March in Washington

 

I wanted to write this on the 28th 0f August, the sixtieth anniversary of the March on Washington. Given the heat wave that most of the country was experiencing at that moment, working in the upstairs office in my house was out of the question. I should have done it all the same. I was in a fairly decent mood on the 28 two weeks ago. I'm not today, On that particular day my plan was to focus on how far we've come as a country. Today I cannot stop thinking about how far we need to go. On August 28th 1963 there had not been an overt white supremacist in the White House since 1921, Since The March, we've had two: Ronald Reagan (who was covert) and Donald Trump (who was quite overt). Back in the day, politicians had the good sense to keep their bigotry to themselves. Today the halls of the Senate and the House (and too many governor's mansions to count) are littered with racists. Sure, we've had an African American president - which is a decided step forward - but in too many cases we've taken decided steps  backwards. 

AFTERTHOUGHT, 2 October 2023:

I never finished this one. Truth be told, my health has not been great lately and my concentration and energy level has been in the toilet. 

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Crazy Like a Fox (1926)

Charley Chase was one of the great silent film comedians. Sadly, he's all but forgotten today. This film is really funny. Look for a young Oliver Hardy. This was a year before he teamed up with Stan Laurel. Charley Chase died in 1940, age forty-seven, from acute alcoholism.

(1) CRAZY LIKE A FOX 1926 STARRING CHARLIE CHASE - YouTube

The man was a hoot-and-a-half.