Our own government (elements within it, that is) is attacking ordinary citizens. Attacks, coming from some states and from some parts of the federal government (including the Supreme Court) are aimed at:
• Women, by reversing their constitutional rights
• Labor organizers, by passing laws that favor corporate managers and big business
• African Americans, by gerrymandering districts to stifle Black voices, enforcing voter restrictions, losing affirmative action at the time when the nation was beginning to reap its benefits, and waging a war on drugs that led to mass incarceration of Black people, but not White people using or dealing the same drugs
• Children, teachers, and librarians, by banning books and restricting how much truth teachers are allowed to discuss • Children and other civilians, by making military assault weapons so easy to get
• Historians and teachers, by asking them to distort history
• Children and parents, by undermining public schools (This affects all Americans, because public education is a primary foundation of democracy.)
• LGBT people, many (maybe all) of whom are born with sex chromosome anomalies (They were born that way. Quit bullying them.)
• The elderly and the poor, with deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid proposed by Republicans • The elderly, with deep cuts to Social Security proposed by Republicans
• Immigrants, by dehumanizing them, separating families, and blocking the efforts of asylum seekers
• Scientists, by ridiculing their expertise
• Americans for generations, by rolling back environmental protections
• Americans committed to the Constitution, by some politicians denial of the outcome of a verified election
• Informed, sane people, by politicians who embrace QAnon and its lies Women, for example, lost reproductive rights last year and get prison time if they do not follow ultra-conservative pregnancy laws. Women can be arrested for a miscarriage or a suspicious stillbirth. Most birthing-related prison sentences involve women who show even a trace of drug use. Even if no trace of drugs is found in the mother, she can still be arrested if any trace is found in the infant. Women of color are overrepresented as usual; penalties always seem to fall more harshly on them.
As just one example, a 21-year-old Native American Oklahoman woman, Brittney Poolaw, was about four months pregnant when she miscarried in a hospital in January 2020. She was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison. The fetus could have died from genetic anomaly, a break in the placenta, or many other causes. However, the medical examiner found traces of methamphetamine in the baby and declared that to be the reason for miscarriage (https://www.bbc.com/news/ world-us-canada).
The common theme here is attacking vulnerable groups. Extreme right-wing cultural preferences that become law curtail the freedom and wellbeing of everyone, not just that month’s targeted group.
Undervalued people reap a bitter harvest at the hands of laws that punish us for being poor, female, old, any color that’s not quite white, or anyone not completely aligned with their birth sex. In Oklahoma, babies born intersex (with both male and female physical organs) are denied their very existence. Oklahoma Governor Stitt has decreed that God creates only male or female babies, despite clear scientific and medical proof that he is flat wrong. Physicians in Oklahoma are forced to issue birth certificates that specify male or female. No exceptions, as if intersex people are unnatural.
The only way to fight back from the grassroots is solidarity. Women of all colors are uniting to fight for their dignity and rights. White people are uniting with Black people and Native Americans to create a more equal society. Why? Because Injustice hurts the economy, hurts our neighbors, and hurts our integrity.
Rural people of all stripes must unite to fight for public schools, local hospitals, and health care access. Private schools and vouchers will favor rich, White, city kids with no disabilities. The rich already pay to send their children to private schools. This is yet another Republican scheme to favor the wealthy—we ordinary taxpayers will pay for the vouchers, while rural public schools continue to go hungry.
And let’s not ignore the big one: if enough of us worldwide unite to fight for the environment, perhaps Mother Nature will not become an even meaner mother. America could lead the way in all the technologies needed to restore nature, but not by favoring fossil fuels.
Extremist Republican legislators in Oklahoma work to keep gay people in the closet, women in the kitchen, Black families from accumulating wealth, workers under the full control of management, children learning a fantasy version of American history, and, apparently, they work to keep teachers and librarians leaving the profession or leaving the state.
Remember when Oklahomans had the spirit of helping each other, even outsiders? It wasn’t that long ago. We could shake off our prejudices and just be there for our neighbors and for people in trouble. Our legislators are working to make life harder for families and working people. We are stuck with them until the next election.
But for now, nothing our legislators do should keep us from defending our whole community and building goodwill instead of hatefulness.