Category: Racism & Bigotry

Odds and Ends from the Past Week or So

We started this week with Trump’s announcement that he is deploying 800 National Guard soldiers to get rampant crime under control in Washington, D.C. in spite of the fact that major crimes there are at a 30-year low. Could it be that Monday’s announcement and nearly two-hour news conference were meant to distract us from the Epstein files and everything else that’s going on?

Trump announced on Wednesday that he is putting forth a crime bill which will in the beginning only pertain to Washington, DC. He said he will need National Guard troops in the district for more than 30 days and he will declare a national emergency if he has to. In other words, that’s all part of the “plan.”

In the last seven months, Trump has mastered the practice of solving problems that didn’t exist by declaring emergencies that weren’t happening.

Today, Trump and Putin will meet in Alaska to discuss the future of Ukraine. Too bad Ukraine was shut out of the negotiations. Trump and Putin are both so arrogant, that makes perfect sense to them. What could possibly go wrong?

Here are a few other highlights from this week. I can’t keep up with everything.

Transgender members of the U.S. Air Force

On August 7, 2025, the U.S. Air Force announced that all transgender members of that branch of the military are being forced out of the service. Service members with 15 to 18 years of service were allowed to apply for an exception, but they were all denied.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the Pentagon permission to ban transgender troops. The Air Force is the first branch of the military to follow through. Even those who have served for 18 years are being forced out without retirement benefits. Their only options are to take a lump-sum separation payment or be removed from the service with nothing. Their service records are being reverted to their birth gender.

This is no way to treat members of our military. A PBS report quoted a master sergeant with 15 years of service including a deployment to Afghanistan as saying, “I feel betrayed and devastated by the news.”

National Weather Service needs people

Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash

You’ll recall that a few months ago, the Trump Administration said we didn’t need the National Weather Service any more, so hundred of employees were fired. Now it seems that after a record-breaking hot summer and a summer filled with floods in places that have not had floods before… the Trump Administration now wants to hire 450 people.

Someone must have told them this is hurricane season?

Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge

A 2023 land protection plan for the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge provided for the refuge to be expanded by 700,000 acres in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, but the Trump Administration cancelled those plans so the land will be available for energy development and agriculture.

White House Protocol Snubbed

It is White House protocol for the official portraits of the three preceding Presidents to be displayed in the entrance to the building so visitors can see them.

In a typically petty move, Trump ordered the portraits of President Barack Obama, President George W. Bush, and President George H.W. Bush to be moved to locations where they cannot be viewed by visitors.

President Obama’s portrait was moved to the top of a staircase that is only used by the First Family, Secret Service, and certain staff. The portraits of both President George W. and George H.W. Bush were moved to the same staircase area.

Trump has snubbed them and moved their portraits, but that doesn’t mean I can include their pictures in my blog.

President Barack Obama Photo from the Library of Congress

President George W. Bush Photo from the Library of Congress

President George H. W. Bush Photo from the Library of Congress

Trump Golf Resort in Vietnam

As Vietnamese farmers are being paid a pittance for their land, the Trump Organization plows forward with construction of a golf resort in Vietnam. Trump wants us to think that the recently negotiated tariffs with Vietnam and the progress toward building the resort have nothing to do with one another.

He wants us to think it is coincidental that the trade tariffs on Vietnamese goods dropped from 46% to 20% at the same time his golf resort plans were being approved.

The 54-hole golf course for VIPs, luxury hotels and villas received swift approval in Vietnam as no fewer than six mandatory procedures, including environmental impact assessments, were ignored.

Reuters quotes the White House as stating, “the business deals of the Trump Organization are entirely separate from trade negotiations.” After all, President Trump’s personal assets are in a trust managed by his children>

Yeah, right!

Trump’s Impeachments & the Smithsonian

USA Today reports that Trump’s two impeachments have been reinstated in the Presidential Impeachments exhibit at the National Museum of American History. The report says, “Some text was changed between displays, specifically concerning Trump’s involvement with the Janu. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and accusations of election interference.” The article did not explain whether references to the attempted coup on January 6, 2021, and Trump’s election interference were included in the revised exhibit or omitted from it.

Kennedy Center Honors

Trump announced the 2025 recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors on Wednesday during a long, rambling press conference. He said he will serve as master of ceremonies for the nationally-televised show even though he claimed that he does not want to do it. It seems the White House Chief of Staff convinced him that, even though he is the President of the United States, he should serve as the master of ceremonies. He went on to say that the TV ratings will be higher if he does it, so he has agreed to do it.

What a joke!

He say $257 million will be spent to rehabilitate the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He claims it has fallen into disrepair. Of course, that’s what he says about the White House, too.

He said new grass will be planted at all the parks in Washington, DC because the grass there is “old.” He says he knows grass because he owns golf courses. In other words, chemical fertilizer will be running freely through the parks in Washington, DC and I suppose sprinkler systems and grounds keepers with Ph.D.s in grass will have to be hired. Anything to keep a park from looking like nature!

He couldn’t leave well enough alone at his announcement and prese conference, though. He had to one again refer to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas,” and he had to rant again about how he actually won the 2020 election but it was “rigged.”

He was able to find the silver lining in being denied the Presidency in 2020, though, because it allowed him to win in 2024 and now he will preside over the World Cup in 2026 and the Summer Olympics in 2028.

He managed to sneak into his comments that he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

One has to wonder if this manic state he’s been in all week will continue through tomorrow’s meeting with Putin. If Putin flatters him, it will only get worse.

Continued crackdown on Smithsonian

Photo of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC
National Portrait Gallery, a member museum of the Smithsonian Institution
Photo by Sung Jin Cho on Unsplash

Trump announced that eight institution members of the Smithsonian will initially be targeted for a thorough review of all exhibits. It is no accident that the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of African American History and Culture are two of the eight museums Trump singled out for scrutiny.

The other six museums are the National Museum of American History, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Trump’s August 12, 2025, letter to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institutions stated, “This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

Frankly, Trump’s intrusion into the exhibits at the 21 Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo just destroyed the confidence I’ve always had for the Smithsonian.

