Day Eighteen

The most often asked question that I get when standing out there with my sign is:

“Resist what?”

My standard reply is:

“All things Trump.”

One can only say just so much to a person in a passing car.

“What’s The Montclair Project?”

“Google it!”

That’s why I have this project here.

I get to reflect on what I experience out there,

think about it from this side and that,

anticipate the arguments both pro and con,

and hopefully say something thoughtful.

So from a more thoughtful perspective:

Resist what?

Resist being manipulated.

Think,

listen,

to yourself.

What we see in DC is like some big loud caricature of individuals we have always known in our own lives, maybe us; and situations we have all grown up witnessing, justifying (if we thought about it at all), maybe looking the other way so as not to have to think about it too much, because the individual or group on the short end of the stick wasn’t us.

If you are white,

if you are American,

right there,

no matter what happens under Trump,

there is absolutely no fucking way your life is going to be as negatively impacted,

as much as not being white does for everyone else,

every day,

for all of their lives thus far,

living in America,

no matter who gets elected,

whether they are American or not.

That’s a fact.

Eighteen days into this project,

what I think about every day,

is two black teens,

both guys,

standing in a group of their peers, challenging me.

Basically:

“What is, totally sucks for us.”

“At least Trump is different.”

What I thought to say later is:

But Trump is a con,

a reality TV guy who knows how to play the media game,

knows how to pose,

how to say the right words,

but it doesn’t mean he really cares.

Trump only uses people to stay in power.

He’s playing you.

Make your own sign.

You know your community better than anyone,

and you deeply care.

You have the power.

What do you want to say?

7. 20. 25