We're Not Going Back (Are We?)
I woke up extra early this morning to run the Hillbilly Hike, a quaint, non-commercialized race on a wooded trail between Indianola and Carlisle. I look forward to this race every year because the route is quiet and isolated, leaving very little to distract from the vibrancy of Iowa’s fall colors. After 13.1 miles in the tranquility of a crisp autumn day, I usually find myself full of gratitude and ready for the shift to the holidays.
But this year as I finished the race, it wasn’t gratitude in my heart. It was agitation. Unease. Because this year, as I pulled out of my driveway hours earlier to make the trek to the start of the race, I noticed that my political signs for my local candidates had been ripped, kicked, and destroyed. And my signs for Kamala were gone, including the Barbie-themed sign that my girls loved.
Is there a good chance that the culprits were a group of teenagers doing stupid teenager things? Yes, absolutely. It’s likely even.
But in this heated, hateful, and violent political culture of today, there’s also a reasonable chance that it was a grown-ass adult.
And that reasonable chance was enough to scare me.
I recognize my privilege here—that as a white woman in my fairly affluent suburb, I’ve never, until now, feared for my safety because of my political beliefs, while many (too many) of my fellow Americans have spent generations fearing for theirs.
But I guess that’s what makes this moment in time so demoralizing. How, after what seemed like decades upon decades of progress (not always linear, but progress nonetheless), is this where we landed? How is a man who just this week said his political opponent should stand with nine barrels shooting at her even still part of this conversation?
How.
I want to believe Kamala when she says we’re not going back. On most days, I do believe her.
But on days like today, I want to ask her, “Are you sure?”
Because on days like today, I feel like maybe forward is a thing of the past.
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Steph, I hate that your signs got destroyed and stolen. If it were teenagers it would be a relief. But based on my experience in my affluent area of Arlington, VA, it probably isn’t. Four years ago people’s ring doorbells and other outdoor cameras caught an older - mid 60’s maybe 70 - guy walking down the street pulling up every Biden and local Dem sign and throwing them into the four lane street he was walking along. Sadly it wasn’t an isolated incident. The cameras and doorbells were installed because signs kept disappearing at least once a week for several weeks. I’m absolutely baffled how TFG hasn’t been arrested by the FBI. Because if you or I public made those comments we’d be hauled in for questioning as soon as the words left our mouths. We are not going back. Our daughters deserve better. The LGBTQ+ community deserves better. People of color and the immigrant communities deserve better.
It's good to have your perspective, Steph.