He is rewriting history. This is un-American. This is an authoritarian act.

Janet

MASA? The Reimaging of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

“Make America Safe Again” appears to be the new slogan of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but I’ve never felt less safe in my life.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) thugs with masked faces in unmarked vehicles are turned loose to supposedly apprehend “the worst of the worst” among us. The Trump Administration’s catch phrase, “the worst of the worst” can be translated to “immigrant,” except for those who have married into Trump’s family.

In his ramblings at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts yesterday he mentioned not letting people into the country if you don’t like what they look like. That pretty much sums up the outlook of his Presidency. He doesn’t want them counted in the U.S. Census either.

I have not seen ICE thugs in person. I live in a semi-rural area. But I’ve seen enough photographs and news reports. All this heightened militarization of the federal government only scares me, even though I’m white and was born in the United States. What’s to say ICE nabs me by mistake?

I keep procrastinating getting a new passport to prove I’m a citizen. It seems like I shouldn’t have to pay $195 just to have a document to prove I’m a citizen. I could just carry a copy of my birth certificate everywhere I go, just in case; however, that merely proves I was born here, and that’s not going to be sufficient after the U.S. Supreme Court lets Trump do away with the 14th Amendment.

What’s to say they nab me because I write uncomplimentary things about Trump? Come to think of it, my passport won’t do me any good if that happens. Maybe I don’t need a passport after all.

The Department of Homeland Security website

Something told me to visit the website for DHS (https://www.dhs.gov/) yesterday afternoon, but I wish I hadn’t. Now I can’t un-see it.

At the top of the home page is a stern-looking image of “Uncle Sam” pointing his finger at the person viewing the computer screen. The text: “AMERICA NEED YOU! America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out. JOIN ICE.” The words, “JOIN ICE” are in a clickable button for your convenience.

I’ve seen photographs of the “Uncle Sam Needs You!” posters that were used in the 1940s, but that was during World War II. “Uncle Sam” needed every American to sacrifice and serve in some way to defeat Nazi Germany and Japan.

Uncle Sam "I want you U.S. Army" poster
Photo from the Library of Congress

For a government agency to use that image today to target immigrants minimizes the importance of the country’s need in the 1940s. To conflate the immigration problems of 2025 with a World War is a slap in the face to my parents’ generation who survived The Great Depression and World War II.

But the DHS website only got worse.

Under the red, white, and blue banner of Uncle Sam pleading for your help is a photograph of Secretary Kristi Noem all decked out like a cowboy atop a horse. She is surrounded by more cowboys on horses like a posse tracking down the bad guys in a B-grade movie set in the 1800s out in the mythical “wild West.

The photo brings back memories of the “Gunsmoke” TV series from the 1950s. Not what I want to see in the United States in the 21st century – not even in a movie or TV program – much less in real life.

I suppose it is all part of the Trump Administration and MAGA’s fascination with guns.

Too many meaningless slogans

Under that bizarre photograph it says, “Making America Safe Again.” Just what we needed: one more “Make America _____ Again!” This has turned into a multiple-choice exercise in which you can fill in just about any adjective that comes to mind.

I would say this “Make America _____ Again” is a broken record, but there’s a whole generation of people out there who wouldn’t have a clue what that means.

I consider it a privilege of birth that I was born and have lived my entire life in the United States of America. I didn’t do anything to deserve that, and I have considered it a blessing.

But I have apparently been living under the misconception that America was a great country. Now, at the ripe old age of 72, I find out it was all a hoax!

This land of opportunity and freedom I have happily lived in all these years which afforded me a free public education and an affordable public university education and gave me the opportunity to earn a living as I chose was all smoke and mirrors! What a shock!

My entire life has apparently been a joke. I only thought I was happy. I only thought I was free. Little did I know all this time I’ve been living in a hell hole, according to President Trump.

Make America Great Again. Make America Healthy Again. Make America Safe Again. For about 24 hours back on July 20, we even had Make Indians Great Again because Trump wanted the Cleveland Guardians baseball team to revert to being the Cleveland Indians.

Frankly, I’m sick of every bit of this. All of these bombastic slogans being made by a failed but somehow famous convicted felon businessman who is running roughshod over the United States of America ring hollow.

What does “great” mean?

Trump’s idea of “great” is equivalent to money, lies, a façade. It’s all a house of cards and it will collapse.

Money does not equate with greatness, to my way of thinking. Greatness is found in how you treat other human beings – how you treat all human beings.

Greatness is not found in calling people stupid, idiots, lunatics, scum, criminals, etc.

Building yourself up by making all manner of false claims about your intellect and accomplishments is not greatness; it’s a sign of weakness and insecurity.

Here we are.

Janet

Trump Continues to Attack Universities and Our Health

It’s hard to feel sorry for a wealthy university like Duke University that has an enormous endowment; however, the Trump Administration’s current little-publicized attack on the institution raises a larger issue.

Duke University will survive without federal grants, at least for a while. Its endowment can pick up the slack, at least for a while.

Exterior of Duke Chapel. Photo credit: Chuck Givens on unsplash.com

The larger issue is the Trump Administration’s continual attack on education on all levels. I believe Trump has no interest in education. He has no interest in what any school, college, or university teaches. He says, “I love the uneducated.” It might be the only truth he has ever spoken.

In a democracy, a president does not dictate university admissions or curriculum in public schools or private schools. In today’s United States, though, Trump believes he has that authority.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon sent Duke University a letter. Specifically, Kennedy and McMahon threatened the Duke University Medical School and Duke Health (the entire Duke Health healthcare system). If writing letters to threaten universities for having diversity, equity, and inclusion is the only thing the U.S. Department of Education is going to do now, perhaps it needs to be abolished.

The letter alleges that the medical school and healthcare system engage in “wrongful racial preferences” in hiring and admissions. The letter reportedly states, “This vile racism carries a host of excuses and hides behind a smug superiority that such ‘benefitted’ races cannot compete under merit-based consideration.”

Furthermore, the letter says, “Like all racism, ‘affirmative action’ undermines America’s commitment to merit-based justice and violates the nation’s civil rights laws.”

