There are things happening, writing-wise. Things as in I have plans, and projects that are in progress, however slowly. Good things and bad things, none of which I’m in the mood to talk about. Right now the main thing on my mind is Charlottesville.

I don’t like talking about politics here, but then I don’t consider the subject of Charlottesville political. If you do, well, fair warning. One actual problem with talking about this is I wasn’t there and don’t feel like I have the right to talk about it. Yet, in a way, I already talked about it, four years ago. Same subject, different day, different place. Just so you know where I’m coming from, I’ll quote a passage from then:

“So, when all that’s said and done, am I still a racist? Well…probably. In the same sense that I’m still a Southern Baptist, as in I was raised that way, it informed my upbringing and, while intellectually and spiritually I’ve come to reject its tenets, it is still a part of me and I can’t completely escape that. Which means that I always have to be on my guard, and always aware. I’m not proud of the fact, but I own it.”

I was born and raised Southern in a conservative family. Not Klan-level conservative, but the more “genteel” sort, which in a way was worse for being more subtle and pervasive. When I speak on the subject, I know what I’m talking about. So here we are. Supposedly the marches were to protest removing the Confederate statues from Charlottesville, Virginia, and protecting “heritage.” Sorry, but no.  I remember the arguments back in my home state about removing the Confederate flag canton from the state flag, and how it was all about “heritage.” All it takes to know what a bullshit argument that was and  is? Just watch the Confederate and Nazis flags proudly waving side by side in Charlottesville. If that doesn’t make the point to you, nothing will.

As I also said before, when I first moved to New York state I was surprised and disappointed to find people also displaying the Confederate flag up here. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been surprised, because it’s not about heritage and never was. Some people have glossed over their own fear and hatred by calling it heritage, but they’re fooling themselves. They’re not fooling anyone else.

Removing the statues of Confederates is long overdue. As for those who argue that it’s erasing history, nonsense. Statues are not history. Memorials are not history. They’re about who and what we honor. Charlottesville proved that some of us are honoring all the wrong things.