As I sit and watch the first Matrix film for the hundreth time, there is a quote that constantly pops out at me. “Fate it seems isn’t without a sense of irony.” I ponder on this quote daily. I ponder on it while I sleep, I ponder on it while walking around, I pondered on it as Donald Trump signed a sloppily executed Executive order banning people from seven countries from traveling to the US.
Unfortunately this order also included people who already had Visas and Green
Cards creating a nightmare of epic proportions. Hundreds of people who already earned the right to be in this country were detained solely because of their country of origin. Many crowded airports and, the streets to protest a bizarre order which serves no purpose other than to discriminate with “protection of the American people” sprinkled on it to make a turd look like a five star dinner.
The problem however is that you can’t put lipstick on a pig. No matter how much mascara, lipstick, eyeliner and, eye shadow you put on a pig, it’s still a pig and that is what this executive order is, a fucking mess of epic proportions.
In the same week, Trump ordered the construction of a wall that he was stupid enough to think Mexico would be paying for, a wall that we as Americans will be paying for until we die.
As I sit watching all of America go up in flames like forests when you let Smokey the Bear down, I ponder constantly on how we got to this point in the first place.
Maybe it was when we turned a blind eye to a Republican candidate that spewed xenophobic rhetoric as his campaign platform.
Maybe it was when we turned a blind eye to rigging by the DNC.
Maybe it was when we turned a blind eye to the blatant acts of racially motivated police brutality.
Maybe it was when a gunman went into the Pulse night club, murdered over fifty members of the Latino LGBT community. That’s when we turned a blind eye to Republican candidates who never gave a fuck about that community using the act as a way to push a xenophobic agenda against Muslims.
The point is we’re here. A country built on immigration is now turning away
immigrants and refugees from seven regions our government deemed to be a
threat. As if we weren’t a threat when we first came to this country, or did you forget your history?
Allow me to remind you of our history. Your ancestors left Europe in order to flee persecution by a king who was stubborn to any sort of reform within his church. They arrived here in what we call Massachusetts, took advantage of the kindness of the indigenous peoples who lived there by murdering
them.
They took control of the region, eventually purchased more land from other
countries who forced their way here as well and then, called this land theirs.
This was never our land and yet, we fight for it like it is. We control who gets to enter this country. It’s almost as if we’re afraid of reaping the very seeds of betrayal and deceit we sowed. Y’all can make this look as pretty and as heroic as humanly possible, but its sheer cowardice if you ask me.
What disgusts me even more than the act of blocking people from entering this country is the discrimination of an entire religion because of the actions of a few. What disgusts me even more is that there are Christians in this country that would never take this shit lying down.
There are those who will defend this by saying that there is no religious test, but when you put a blanket ban on countries who religions are predominantly Muslim and give priority to Christians fleeing, then it’s pretty fucking obvious that there is in fact a religious test.
What have we become? A country of immigrants and refugees that thinks it can decide which countries we will and won’t accept people from?
I am ashamed at what we’ve turned into. Not that this country wasn’t already built on dishonesty to begin with. It’s just that I didn’t think we could sink lower than the Titanic on a bad day (too soon?).
I hope we can all look into our hearts, figure out where we went wrong and, try this shit again. Unlike a video game, you don’t get any extra men or a continue to redo this.
We made a mess and now we’ve gotta clean it.
Stay Classy…
Flemmings Beaubrun is an avid gamer and lover of music. When not working, Flemmings likes to spend his time whipping up dank beats for the masses. He also spends his weekends thrift shopping for rare video games and obscure electronics. Other times he’s in front of a TV with a giant bowl of cereal enjoying shows from the 90s.