North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC, reports, “Kennedy and McMahon urge Duke administrators set up a ‘Merit and Civil Rights Committee’ to review its diversity policies ‘to avoid invasive federal engagement.’ The secretaries warn the university’s federal funding could be at risk if it doesn’t change course. ‘It is our hope that Duke Medical School and other components of Duke Health will either demonstrate that they merit the privilege of receiving taxpayer support or will enact reforms that make further enforcement efforts unnecessary,’ the letter said.

“McMahon and Kennedy ask the university to respond to the letter within ten business days.”

Earlier this year, nearly 600 Duke employees took voluntary buyouts after Trump slashed research funding. According to WUNC, “Cuts at the National Institutes of Health, along with reductions in Medicare/Medicaid funding could cost the university $350-600 million annually.

Duke plans to lay off more employees between August 5 and August 19.

That’s not just what Duke as an institution and business will lose: Duke Health operates Duke Children’s Hospital, Duke Health Lake Norman Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital, and Duke University Hospital, as well as 12 urgent care facilities.

But that’s not the only attack on Duke University

The U.S. Department of Education also sent Duke University a letter last week threatening the Duke School of Law’s student-edited Law Journal.

It seems that the law students are too open to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

We have gone from recognizing that the playing field is not level to declaring that it is so level that to give anyone a hand up is a violation of everyone’s civil rights.

The playing field in the United States is not level, folks. For an alleged billionaire living in the White House to proclaim that it is level does not make it so. Someone who was born with a silver (or gold?) spoon in his mouth does not have the right to say that every person in America has an equal opportunity.

Those who say that white privilege does not exist are only fooling themselves. This falls into the category of “alternative facts” that the first Trump White House was famous for giving us.

Want to learn more? Here’s a link: https://www.wunc.org/education/2025-07-30/duke-university-dei-federal.

Janet

More Matters of Concern

Here are some items I did not have room to include in this morning’s blog post.

Artist cancels showing at Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery

Photo of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC
Photo by Sung Jin Cho on Unsplash

The artist of a 2018 portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama has withdrawn from her schedule showing at the National Portrait Gallery after being told one of her paintings was not acceptable in light of President Trump’s March Executive Order regarding museums.

Amy Sherald’s painting “Trans Forming Liberty” depicts the Statue of Liberty as a transgender woman. After being told she could not include the painting in her show, Sherald informed the secretary of the Smithsonian in writing that, “it has become clear that the conditions no longer support the integrity of the work as conceived.”

This would have been the first National Portrait Gallery’s showing… ever… by a Black contemporary artist.

The Smithsonian is “disappointed,” but not as disappointed as I am about what the Trump Administration is doing to free expression, science, medical research, and the treasure that was the Smithsonian Institution.

Columbia University caved in to Trump

Photo of part of the Columbia University campus in New York City. Photo by Tobias Pfeifer on Unsplash

So it can continue to admit international students and receive federal funds, Columbia University caved in to the bully. Under the guise of being concerned about Jewish students being discriminated against on Columbia’s campus, the Trump Administration strong-armed the university into bending a knee and paying $220 million for alleged violation of U.S. antidiscrimination laws.

In the agreement last Wednesday, Columbia is supposed to get to keep billions of dollars for research grants. Columbia must revise its admissions policies, campus protest policies, and its curriculum.

The university’s acting president, Claire Shipman, says the agreement protects Columbia’s values and autonomy, but it isn’t clear how that is possible with the Trump Administration dictating admissions, protests, and curriculum.

The Trump Administration calls the agreement “a road map for settlements” as it eyes other colleges accused of not addressing antisemitism.

When the students return to camp in September, it will be interesting to see if they are allowed to protest Israel’s bombing of Gaza and starving the Gazans by restricting food aid.

As I recall, that’s what started this whole thing.

And now Trump has turned his sights on the medical and law schools at Duke University. Anything to disrupt medical care and medical research, I guess. Some 600 Duke University staff have taken early retirement buyouts so far.

A reversal from the U.S. Department of Education

This is the first positive thing I’ve been able to report about the U.S. Department of Education since Inauguration Day. After North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson and 19 other state attorneys general and governors sued the U.S. Department of Education for freezing $5.5 billion nationally, the Department Secretary caved! That means North Carolina will get the $165 million it had counted on until the Trump Administration pulled the plug.

U.S. Aid to Gaza

While in Scotland on Sunday, Trump whined for several minutes because nobody thanked the United States for giving $60 million in aid to Gaza. He claimed that no other country had given Gaza anything.

No one wants to see a U.S. President whine. Of course, he also cheated at golf while in Scotland, too. And he bad-mouthed President Biden, the mayor London, and a bunch of other people.

Is Netanyahu delusional or what?

Netanyahu says there is no starvation in Gaza. The whole world sees it. Even U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia admits it is true. It has to be pretty horrific for Marjorie Taylor Green to admit something.

Sadly, the United States is complicit because it continues to support Israel in its war on Gaza. This stopped being “self-defense” a long time ago, Netanyahu. It stopped with the indiscriminate bombing of schools, hospitals, and residential areas. It stopped being self-defense when Israel stopped allowing food and medicine to enter Gaza. The food drop last week was too little, too late – and that’s the nicest thing I can say about it. Israel only did that to try to appease the growing public outcry about the starving children.

Meanwhile, U.S. Representative Randy Fine of Florida, who happens to be Jewish, put this on X on June 2: “Tell your fellow Muslim terrorists to release the hostages and surrender. Until then, #StarveAway.” As far as I can determine, he has not changed his anti-Gaza stance. He would probably say he is just anti-Hamas, but it is the total population of Gaza that is bearing the horrors of this war.

How can someone who is wealthy enough and well enough connected to be elected to the United States Congress and live in the richest country in the world – and probably never missed a meal in his life — have no compassion for starving children?

The level of white privilege and hatred in so many Americans who are in positions of power boggles the mind.

The First Lady Melania Trump Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Photo of Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Photo by Santeri Liukkonen on Unsplash

Yes, you read that correctly. U.S. Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho is chair of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. He tucked the provision into the fiscal year 2026 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, which passed the Committee on Appropriations 33 to 28.

