Real Hit Me Hard Today

Real hit me hard today. It doesn’t seem like very much or very many people are real to me right now.

One thing I know for sure – as real as it can possibly get – is that Mitch McConnell does not care if a zillion people stand in downtown Louisville if he isn’t in downtown Louisville, or if they march on Washington, even when he’s in Washington, unless they block his office door or stand between him and his car. Or if they drive a caravan around the country ten times talking about him or gun control. 

HE DOES NOT CARE because none of that affects him personally.

• Your safety does not affect him personally. 
• Your health does not affect him personally. 
• Your wellbeing does not affect him personally. 
• Your fear of guns killing you or your children does not affect him personally.

Nothing you do bothers him personally unless you make it bother him personally.

‘Moscow Mitch’ apparently bothered him personally and I can only guess that it scared him because it hit home and he fears prison. It bothered him enough to knock him off balance, maybe literally since he took a fall shortly after letting his emotional discomfort show in a speech on the senate floor. And while he was off balance, some real people decided to take the fight home to him.

A real woman – someone who is real and does real things every day, a real cofounder and core organizer of Black Lives Matter Louisville live streamed to what she thought was a controlled group and was overheard using profanity in what most people would have laughed off as a joke.

Within hours, the live stream was leaked and Mitch and his fake news network had managed to smear this real woman. And, as everyone should know, when McConnell and his party purposely smear people it is with the intention to incite violence against them. Funny how a word can offend Mitch more than multiple mass murders, climate change, knowledge of a stolen election and the vulnerability of our system that means there will likely be another, the placement of suspected rapists in the White House and on the Supreme Court . . . 

No, not funny at all. Nor is it funny how instead of rushing to defend and support this real woman, the people with Black Lives Matter yard signs, and people who swear they’ll do anything to see that Mitch McConnell is out of office soon, and all of those, “Just stop with the thoughts and prayers we want real action,” people, and the people who complain that Mitch just doesn’t hear us . . .  didn’t show up to defend or support the real woman who obviously found the way to get him to see and HEAR us, and managed to shake him up and prove that, when we are on his doorstep disrupting him personally, he notices.

The very next day – NEXT DAY – two groups decided to take their actions downtown where Mitch would not be and would not care because it would not personally reach him. HUNDREDS of people went where he wasn’t while ten people went to his doorstep, where he had at least three law enforcement officers waiting for each of them and more swarming the entire neighborhood. And the ten real people stayed for two hours to show him that they are serious about being heard even though they were warned not to make any noise this time.

I’m not going to pass a Black Lives Matter yard sign now without wondering if a real person who hadn’t seen any news or was sick or working that night lives in that house, or if an unreal person who just wanted a social life, or to be seen by other activists instead of having to actually DO SOMETHING real lives there.

I’m so confused about how people who cared about anything or anyone could show so little support for and defense of the person/people who were dragged by Mitch, GOP, Fake News, and fake people who feigned outrage over a word – and, once again, had targets put on their backs. *I* -- known for being fearless – realized and voiced the fact that I knew I might not make it home alive as we approached the house to stand with them. My sister-in-law said, "I'll take one for the team and my kids," and kept walking, too. I can’t imagine the strength it took for people whose skin colors made them even bigger targets to Mitch’s incited militias to be there, and I sure as hell won’t take my support for them, defense of them, or admiration away from them. As long as they go, I’ll be with them when physically able. Because I think it matters more than anything else I could do.

Unless Mitch McConnell loses this election, nothing anyone protests, thinks and prays about (or says the words thoughts and prayers about), stays awake to show concern for (or whatever words appropriately cover attending a vigil) will matter. He does not care and never will care how many people do any of those things that don’t affect him personally.

Groups that come TO Mitch’s hometown but don’t bother to go WHERE HE IS don’t convince me that they want to get a message to him. Or that they are real.