Insurrection in the Capitol

I was at Oyster Shell Park with Lola when it started. I heard the news on the drive home. Then I watched CNN for several hours. Watching rampaging terrorists invade the Capitol was horrific and surreal. These so-called patriots smashed windows, vandalized offices, and stole at least one laptop from Senator Jeff Merkley. Here are some images. Luckily they didn't destroy any artwork in the Rotunda. Pipe bombs and a suspicious vehicle were also found in the southeast corner of the Capitol.

Equally horrific was the response of the Capitol police. I wish I could say it was just incompetence--gross incompetence based on all of Trump's tweets inviting supporters to march to the Capitol to pressure Republicans to reject election results of Biden's win. As far back as December 19th, a tweet ended: "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild."

It was worse than that. It's reported that police officers opened doors and gates for the rioters and posed for selfies with them. Obviously they did not treat this threat as they did potential Black Lives Matter protests.

In 1963 after the assassination of President John Kennedy, Malcom X famously said it was a a case of "chickens coming home to roost." Wednesday's riot with its ensuing injuries and deaths is another case of chickens coming home to roost. Even before Trump, Republicans have used fear mongering, racism, and hate as a key part of its message. Trump just inflamed and incited the mob to violence. 

This cannot stand. 

A Hero Passes...

...over a bridge strewn with rose petals where his blood was once spilled on Bloody Sunday.

a preacher to chickens

the boy from Troy

a Freedom Rider

the conscience of the Congress

RIP Congressman John Lewis.

9-21-01 Plus 15

Fifteen years ago Jeff, his sister Thea, my stepfather Albert and I went to Shea Stadium for the night baseball returned to New York after the World Trade Center attacks.

I'll never forget that night. The Mets did it right: a solemn, moving pre-game ceremony, a little glamour courtesy of Liza Minelli and a win over the Braves courtesy primarily of Mike Piazza. Even Mayor Rudy Guiliani was a Mets fan that night. That game helped us heal.

Unfortunately, many retrospectives of post 9-11 sports of 2001 downplay the impact of the Mets. Instead they focus on the Yankees' appearance in the World Series.

But the Mets players were the ones involved in the relief efforts.It was Shea Stadium that served as a staging area for relief efforts.

The Mets were the first to wear NYPD, FDNY, EMS and OEM caps to show their solidarity with the relief efforts. They also donated their salaries from the game to relief efforts.

I've been a Mets fan for 30 years. 9-21-01 is a big reason for that.

For Trayvon

I'm not a leader; I'm not an activist. I sometimes wish I were both, but I don't act upon those feelings.

When I first heard of the shooting and killing of Trayvon Martin, I had no doubt that racism played a major part in Trayvon's death. Racism is deeply embedded in our culture. The fact that it makes us feel so uncomfortable may be the reason we have to need to talk about it.

I watched much of the trial, but missed several key parts of the testimony. I also heard things that the jury didn't. I tried hard to disregard my feelings and beliefs about the case and imagine I were a member of that jury. Regardless, I don't understand how the jury could have acquitted Zimmerman on manslaughter. 

According to the juror interviewed on CNN (disclosure: I only saw part of the interview) the jury seemed to completely believe Zimmerman's version of his "encounter" with Trayvon. I didn't believe his story. Why did they?

The jury also didn't consider race as an issue. Another thing I don't get. As I said, it's embedded.

My heart goes out to the Martin family and friends, and all of us who believe in justice.

Believing in justice reminds me of this.

Terror in Boston

My dad was a career IRS man; I will always think of April 15th as Tax Day. I didn't realize that today was the anniversary of Jackie Robinson joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. I forgot that it is also Patriots Day, the day of the Boston Marathon. Now, today's Boston Marathon is another day in a legacy of terror.

The latest news: three dead and about 141 injured. The investigation has only just begun. No person or group is claiming responsibility.

I am sad and numb. The worst is that I feel relief that only three are dead. So much violence and death. Senseless.

Holocaust Rememberance Day

The old saying is: time heals all wounds.

But healing doesn't mean forgetting. Many people deny and minimize the Holocaust, even as scholars find more camps and ghettos than they had imagined. The survivors who witnessed and experienced the horrors are dying. Soon, no one with first hand experience will remain.

Several years ago, I attended a weekend seminar at Omega Institute on Schindler's Legacy. A few of the people that Schindler saved shared their stories with us.

We have a duty to remember their stories.

We can never forget.

The Sandy Hook Massacre

I don't think that I have anything new or profound to add about this tragedy. But it's something that happened relatively close to home so I need to write about it.

It's sad to say that I wasn't surprised to hear about another school shooting. But I was surprised that it happened in Newtown and that it was at an elementary school.

I've been trying to remember a school shooting haiku that I heard at a writers retreat. Here is the author Cliff Bleidner but not that haiku.

The story is still evolving (I've avoided most news today so I may have missed some developments.) Originally, I assumed the shooter's goal was to kill his mother and the children were collateral damage (a horrible term I know.) But that wasn't the case at all. The shooter's mother was  already dead before he headed to the school.

CNN has a timeline of school violence dating back to 1927. Guns weren't used in all the instances, but in many of them. We need to do something about guns.