The proposal was written into the fiscal year 2026 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. The measure was approved by the Committee on Appropriations with a vote of 33 to 28.

One has to wonder how long it will be before the name “TRUMP” will be plastered on the outside of the building in giant gold letters. How long will it be before the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is painted gold? 

Two Items of Good News

President Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is not running for the United States Senate from North Carolina in 2026.

Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is running for the United States Senate to fill the seat vacated by Thom Tillis in 2026.

Until my next blog post

I hope you are reading a good book.

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolian.

Janet

Books Banned at U.S. Department of Defense Schools

Not to be outdone by the State of Tennessee (see yesterday’s blog post: https://janetswritingblog.com/2025/07/24/public-school-libraries-in-texas-and-monroe-county-tennessee/), the U.S. Department of Defense is doubling down on books in the schools it operates for children of military personnel.

Black and White photo of an old outdoor sign that says, "Books"
Photo by Paolo Chiabrando on Unsplash

On July 14, 2025, the Defense Department banned 596 books from its schools.

Here’s an article about it: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/07/14/here-are-596-books-being-banned-defense-department-schools.html.

Here’s a link to the court case with a list of the 596 books: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iKxUEllBpsap4cmH_vfWtzv0h069jkSc/view. (If this link does not work, you can get to it through the military.com article linked above.)

If you don’t have time to read the complete list, here are 70 of them:

(I guess it goes without saying that many books on the list were obviously about gender identity, but the following are books that don’t all into that assumed category.)

A History of Racism in America, by Craig E. Blohm;

A Smart Girl’s Guide to Racism & Inclusion: Standing Up to Racism and Building a Better World, by Deana Singh and Shellene Rodney;

Ab(solutely) normal: short stories that smash mental health Stereotypes, by Nora Carpenter and Ricky Callen;

All You Need is Love: Celebrating Families of All Shapes and Sizes, by Shanni Collins;

Anti-Racism: Powerful Voices, Inspiring Ideas, by Kenrya Rankin;

Be Your True Self: Social Justice and You, by Maribel Valdez Gonzalez;

Better Than We Found It: Conversations to Help Save the World, by Frederick Joseph, Porsche Joseph, and Taylor Denise Richarson;

Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Thinks, and Do, by Jennifer L. Eberhardt;

Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person, by Frederick Joseph;

Black Lives Matter, by Marty Gitlin;

Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir, by Walela Nehanda;

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson;

Confronting Racism, by Scientific American Editors;

Critical Perspectives on Social Justice, by Jennifer Peters;

Discrimination, by Jacqueline Langwith;

Equality and Diversity, by Charlie Ogden;

Equality, Social Justice, and Our Future, by Sabrina Adams;

Gender Inequality in Sports: From Title IX to World Titles, by Kirstin Cronn-Mills;

Heads Up Sociology, by Chris Yuill and Christopher Thorpe;

How to Be a (Young) Antiracist and How to Be An Antiracist, by Ibram W. Kendi;

I Am An Antiracist Superhero, by Jennifer Nicole Bacon and Leticia Moreno;

It Doesn’t Have to Be Awkward: Dealing with Relationships, Consent, and Other Hard-To-Talk About Stuff, by Drew Pinsky and Paulina Pinsky;

Male Privilege, by Duchess Harris and Heidi Deal;

Me and White Supremacy, by Layla F. Saad;

Racial Bias: Is Change Possible? by Barbara Diggs;

Racial Discrimination, by Peggy J. Parks;

Racial Justice in America: Topics for Change, by Hedreich, Leigh Ann Erickson, and Kelisa Wing;

Racism in America: A Long History of Hate, by Meghan Green;

Say the Right Thing: How to Talk about Identity, Diversity, and Justice, by Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow;

So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo;

Symptoms of Being Human, by Jeff Garvin;

The Antiracism Handbook: Practical Tools to Shift Your Mindset and Uproot Racism in Your Life and Community, by Thema Brayant-Davis and Edith Arrington;

The Antiracist Kid: A Book about Identity, Justice, and Activism, by Tiffany Jewell and Nicole Miles;

The Book of Radical Answers: Real Questions from Real Kids Just Like You, by Sonya Renee Taylor;

The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap, by Matt Taibbi and Molly Crabapple;

The Dog Knight, by Jeremy Whitley and Bre Indigo;

The Feeling of Falling in Love, by Mason Deaver;

The Feminism Book, by Georgie Carroll and Hannah McCann;

The Greatest Superpower, by Alex Sanchez;

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander;

The Other Talk: Reckoning With Our White Privilege, by Brendan Kiely;

The Ship We Built, by Lexie Bean and Noah Grigni;

The Sociology Book, by Christopher Thorpe, Chris Yuill, Mitchel Hobbs, Megan Todd, Sarah Temley, and Marcus Weeks;

The Sum of Us: How Racism Hurts Everyone: Adapted for Young Readers, by Heather C. McGhee;

This Book is Anti-Racist, by Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand;

Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation, by Lind Villarosa;

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, by Ta-Nehisi Coates;

What is Anti-Racism? by Hendreich Nichols and Kelisa Wing;

What is the Black Lives Matter Movement? by Hendreich Nicols and Kelisa Wing;

What is White Privilege? by Leigh Ann Erickson and Kelisa Wing;

When Women Stood: The Untold Story of Females Who Changed Sports and the World, by Alexandra Powe Allred;

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism, by Robin J. DiAngelo;

White Privilege, by M.T. Blakemore;

White Privilege Unmasked: How to Be Part of the Solution, by Judy Ryde;

J is for Justice! by Veronica Arreola;

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race, by Beverly Daniel Tatum;

How Can I Be an Ally? by El-Mekki Fatima;

Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America, by Michael Dyson;

How to Fight Racism: A Guide to Standing Up for Racial Justice, by Jemar Tisby;

Racial Justice, by Virginia Loh-hagan;

An ABC of Equality, by Chana Ewing;

Coping with Hate and Intolerance, by Avery Elizabeth Hurt;

Confronting Racism, by Maryellen Lo Bosco;

Respecting Diversity, by Anastasia Suen;

Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, and Identity, by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi;

What is Diversity, by David Anthony;

When a Bully is President: Truth and Creativity for Oppressive Times, by Maya Christina Gonzalez;

This is Your Brain on Stereotypes: How Science is Tackling Unconscious Bias, by Tanya Lloyd Kyi and Drew Shannon;

Prejudice, by Izzi Howell;

You Call This Democracy?: How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People, by Elizabeth Rusch;

There were also seven AP Psychology books on the list.

