

At the Newark Octagon, the Major Standstill is fading away. When the moon rises at its astronomically northernmost point on the eastern horizon every 18 to 19 years and pauses before returning southward. Aligning with or “framing” this lunar event, of course, are the corridor walls of this Native American-built earthwork.