The 2A community has gone soft.

They're a Treadin'.

I mostly talk about art and my relationship to it. But today, I am facing the possibility that my time as an artist could be interrupted.

I have seen other artists decide to put down their creative practice in favor of activism, and what some see as the beginning of the long awaited Second American Civil War. This is a reaction to that. I am carrying on as normal, but I wonder: for how long? I want to be clear that I am not advocating for any kind of violence and that I am simply pointing out some things I have observed in my personal life.

The 2A community has always been problematic, but lately, it has turned absolutely pathetic. Most of us are watching the government ignore the Constitution, engage in unreasonable search and seizure, and deport people who “did it the right way” - including green card holders with no criminal record. They are holding three Native American political prisoners for not wanting to cooperate with Ice. Children are being used as bait, and so on. The attack dogs of the state proudly murdered two citizens in Minneapolis last week in cold blood. They have disappeared women and children, all with stamps of approval from various heads of the Hydra that is the Trump administration and their willfully blind idiot base. Why are we not looking at these incidents the same way we did during the standoff at Bundy Ranch? Waco, Ruby Ridge, Wounded Knee and so on? Maybe it will take time, as it did for those issues to be looked at in a way that acknowledges the brutality of the government. I hope for this for Brianna Taylor as well. Unfortunately for all of the people who lose their lives in the meantime, this means nothing and provides solace to no one.

The men who raised me with the belief that we would have to one day rise up against a tyrannical government that hates its people have now become anti-human, celebrity-president loyalists. They are cruising along on xenophobia, bigotry, or disengagement, thinking this will not happen to them if they “don’t get in the way.” They have forgotten all of the principles they raised their latchkey kids - who knew “stranger danger” - with. With the lack of disclosure on the Epstein files, I cannot help but feel sick as I listen and watch some of my family members callously react to immigrant children being lost. Suddenly Q-anon are silent about a global sex trafficking ring.

I had hoped as a child while looking through a display case owned by the human personification of foghorn leghorn to see KKK literature being sold out in the open at the Tanner Gun Show in Colorado, that bigotry would be erased from the earth when I became an adult. But now the party of “small government” and “personal responsibility” have ushered these once regarded as repulsive and fringe theories back into a place of mainstream acceptance. All those times of getting in my stepfather’s way, only to be yelled at for nothing as he and his friends drunkenly made Saturday night proclamations in a half-lit room about protecting their families and the concept of absolute freedom, while cleaning and comparing their new firearms, now mean less than all of the Coors Light they pissed down the drain.

To me, this whole culture war has boiled down to two sides. One side is choosing the path of recognizing everyone’s humanity, exercising empathy, and working toward peace as the goal. These efforts will intensify in whatever direction they need to. Another side wants chaos, control, the erosion of all human rights, and a religious new dark age. The law of the Jungle. They arrogantly believe that they will never meet the chopping block. They are gambling on total world destruction or a 1,000-year Reich, but they are wrong, and they will eventually pay for this idiot worldview. In the meantime, there are many discussions to be had.

The United States is staring at itself in the mirror and the reflection is fragmented, wounded, and horrific. For some of us, this is the first time we’ve seen its face.

I am in no way defending the actions of the United States in terms of its abuse of human rights within its own borders and abroad. I am aware that Biden and Obama deported a lot of people who were in the USA illegally, I was not a huge fan of either of them. I have never been fool enough to idolize any politician (another thing we do not talk enough about). It is true that we have entered into a place where the terror that black, brown and poor communities have faced from state police for decades has branched out indiscriminately. Cornell West is calling it “The Niggerization of America.” Call it whatever you want. American years of lead, American Century of Humiliation, etc.

It is plain to see that an untrained private military, enacted by a government run by a bunch of under-qualified sycophants loyal to a pedophile president with ties to Russia, has declared war on the city of Minneapolis (and everywhere else) and has its sights set on other states (and countries) that do not show favor to him. I have yet to see anyone able to defend what is going on who does not have an opinion rooted in their enjoyment of “owning the libs” or their hatred of immigrants. I must also remind those of you blissfully unaware that MAGAMAHA hats are not limited to white homes only. The faces of ICE also tell this story.

No community faced with an occupying force has wanted to engage in violence. They all wanted to go back to dancing, singing, working, making art, fucking, and raising families. I am not looking forward to the day that these things become impossible. I am worried for our mental health. I fear for what choices I will be faced with as a (mostly) peaceful and (mostly) law-abiding man for 42 years. I fear the imperial boomerang.

I lament for all of the firearms I lost in a tragic boating accident in 2022. I receive another(!) text from a friend who is anti-gun asking me for gun advice. I read about more gun legislation being passed. I think about how we can watch each other die on loop from the box in our pockets. I consider human suffering caused by governments all over the globe. I move to another room to spiral quietly. I do not know what to do with any of this. I consider making a plan with my family, but I do not know how many of them I can trust. I stare into the blackness of my soul and think about how common of a human experience it is to die like a fucking dog. Unfortunately, I want to live so I’ll have to die with my teeth barred.

Here are some photos from when I visited Mount Carmel with some friends. One of the Branch Davidians came out and gave us a tour. She was very kind. There was some literature asking “Best President Donald Trump” to expose the Koresh connection to Bush/Clinton but it seems as though their prayers continue to go unanswered.

Until next time.