In conclusion

There is a definite pattern here.

The very topics that are tearing our country apart are being banned from Defense Department schools, grades kindergarten through 12th grade.

Ignoring that racism, diversity, gender inequality, and gender identity exist will not make them go away, no matter how much the white supremacists, misogynists, history deniers, and evangelicals want them to.

If we as citizens of the United States cannot read about our problems and differences, face them, acknowledge them, and have an honest conversation about them, how will we ever overcome them?

Until my next blog post

Find a book on this list and read it!

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

Public School Libraries in Texas and Monroe County, Tennessee

I was flabbergasted a couple of weeks ago to learn that a law had passed in Texas that will turn public school library book selection on its head.

Photo of opened books scattered on the floor
Photo by Vrînceanu Iulia on Unsplash

As of September 1, 2025, school boards in Texas will select all books for public school libraries instead of professional librarians. I’ll bet the Texas state legislators thought it would be easy-peazy, so let’s just let the local school board members do it.

Local school board members tend to be just regular people. Most of them do not have college degrees in library science. Dare I go out on a limb and say that none of them do? How many course hours have they studied library collection development?

Why is it that humans assume their job takes a high degree of training and skill, but no one else’s job carries any requirements?

Since I live with a retired public school librarian, I have a ton of questions.

Can all the local school board members in Texas read on a 12th grade level?

What do they know about reading levels?

What do they know about age appropriateness?

Do they know how time-consuming the book selection process is?

Do they know anything about book selection, such as where to even get a list of books available for school libraries?

Do they know how to balance book selection against a budget?

Do they know who the award-winning authors and illustrators are?

Do they know what books are already on the shelves in all the schools in their district so they can avoid duplication and maintain a balance of subject matter?

Do they know everything that is taught on every grade level so they can be sure to order books that will supplement or enhance what is being taught in every classroom?

Does a school board have to be unanimous and vote on each book?

I could list more questions. Those 10 are just the ones that came to me immediately when I read the news report.

What are they thinking in Monroe County, Tennessee?

I read on Sunday that in a report from PEN America that book banners are going after books about cats. No one seems to know why book banners have a vendetta against our little feline friends, but it is happening in Iowa, Florida, and in Monroe County, Tennessee.

Monroe County has banned almost 600 books from its public schools. The Complete Book of Cats and The New Encyclopedia of the Cat are just two of the cat-related titles being pulled from the school library shelves.

I don’t even know what to say about that. I love dogs. I don’t like cats very much (aside from being fascinated by the beauty of tigers), but I would never want books about cats to disappear from libraries.

But wait! On Monday, I learned that one of the books banned from schools in Monroe County is The Complete Book of Dogs, by Rosie Pilbeam! Now they have gone too far!

You can’t go around banning books about dogs! You just can’t! That’s un-American. Dogs are love universally. Every library in the world should have books about dogs – and even cats.

Why in the name of everything reasonable is Monroe County, Tennessee banning cat and dog “encyclopedias” from school libraries? What if that 8th grader or 12th grader aspires to be a veterinarian? Is that student not supposed to learn about animals until they get to college? How ridiculous!

In what universe does it make sense to ban books about cats and dog?

In what world does it make sense to ban ANY books?

Digging deeper into this on the internet, I found that this is the result of Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act, which went into effect this summer.

In addition to apparently any book about cats or dogs, the usual book banners’ target are on the list: To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, Grapes of Wrath, Hidden Figures, Brave New World, Animal Farm; and Aztec, Inca, and Maya.

In my opinion the book above all others that should not be on anyone’s banned books list is Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterley. Heaven forbid a young black girl (or brown girl, or white girl) reads that book and is inspired to be a mathematician!

All kidding aside about dogs and cats, how dare they take Hidden Figures off the public school library shelves! How dare they!

There is such a thing as age appropriateness, but books should not be banned anywhere.

What are they afraid of?

Fortunately, Monroe County, Tennessee, only has a population of 46,250 as of the 2020 U.S. Census, so it’s book banning decisions won’t affect a huge number of children. But, since the Tennessee Age-Appropriate Materials Act applies to the entire state, will other county school systems follow Monroe County’s lead and ban the same 574 books?

North Carolina has some faults, but I’m so glad I don’t live in Texas or Monroe County, Tennessee! How embarrassing for the people there.

A bit of good news out of Washington, DC!

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced on Monday that the U.S. Department of Education decided to unfreeze the money it froze a week or two ago that was earmarked for after-school programs. This means North Carolina will get $36 million of the $165 million the Department of Education originally said it was freezing.

Jackson vowed he will see the U.S. Department of Education in court to try to recover the other $130 million.

Until my next blog post

Read anything and everything you can get your hands on.

Don’t let anyone tell you what you should not read.

Look for my blog post tomorrow about the 596 books the U.S Department of Defense has banned this month from the schools it operates for the children of our military personnel.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

The Immigration Debacle in the United States

I couldn’t say all I wanted to say in yesterday’s blog post. Ready or not, here comes more….

Photo of a paper with "Immigration" printed in bold capital letters
Photo by Metin Ozer on Unsplash

Immigration was not handled well during the first Trump Administration (i.e. people put in cages and children separated from their parents without a means of identification). Immigration was mishandled by the Biden Administration (i.e. too lax about enforcing border security). But immigration is a disaster during the second Trump Administration.

Where is the voice of reason? Where is common sense?

Deployment of California National Guard

A full month after the major protests against ICE in a Los Angeles neighborhood, Trump decided it was finally time to let thousands of California National Guard members return to their families and their jobs. Some of them have started speaking out about that experience.

