I keep hearing that panglossian bullshit; it rankles my giblets, Enthusiasts. RATTATATTATAT! This is not who we are.  #FTLAUDERDALESTRONG. This is not who we are. Some truly dumb motherfuckers in this country, I think. Lotta victims of over-requited patriotism.

It was who we were when the Injuns got their land taken, and their heads stove in, and their children stolen.

It was who we were when the cotton got picked on the plantations Down South, and then again when that cotton got turned into trousers and frocks in the factories Up North.

It was who we were all along the Trail of Tears.

It was who we were when the boss locked the doors at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory.

It was who we were in Rosewood, and Greenwood, and Ocoee.

It was who we were when the National Guard fired on Kent State, and the Navy shelled Manhattan during the Draft Riots, and when the great military heroes Patton and Eisenhower charged the Bonus Army on the Mall.

It was who we were when those train tracks leading to Auschwitz remained intact through the whole war.

It was who we were when they dragged the abuelas out of Chavez Ravine to make room for Dodger Stadium.

It was who we were in Fred Hampton’s apartment.

It was who we were when the Japanese needed interning.

It was who we were when bankers took out their red pens and started drawing lines on maps.

It was who we were on Cripple Creek in Colorado, where silver was mined; and on Blair Mountain in West Virginia where coal was king; and Harlan County in Kentucky, where coal was similarly plentiful.

It was who we were when Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act just as soon as the railroads were finished.

So don’t gimme any of that This isn’t who we are bullshit: there are mirrors everywhere; look in one. God bless America, and all her ships at sea.