Friday December 30, 2005 SGN.org |
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Volume 33 Issue 52 |
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Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009
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2006: 365 new days to work to defeat the right wing agenda and prepare for the next presidential election |
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| 2006: 365 new days to work to defeat the right wing agenda and prepare for the next presidential election | ||
| 'I think we should start getting real and
prepare for some dire days ahead.'
by Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid - SGN Staff Writer It is hard to believe that as I sit here writing this - reflecting back on the hectic, crazy and, for the most part, unbelievable year that 2005 has been - that a new year is just around the corner. Yet, being a 'winter,' born in January, I'm well aware that, indeed, a new year is about to begin. I feel it in my bones (about to turn fifty in a few more weeks) and I feel it in the air (warmer than it should be due to global warming) and there's just a bit of anxiety in those feelings as well. So, knowing that another year is looming, I find myself reflecting back on the old one and the work that's still undone regarding equal rights for 'my peeps,' the Queer community and Black folks. And, no matter how much he denies it, I know in my marrow that George Bush is not feeling the same sense of duty toward 'my peeps' as I am and I'm outraged by that, since he's the man with the power to make things better for us all. Ah, but I am not holding my breath for that occurrence. Nope, I think we should start getting real and prepare for some dire days ahead. I say this from the point of view of someone who lives in public housing and knows a very confusing booklet on the new Medicare plan is waiting for me to read it at home. Thus, there's anxiety - mixed with excitement - in my outlook for the new year. First, I wish with all of my soul that the folks who are planning to move the Pride celebration off Capitol Hill would rethink that, but if it must be, let's get on with it. We haven't time to quibble over such small matters, even though, yes, that's a big one for a lot of us. We have a battle over marriage rights, battles over funding for AIDS care, battles over reproductive rights (yes, Virginia, Dykes and Fags need to work for reproductive rights too, as we need all the allies we can get right now), and battles over putting New Orleans back together and allowing those who might want to, to return and rebuild. But mostly, we need to start now, gearing up our own political machine to defeat the right-wingers who are keeping us from living the lives we were born to live as free human beings. Not comforting words, I know, but the future ahead is going to require us to be clear thinking, whole, grounded people. Me, I'm already resolving to be more visible, more vocal and more active than ever, and do what it takes to get the Bush administration kicked into the street where they belong. And to help make public the continuing injustice that has manifested itself since hurricane Katrina opened a big can of 'whoop-ass' on the Gulf Coast. I believe knowledge is power and knowledge helps us all to help others. And along with continuing to expand my own personal knowledge of who I am as a Dyke, I'm definitely going to be an unquiet older woman; marching, chanting and holding a sign right-beside the young ones. I hope to see you out there too, because, if we don't get busy now, our future will indeed be as dark as the fiction in my column. It can definitely be prevented, if we want it bad enough. |
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International Readers |
 
It's new!A blog created by the SGN staff so you can be heard |
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"Putting on the Ritz |
The Beauty of Freedom through |
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