The New York Times is reporting that some of the National Guard personnel have voiced serious concern over being deployed by President Trump. They are calling it a “fake mission.”

The New York Times reported, “Six member of the Guard – including infantrymen, officers and two officials in leadership roles – spoke of low morale and deep concern that the deployment may hurt recruitment for the state-based military force for years to come.”

There are reports of some members of the California National Guard voicing misgivings from the beginning about the deployment.

For Trump to keep them in warehouses in Los Angeles for a full four weeks after all threat of civil violence was over, is the icing on the cake.

It is still beside the point that Trump did not have the authority to deploy a state’s National Guard under the existing circumstances. That authority rests with the state’s governor.

“The moral injuries of this operation, I think, will be enduring. This is not what the military of our country was designed to do, at all,” one member of the Guard told The Times.”

The piece reported that National Guard personnel of Hispanic heritage were especially uncomfortable being deployed to assist ICE in rounding up illegal aliens.

Just one more instance of the chipping away of our democracy and rule of law.

“Take the rest of ‘those people,’ but don’t take my neighbor”

Nicholas Kristof wrote an op-ed in The New York Times last Saturday. Here’s the link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/19/opinion/immigrants-ice-deportation.html.

The situation he wrote about is a case-in-point of how people voted for Trump because he promised to get the violent immigrants out of the United States. They claim now that they didn’t think he meant ALL immigrants.

(My question to them is, “Why did you believe anything he said?”)

Kristof lives in a farming community in Oregon where the majority of people voted for Trump for president all three times. But now that community is upset because Trump is deporting immigrants they know. He wasn’t supposed to deport local immigrants like Moises Sotelo.

Mr. Sotelo has lived in the community for 31 years, established a vineyard, and employed 10 people. He is a pillar in his church. He is a respected businessman.

But ICE picked up Mr. Sotelo and deported him to Mexico. Kristof says the community is now up in arms. They have raised $150,000 to help with Mr. Soleto’s legal expenses. Good luck with that.

Photo of a man's hands grasping the wire fence he is being held behind.
Photo by Mitchel Lensink on Unsplash

The way I see it, many people voted for Trump because he voiced a hatred for immigrants and that appealed to his base. They hate immigrants, too, so Trump is their man. Trump called immigrants names, and that appealed to his base.

Trump said immigrants were a drain on our economy, that they didn’t pay taxes, and – worst of all – they are all violent criminals. He convinced his base that those things were true, even though they are all false.

Trump’s base refuses to accept the fact that immigrants – illegal as well as legal — pay income and sales tax. If they get a paycheck, income and Social Security taxes are deducted from that paycheck. When they purchase anything, they pay state and local sales tax — just like Americans. Who knew?

After Trump and his ICE thugs remove all the immigrants from the United States, the people in Trump’s base are going to be surprised that most crimes in America are committed by Americans. Many of them have white skin, and that’s going to be the biggest surprise of all for them.

The Case of George Retes, U.S. citizen, U.S. Army Veteran

George Retes is a United States citizen and a veteran of the United States Army. When he drove up to the Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California, to report for work, his car was approached by ICE agents. They broke a car window, sprayed him with pepper spray, and dragged him out of his car – all while he was telling them that he was a U.S. citizen and veteran just reporting for work.

ICE detained him for three days.

Photo of a U.S. Army soldier in full combat uniform from behind
Photo by Oleg Ivanov on Unsplash

I saw Mr. Retes interviewed on TV, and this is what the Associated Press reported:

“Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter’s birthday party Saturday.

“He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody.”

I am embarrassed for the United States of America. Such federal police action is not “Making America Great Again.”

This is even worse

Eighty-two-year-old Luis Leon from Allentown, Pennsylvania had been in the United States LEGALLY for 38 years since being granted asylum from the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship in Chili in 1987. He was a victim of torture by the Pinochet regime.

Unfortunately, in June Mr. Leon lost his wallet which contained his green card.

Thinking all he had to do was request a replacement green card, Mr. Leon and his wife made an appointment to get that taken care of.

But when he arrived for his appointment, Mr. Leon was handcuffed and taken away. His wife was held for 10 hours until a granddaughter could pick her up.

For a month, Mr. Leon’s family had no idea where he was. His name never showed up on the immigration tracker list. ICE had no answers for them. The family looked for him in local prisons, hospitals, and morgues, but they could not find him.

A relative in Chile found him in a hospital in Guatemala and called his family in Pennsylvania on Friday. Mr. Leon had never been to Guatemala before the United States Government decided to disappear him to that country. ICE still won’t confirm their thugs had anything to do with this. ICE claims they are “investigating” the case.

Black-and-white photo of the back of an older man in a wheelchair beside a hospital-type bed.
Photo by Annabel Podevyn on Unsplash

In conclusion

I am at a loss for words to describe how angry I am and how embarrassed I am today to be an American – even though I did not vote for Trump.

Trump campaigned on the promise to deport illegal aliens who were criminals, but now Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) snatches people off the street, from their homes, from their places of employment, and occasionally (what seems like daily) they make egregious mistakes and kidnap the wrong person.

ICE agents are under pressure to arrest 3,000 immigrates every day. So what if they nab a few legal citizens or immigrants who are guilty of nothing more than a traffic ticket?

It is un-American for ICE agents to cover their faces, wear no badges, and not identify themselves. The excuse that they have to cover their faces because they are scared of retribution doesn’t hold water. Local police officers might fear retribution, too, but they don’t wear face masks.

If you voted for Trump, you voted for this. You knew he was a horrible man and you voted for him anyway. I don’t know how you sleep at night.

At least I don’t have to live with the shame of having voted for any of this.

Until my next blog post

Keep up with reliable news reports

Keep reading good fiction and nonfiction books.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

Is this MAGA or MAHA or MIGA?

On Friday, July 18, I started gathering bits of news to share in a blog post on Friday, July 25, but by Saturday morning I had accumulated more than enough for a blog post. Therefore, this Friday’s post became today’s post.

