My 95 year old aunt

[evertonfc]

A little perspective. My aunt is a fiesty, life long Democrat. A FDR Democrat. Still votes. We talked last night at her house and politics came up. She loathes Trump but made good points. She said is bad as things seem in America, it pales to past problems in America. She said race relations, infrastructure, health care ( at least ability to get care) is so much better than anytime in her life. She said she saw a Great Depression, world war and terrible racial atrocities that a person of my age simply could never imagine. She told me to vote, stay engaged but live life free of angst and fear. She said things will work out and blames social media and non stop news for the constant anxiety and divide. She said myself and my son have it "made in the shade" compared to generations past ( my son is biracial). She told me to "turn the damn tv news and internet off and go enjoy life and some things you can't control ". Good talk aunty

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Good advice! nt

[2naSalit]

2. I go outside every day for at least an hour no matter what the weather is like.

I call it mental floss.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Well, it's easier to do when you're not a person of color.

Last edited Sun Oct 27, 2019, 02:53 PM - Edit history (1)

You have to live this life as a poc to understand why it's so hard to find a group of people who can relate to your exact experiences. And since your bi-cultured background is not the prevailing one, you are constantly in a state of suppressing your own identity, just for the pleasure of fitting into groups that will never really lift you up in a meaningful way.

Make sure to give your son as many good experiences in both cultures and make sure he has access to doors into those worlds that will sustain him in his adult life.

[soldierant]

12. THIS

[Baitball Blogger]

14. .

[StarfishSaver]

15. That's true, but her wise advice still holds for everyone, even people of color

Things ARE better than they were for people of color.

I am not saying gaps do not persist. Obviously, they do. Racism persists. Inequality persists ... {But if} you had to choose one moment in history in which you could be born, and you didn’t know ahead of time who you were going to be -- what nationality, what gender, what race, whether you’d be rich or poor, gay or straight, what faith you'd be born into -- you wouldn’t choose 100 years ago. You wouldn’t choose the fifties, or the sixties, or the seventies. You’d choose right now. If you had to choose a time to be, in the words of Lorraine Hansberry, “young, gifted, and black” in America, you would choose right now. (Applause.)

I tell you all this because it's important to note progress. Because to deny how far we’ve come would do a disservice to the cause of justice, to the legions of foot soldiers; to not only the incredibly accomplished individuals who have already been mentioned, but your mothers and your dads, and grandparents and great grandparents, who marched and toiled and suffered and overcame to make this day possible.

I tell you this not to lull you into complacency, but to spur you into action -- because there’s still so much more work to do, so many more miles to travel. And America needs you to gladly, happily take up that work. You all have some work to do.

President Barack Obama
Howard University Commencement Address
May 2016

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. +1000000!

[Demovictory9]

22. yeah

[FakeNoose]

4. I think I love your aunt

No seriously, why can't all the "oldsters" think and talk this way?
Your aunt is a gem and you're lucky to have her.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. "Live free of angst & fear" excellent. Don't turn fear into angst. Have courage

Courage is not a denial or suppression of fear. It is cool calm rationality overpowering fear; acknowledging it but then doing what needs to be done regardless.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

6. Please send your aunt lots of DU love and respect for her wisdom you've passed along to us.

KY............

[StevieM]

7. She makes a good point but there is one big difference between now and the past:

The Republican Party has made the decision to pursue fascism. They are done with democracy.

The Supreme Court is planning on showing us what it really looks like when judges legislate from the bench. And any attempt to stop them will be met with very real threats of civil war.

The nearest analogy to the chapter that we are approaching is the Business Plot against FDR, and what it would have looked like if it had succeeded.

[nini]

11. Exactly

Fascists have infiltrated OUR government this time.

[StarfishSaver]

17. There are people alive today, including my 90+-year-old father a d probably Evertonfc's auntie

who would respond, "Child, please. Get over yourself. Things are bad but they pale in comparison to what WE had to deal with in our lifetimes."

My father has on more than one occasion, reminded me that he and his contemporaries and parents had to deal with rampant government- and court-sanctioned segregation and they didn't have a Voting Rights Act (even a watered-down one), Civil Right Act, Fair Housing Act, and other civil rights laws, or black and brown US and state representatives and senators, mayors, police chiefs, CEOs, etc.

Perspective is important.

[StevieM]

19. I see your points. He is some additional perspective.

Today we have those protections. And they led to a backlash. LBJ alluded to the coming backlash when he said he gave the Republicans the south for a generation.

The GOP has been moving towards fascism ever since they lost power for the first time after the Reagan Revolution. From the very beginning they did not recognize the legitimacy of Clinton's presidency. It would have been the same if a different Democrat had been elected.

The Supreme Court back then gave us rulings like Brown vs. Board of Education. Today it has struck down the Voting Rights Act. It has given us Citizens United. And it has prevented lower courts from reversing gerrymandering. Simply put, they are done with democracy.

None of this is the fault of Donald Trump. We would have the same problems with a different Republican in the White House.

Your point would be better applied to whatever reaction the GOP gave us after a Democratic president and a Democratic congress added new members to the court. We could then compare the threats of violence--and the acts of violence--to what happened in the past.

It does not appear that any of this will matter. The GOP court will do what they want and Democrats will not respond, they will simply complain and then comply. But they won't alter the court's composition. So the GOP will lose, and yet still govern. Eventually the Democratic primary voters will revolt and start choosing candidates who do want to reform the Supreme Court.

At that point I expect more violence, much of it geared toward affecting the outcome of the next election. And the first time they win I expect them to immediately impose fascism. They will say they are dealing with an emergency, one that exists because the rule of law has been undermined. They will blame the Democrats. And they will talk about how they love democracy and freedom and can't wait to resolve the crisis. But in reality, America will forever be changed.

It's about to change a whole lot after this next election, regardless of who wins. Because once the election is over the Supreme Court is going to go wild.

[StarfishSaver]

21. The backlash hasn't taken us anywhere close to where we were before

In fact, it's a sign of progress.

Before and after every major change in our history, we see a backlash/effort at retrenchment.

Yes, the Supreme Court "gave" us Brown. But the only reason Brown was necessary was because they had previously given us Plessy and Dred Scott, among others. And as bad as you thought think Shelby was - and it was bad - it was nothing compared to rulings in previous cases imposed on the country.

And, unlike those older cases, Shelby can be remedied through the political process, something that wasn't even possible 100 years ago.

Fortunately, civil rights lawyers and activists, like Thurgood Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston didn't just wrong their hands back then and complain about how bad things were. They set about changing things. And they did.

As I said, I doubt you'll find anyone who lived through those times wishing we could go back to them because they think things are worse today than they were then. Often, I think the sense of doom is stronger among those who are experiencing for the first time the kind of frustration and feeling of victimization that people of color and other marginalized people have always had to deal with. They think it's something new and unique. But this is nothing new and it's not worse than ever before. Not even close.

[Turin_C3PO]

25. As to your last point,

my good friend (who is black) told me that the way white male liberals (like myself) are feeling under Trump is how minorities have always felt in this country. Like you said, the frustration, feeling of victimization, etc. It really made me think.

[Karadeniz]

8. What does she eat? I need some!❤

[Gumboot]

9. Great advice, from someone who's lived through so much change.

My late father-in-law was a treasure trove of wisdom and perspective like this. Once we got him talking about history, there was no stopping him! He was a rural postman, who worked hard and put 7 of his 8 kids through college, and lived to be 96.

He also loved FDR, and also thought life was better lived in person, rather than watched on TV.

Elderly relatives have so many stories left to tell. Keep asking them - you'll learn a lot.

[renate]

10. "thought life was better lived in person, rather than watched on TV"

Wow. That really struck me. He sounds like a really neat person.

Many thanks to your dad and to OP's aunt for this wisdom.

[StarfishSaver]

13. She is SO right.

Please tell your aunt for me "Well, you just go on with your bad self, Miss Thing!"

And give her this:

[demigoddess]

16. If only I could believe this.

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. If only.

[NBachers]

18. Thanks for letting us be around your aunt!

[crickets]

20. Thank your aunt for this wonderful perspective and please give her a hug from me. nt

[pansypoo53219]

23. i wish i knew what my great-aunt would have called trump. i think she called georgee an ass whistle

[Poiuyt]

24. Jon Meacham's book, "The Soul of America," makes a similar point

We have had dark times in our past, but we've always found a way to rebound.

[Chicagogrl1]

26. THIS

Just made be feel better. She’s right, do what you can, but still enjoy your life! Bravo Auntie!

[LittleGirl]

29. Thanks for sharing

this post gave me some hope. I agree, shut off the tv and close the computer and live your life.

[ChildOfTheFort]

30. I keep telling people who want to know....

but nobody believes me. I grew up in Mayberry with Andy and Opie. No, not the one in the tv show but my own Mayberry in my own childhood that was so similar to Opies that I can still hear the criclets and the frogs and smell the livestock over the fence. There was a tiny general store smaller than the one in the Waltons about 45 feet away from our home and it had a potbelly stove in the back for winter days where farmers and friends gathered to talk after dark. There was a big candy counter in the front and almost every family, about 20 or so, had accounts they paid once a month. I don't remember ever locking a door or not knowing everybodys name. There was a church and a school with all 12 grades in one building and the basketball team and baseball team and track team all had local championship trophies that are still there in a beautiful hand built display where the ball diamond used to be before it was all torn down. It was heaven but nobody knew it. It still is only now I do know it and I drive by there often and shut the car off and listen for the cheer squads and the the crickets and the silence over
head. I visit it in my mind everyday of my life no matter where I am or what I am doing. I wish the property I grew up in was for sale but it isn't. I would go to the back yard and toss an old blanket on the yard in the dark and look up at the Milky Way with my dad the way we used to do until

[Sherman A1]

31. Your 95 year old Aunt is absolutely correct

Things will work themselves out and nonstop cable infotainment is very much to blame for much of this.