With legislation, Executive Orders, Executive Proclamations, and changes to the U.S. Tax Code coming down the pike daily, it is difficult to tell whether some of the items are MAGA (Make America Great Again) or MAHA (Make America Healthy Again).

Air Pollution

Bloomberg reported that Trump signed a proclamation last Thursday night “allowing chemical makers, coal-fired power plants and other facilities to bypass a range of environmental regulations on grounds that the waivers are needed for national security purposes.”

It is amazing what falls into the “national security” category in 2025!

The facilities have been given a two-year waiver from adhering to Environmental Protection Agency rules.

Included in the waiver are certain facilities of United States Steel Corp., Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc., Dow, Inc., BASF SE, Phillips 66, and Citgo Petroleum Corp. Also, coal-fired power plants in Ohio, Illinois, and Colorado were exempted from air pollution mandates that limit emission of mercury and other toxins.

It seems Trump is determined to take us back to the “good old days” of choking air pollution that his followers younger than 60 years old don’t understand because they are too young to remember them.

Photo of a large city enshrouded in smog
Photo by Nick van den Berg on Unsplash

I’m confused. Is this MAGA (Make America Great Again) or MAHA (Make American Healthy Again)?

Personal Medical Debt

I thought Trump didn’t like for one judge to have the power to make a ruling that affects the whole country, but I guess it depends on the ruling and how it fits into Trump’s desires.

A Trump-appointed judge has overturned a Biden-era rule that removed medical debt from individuals’ credit reports.

So now, if you’ve had a catastrophic illness or accident, that medical debt will now show up on your credit report. It’s one more way for Trump to kick people when they’re down.

Is this Making American Great Again or Making America Healthy Again?

Environmental Protection Agency Firings

The New York Times reported, “The EPA said that it would eliminate its scientific research arm and begin firing hundreds of chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, after denying for months that it intended to do so.”

Someone tell me: Is this Making America Great Again or Making America Healthy Again? I’m at a loss to know how this fits into either one of those grandiose Trump slogans.

New $250 “Visa Integrity Fee”

As if people in other countries already didn’t want to visit the United States under the current political climate, it just came to light that Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” which Congress adopted slaps a new $250 “visa integrity fee’ on visitors to the United States.

After September 30, 2025, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem can increase the fee at her discretion.

Trump and Professional Sports Mascots

Trump is demanding that the Washington Commanders of the National Football League and the Cleveland Guardians of the Major League Baseball change their mascots back, respectively, to the Redskins and Indians. He claims Native Americans are “clamoring” for the name changes.

As usual, it is a case of blackmail. The Washington Redskins now play at a stadium in Landover, Maryland. But in April the franchise started working on a deal to move the team back to the District of Columbia if a new stadium can be built on the site of the old Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.

Now, Trump is threatening to put the skids on the stadium deal if the franchise owners do not change the team’s name back to the Washington Redskins.

I’m not sure what his beef is with Cleveland, but his new slogan yesterday was MIGA (Make Indians Great Again.) The Cleveland Indians changed their name to the Cleveland Guardians in 2021 after Native Americans had called for them to drop “Indians” as their mascot for decades.

Hurricane Helene Update

North Carolina Governor Josh Stein and his wife, North Carolina First Lady Anna Stein, spent last week in western North Carolina to take advantage of the beauty and recreational opportunities the region offers and to draw attention to the fact that most of the area is reopened now and in need of the economic support that tourists bring.

As of Friday, of the 1,457 roads that were closed in western North Carolina last September due to Hurricane Helene, all but 34 are now completely open! That’s the full opening of 10 roads just last week. Forty-three roads have partial access.

I-40 at the Tennessee line is still just opened with a total of two lanes and a 35 m.p.h. speed limit, and most of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina is still closed.

Until my next blog post

Support the First Amendment rights that comedians have… or had until last Thursday. The First Amendment might not always be there.

Support your local public library system. It might not always be there.

Read whatever you want to read. The day may come when you cannot do that.

Pay attention to current events as reported by reputable news media. (By the way, the orange narcissist’s propaganda outlets do not fall into that category.)

Don’t be too distracted by the political chaos and dismantling of our democracy that you forget the people of Ukraine, western North Carolina, and the Hill Country of Texas.

Janet

Getting a local history lesson in a round-about way

Two weeks ago today, I read one of Tangie Woods’ informative blog posts (https://tangietwoods.blog/2025/06/30/dr-william-b-sawyer-founder-of-first-hospital-for-black-americans-miami-fl/).

Tangie’s blog was about the man who, in 1920, started the first hospital for black people in Miami. After reading her post, I wanted to find out more about the first hospital for blacks in my area.

You just never know where a little research is going to take you. I started out looking for the history of Good Samaritan Hospital in Charlotte and in the process I learned about a train wreck in 1911, the murder by a mob in 1913, and a woman who was instrumental in the establishment of the hospital. The hospital and that July 17, 1911, train wreck are connected, so I decided to write about both during this anniversary week.

I was aware of Good Samaritan Hospital because it was still in existence when I was growing up. It makes me feel ancient to remember that when I was born there was still racial segregation in medical care.

Good Samaritan Hospital, or “Good Sam” as it was affectionately called, was built in Charlotte in 1891 after the project was spearheaded by the congregation of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. The first hospital for white people in Charlotte, St. Peter’s Hospital, was built in 1876.

I learned much from an online article written by Brandon Lunsford (https://charlottemuseum.org/learn/articles/good-samaritan-hospital/). Lunsford is the archivist for Johnson C. Smith University.

In the beginning, Good Samaritan Hospital had 20 beds. A School of Nursing was established there in 1903, which trained nurses for the next 50 years.

With the help of the Duke Foundation and the Colored Sunday School Union, it more than doubled in size in 1925. A major expansion was completed in 1937, bringing the bed count to 100.

Good Samaritan Hospital’s response to a train wreck

The importance of Good Samaritan being the only hospital to serve black people in North Carolina was brought to the forefront on July 17, 1911, when a freight train and a passenger train collided head-on near Hamlet, North Carolina, some 75 miles east of Charlotte.

Brandon Lunsford’s article indicates that 83 black patients were brought from the train wreck to Good Samaritan Hospital. Eighty of the 83 survived their injuries. The way in which medical care was given to the victims of the train wreck raised Good Samaritan’s reputation.

I found conflicting information about the number of people injured in the train wreck. Brandon Lunsford reports that 83 black passengers (and I’m thinking there were probably railway employees included in that number transported to Good Samaritan Hospital in Charlotte), while another online article (https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/news/108231/pair-of-researchers-seeking-more-information-on-train-wreck-from-1111-years-ago) says that 25 people were injured.

(I don’t have the time right now to take a deep dive into that discrepancy. It could be something as simple as a typographical error in the resource material used for either article. I hope it is not because so many of those injured were black people. I couldn’t help but wonder if the early newspaper accounts only reported the number of white people injured. I’ll leave it to someone else to go down that rabbit hole.)

Regardless of the total number injured, all of the black people injured in the accident had to be transported 75 miles to Charlotte to the only hospital serving black patients in the North Carolina, and Good Samaritan Hospital should be remembered and celebrated for that.

The Richmond County, NC newspaper article cited above states, “Many of the injured were members of St. Joseph’s AME Church. They were located in an inferior, wooden passenger train [car] due to segregation laws at the time.”

Back to the history of Good Samaritan Hospital

Good Samaritan Hospital was in the news again on August 26, 1913. Brandon Lunsford’s article reports the following: “A mob of about thirty-five armed men stormed the hospital and captured a black man named Joe McNeely, who was arrested five days earlier for the shooting of Charlotte policeman L.L. Wilson. McNeely, who was also shot and recovering at Good Samaritan, was dragged out into the street by the angry mob, shot and mortally wounded. No one was ever convicted for McNeely’s death, and the crime remains an ugly mark on Charlotte’s history.” (That is another piece of local history I was not aware of.)

The Episcopal churches in Charlotte continued to support and take administrative responsibilities for Good Samaritan Hospital in to the 1950s, but the financial burden was making that increasingly difficult.

In 1961, the City of Charlotte and Charlotte Memorial Hospital took ownership of Good Samaritan. Its name was changed to Charlotte Community Hospital. It closed in 1982 and became the Magnolias Rest Home.

To make land available for the construction of Bank of America Stadium (formerly, Ericsson Stadium), the former Good Samaritan Hospital was demolished in 1996.

Good Samaritan Hospital Historical Marker

The Richmond County Daily Journal article cited above includes a photograph of the historical marker outside Bank of America Stadium in downtown Charlotte. It reads as follows: “Good Samaritan Hospital (1891-1961) Site of the first independent private hospital in North Carolina built exclusively for African-Americans. Established by Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. One of the oldest black hospitals then in operation in the U.S.”

Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes?

Who was Jane Renwick Smedburg Wilkes and why am I just now hearing about her?

You’ll have to read my blog post scheduled for tomorrow to find out who she was.

Hurricane Helene Update

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has changed how it is reporting road closures on its website, so my weekly updates will change accordingly. At least, I could not find the detail presented in quite the same way as it was in the past. Also, there was lots of flooding in the northern piedmont and eastern parts of the state due to Tropical Storm Chantal last week.

As of Friday, 37 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene and 50 had limited access. Five road were reopened last week.

Of course, I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge is still just two lanes with a 35-mph speed limit, and most of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina is still closed.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

Two Other Books I Read in June 2025

After my blog post for yesterday got too long for anyone to want to read, I split it up into two posts.

The books I write about today will sound familiar to those of you who follow my blog, but I think both warrant a revisit.

White Hoods and Broken Badges, by Joe Moore

Photo of book cover for White Robes and Broken Badges by Joe Moore
White Robes and Broken Badges,
by Joe Moore

If this book sounds familiar, it might because I blogged about it on October 7, 2024, in What I Read Last Month & a Hurricane Helene Update .  I read it again last month because on my recommendation it was the June book for the book club I’m in.

It was sobering the first time I read it, but it was even more chilling to read it during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House. All the things Moore anticipated and predicted about a second Trump term are coming to fruition right before our eyes.

We are in a bad place in the United States, and we have the 2024 voters to blame. I’m beyond mincing words about the people who brought authoritarianism down upon us when they put on their red MAGA baseball caps and voted last fall.

After reading White Hoods and Broken Badges, I have a better understanding of just how deeply embedded in our government and all levels of law enforcement the Ku Klux Klan and all the various allied white supremacy and white nationalist people are.

Moore says whereas the KKK and militia groups like the Proud Boys used to not mix or associate with each other, now they have joined forces under a common cause: the destruction of our democracy. Their goal is a second civil war in the US, and it has already started. All it needed was the blessing of a second Trump term as US President.

Moore says that whereas it used to be that white supremacist tried to infiltrate law enforcement, now there are people in law enforcement who recruit them. Therein lies the KKK’s power. He writes about the part white nationalist groups played in the January 6, 2021, insurrection and how they fueled the mob attack on the US Capitol.

He went so far as to state, “It’s estimated that somewhere between half and three quarters of all self-identifying Republicans either identify as white nationalists or hold white nationalist beliefs. That means as much as 30 percent of the United States population wants to see the country burn.”

 He knows whereof he speaks. As a confidential informant for the FBI, he infiltrated the KKK twice over a ten-year period. He and his family are living under assumed names.

Please read this book. The statistics I’ve cited are in the opening pages of the book. The book itself is a well-written account of Moore’s time infiltrating the KKK and the things he witnessed. You won’t be able to be complacent after reading it.

How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, by Mariann Edgar Budde.

Photo of the cover of How We Learn to Be Brave by Mariann Edgar Budd
How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Live and Faith, by Mariann Edgar Budde

I blogged about the fourth chapter in this book in my June 20, 2025 blog post, Reacting to the Cards You Are Dealt. I invite you to read that book and the post I wrote in response to reading the fourth chapter. I hope to eventually read the entire book.

Until my next blog post

Get a good book to read. Your local public library has lots of them, and a library card is free!

Don’t forget the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet