I wrote a story about a fictional speech that I feel like we all need to hear. I wrote this when I was feeling particularly depressed about the abysmal state of the USA, my home country. I've edited it heavily, but I still don't feel like it's quite finished - yet I feel like this is one of those stories I'll never be able to finish, even if I spend the next 50 years writing it.
I have to admit, I'm nervous about posting this. Yet I believe that artists must take risks, and since I consider myself an artist, I must take risks.
I believe that there's still some hope.
“What do you want from me?” I said. “That’s what you always say, people like you. It’s my fault that the world is fucked up. It’s my fault because I’m black. I’m female. Because of that, you assume I’m lower class. You must assume I can’t afford taking time off work, but I do it anyway because I’m ‘too emotional.’ Maybe I’m ‘on my period?’ I probably spend all my time organizing protests and marching the streets because I’m ‘too lazy’ to get a job, right? That’s what you mean when you say, ‘people like me’, right? When your own frustrations about how things are going need somewhere to land, when you need somewhere to blame, you reach for someone different than you.
“Our government, made mostly of white men, targets people like me as a source of blame. They use me as strawmen, those who look like me, talk like me. Yet the truth is, you and I aren’t that different when you strip away superficial things. You are my fellow human being.” She took a deep breath. He was still staring at her, but what she really felt were the thousands of pairs of eyes in the crowd, all looking at her, judging her, yet listening intently on what she was saying. She felt the TV cameras. She felt her phone buzz as Twitter and Facebook exploded, all advertising the speech that he hadn’t planned, hadn’t intended on making…yet here she was, making it.
“They don’t want us to think this way. The Bill O'Reilly's, the Donald Trumps, the Joel Osteens of the world. The people who have everything and feel it’s their entitlement to have more than they need, even if it means keeping that excess from the ones who truly need help. Even if it means destroying lives. See, these people don’t want us to think that there’s anything wrong with the world. They’ve been quietly taking more and more, quietly setting things in motion so that every system that runs this world, from the economy to the justice system, from the education system to the military, are all designed to protect those who hoard power from ever knowing the necessity of accountability.” They were silent, the crowd. How could a crowd so big be so quiet?
“The truth is, they want us obsessing over our friends, relatives, and neighbors who vote Red when we voted Blue. They want us obsessing over who’s going to win The Bachelorette this season. They want to distract us so we don’t spend our time wondering, ‘why are my tax dollars going to build another billion-dollar fighter jet, which will never see combat, and in fact was only built to justify our nation’s unnecessarily gargantuan defense budget, instead of paying for textbooks at my daughter’s school?”
The crowd broke its silence. They were cheering. They hated me a minute ago, but now they’re cheering.
“Why are we waging war against Middle Eastern dictators who had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks that devastated our country sixteen years ago, instead of spending that time and money connecting commerce and development to the small towns and communities of America, to show that they haven’t been forgotten? These dying towns, some of which get smaller every year, with declining local economies, these places where generations of families live and have lived, yet almost never see even a fraction of the State’s development budget…is it so unbelievable that, statistically, so many of these voted overwhelmingly in favor of a man who promised to tear down the status quo, regardless of the fact that he himself was a billionaire magnate, a racist, a sexual offender, despite the fact that he is someone who is and has been protected by the status quo for decades? Is it so unbelievable that such a man won because he promised to change things at a fundamental level?
“No, it’s not. Of course, Donald Trump never intended to do any of those things. Of course he didn’t truly intend to ‘drain the swamp.’ It doesn’t even matter how credible he is or isn't! When one learns the objective facts about his character: he abuses women, hates non-white people – has admitted this, on record – and his company has declared bankruptcy more than once, despite the fact that he doesn’t pay income taxes. It doesn’t matter. Any of the above would make him unfit to lead this country, by law. Still, we've learned over the past year that if such a person has money, and he knows how to wield the greatest weapon of the most truly vile human beings, the law doesn't matter.
“What is that weapon? It’s fear. It’s hate. It’s a wall between two neighbors who could recognize a common enemy and overwhelm him.”
A huge cry swept through the crowd. Even the man who’d invited her onstage in the first place, the person who’d criticized her for not agreeing with his views, was listening now.
Gesturing towards him, she continued. “You say the only solution, is revolution. I agree. But I don’t agree with how you want to do it. You see? You see how easy it is to build a wall between us? All I have to do is point out the differences in our opinion and act like that’s undeniable proof that we can’t get along without some sort of authoritarian power. If I word it the right way and say it enough, two-thirds of this crowd will eventually start to agree. That’s social psychology. It’s called groupthink. Most people in this crowd are, individually, reasonable people. Yet they aren’t thinking like individuals when they’re part of a crowd. That’s how our brains work. We adopt a collective intelligence that thinks differently and, in most cases, less logically. I know many of you probably know this already, but my point is that this isn’t simply how they keep us from rising up, it's how they push us down, further and further. What they don't realize is that this is also the solution.”
The crowd mumbled, made confused noises.
“We have, for decades, known that we have three options: we can keep our heads down, focus on our own lives and try to avoid trouble. We can pick up arms and try to overthrow the powers that be with violence. Or, we can change the world using nonviolent protest. It worked for Ghandi, after all. It worked for Martin Luther King Jr. Since that seems like the most proactive, yet non-dangerous option, that’s the one that people tend to go for. That’s what intelligent people, or at least people who consider themselves “intelligent people”, are often seen doing. It’s satisfying to get out of your comfort zone and do something that feels like it makes a difference. But remember, we’re dealing with people who view us, the non-one-percent, as peasants. They don’t see us as people, and if they do, they don’t see us as people worthy of agency, because they know that if we were just a little more empowered, we would take back the money and power they stole from us. They spend a lot of that money reinforcing lies they tell us using network television, a system that makes money off the fear and hysteria of the public. They spend it creating enemies abroad, advertising campaigns for political representatives who blame our problems on immigrants and terrorists, rather than corporate executives who lobby for government deregulation, so as to use cheaper manufacturing and waste disposal methods that harm OUR planet…so they can spend less money filtering our water and raising disease-free livestock, pesticide-free crops, and low-emission vehicles. They don’t poison our children or ourselves because they want us to be poisoned, it’s worse than that; they don’t care one way or another. They only care about maximizing their profits so they can act like they’re heroes for building a strong business. These are not people who care if fifty thousand people gather at the State’s capitol to protest racism, homophobia, transphobia or misogyny. These are people who laugh at such solidarity.
“So what do we do? We certainly can’t change things by keeping our noses down and avoiding trouble, because in such a world trouble finds us, especially if our skin tone is darker than…”White.” The crowd cheered. “Should we fight? Should we use our precious second amendment to resist the government with force of arms, as our forefathers anticipated we may need to do one day?”
A roar exploded like a tsunami from the crowd. Banners swayed, fists shot from the sea of faces. Mouths chanted and yelled and screamed, mouths from black, white, Latinex, Asian, Middle-Eastern, Oceanic, and even a few Native American mouths. American mouths.
“No, we can’t,” she said, her voice low and sad. The roar died like that of a lion shot through the heart. “We can’t. We can’t expect civilian militias to stand against the most powerful military in history. We can’t stand against their tanks, their helicopters, their elite strike teams, their stealth jets, their long-range ballistics…we can’t tear our country apart, because the ones who will suffer most are the innocent, and the ones who will suffer least are the ones responsible for all of this. We can’t fight with guns because the government already has plans in place, trained personnel ready and waiting, at this very moment. They’re listening to me, to you, to all of us here today. They’re activating plans that were drafted a decade ago, and revised six months ago, and six months before then. It is only very, very stupid people who think the Law is stupid. That’s why few have tried it since the American Civil War, a conflict that created wounds on both sides still felt today. Don’t believe me? Ask someone from Georgia, Alabama, or South Carolina how they feel about General Sherman.”
A few ‘boos’ could be heard from the crowd.
“That’s why the few who have tried were put down before their 'movements' gained momentum. You don’t think it’s happened? You think someone would have heard about such a thing? Do you really believe a government who would destabilize a foreign country with no intention or history of aggression or antagonization towards us, for the sake of controlling the political climate and economy of that region, wouldn’t spend millions of dollars covering up an attempted armed insurrection, or to quash any attempts at legitimate journalism covering such an event? Do you really think a government who regularly sanctions one of its own agencies to spy on the conversations of innocent people through their cell phones, 'just in case', wouldn't pull strings to cause a media blackout if someone actually had a shot of pulling it off?”
She stopped talking for a moment. She watched the crowd. She wanted it to sink in. She wanted the weight of the realization to crush them.
“Of course you don’t. Like I said, you – and I am talking to you – you have the capacity for rational thought. Of course you know, deep down, that it has already been attempted many times. To those still in doubt, I ask you: how do you propose to fight such an enemy conventionally? I’m telling you, I used to work for the government. I saw how they plan for these things. They’re already three steps ahead of whatever riot or uprising some of you so passionately call for. It’s not revolution. It’s suicide. What’s worse, after they’ve buried you, they’ll spend even more money playing up your story as that of an unstable group of malcontents and sociopaths, so that any further attempts at armed resistance will face accusations of barbarism, treason, and insanity. Who wants to be associated with such a group of people? How would that serve our purpose?
“I agree that we need to do something. I agree we need to fight.” She looked at the sea of faces, the speaker to her left. “I know a fourth option. I know a way we can fight, and win. A way they can’t oppose, even with all their money. And we can, each of us, start today.”
She tried to look at the crowd as though she were looking in the eyes of each and every member of that crowd. She opened her mouth, and said: “we use the greatest shield there is. We use compassion. Compassion is simply the intuitive, human capacity to make a peaceful connection with another human. Compassion is not a wall, it’s a bridge. That’s why it’s our greatest weapon. That’s why it’s their greatest fear. We can’t fight them where they’re strongest – we can’t fight them on Capitol Hill, or Wall Street. They have long since stopped listening to us there. We can’t fight them on the streets with broken bottles, chains and sidearms – they have tanks, tear gas, and body armor. They’re organized. Our military has learned and adapted from all the greatest fighting machines in history. Their leaders have developed a doctrine distilled from the wisdom of some of the greatest thinkers in history, and they use it on all aggressors, from within as well as without. We can’t fight them where they are strongest; ancient generals like Sun Tzu have known for millennia, for thousands of years, that you can’t beat an enemy that way. Yet where they are weakest is where they are most spread out. Where they are least familiar. They don’t know us. They consider this to be their strength; they can make decisions without considering our needs and wants and rights, so long as they keep us distracted and just comfortable enough that we don’t feel it worth bothering over. They’re good at this as well. Yet their greatest weapons, as I’ve said, are fear and hate. Yet because they don’t know us, our families, our friends, our lovers, or our rivals like we do, they have no advantage here. This is where we fight them. This is our battleground. We fight by destroying their greatest weapon. We fight with compassion, by putting aside our differences and showing unity, because that is what all of us truly want; we want to live in peace, knowing for certain that our neighbors will not trouble us, and in fact will support and protect us, because we would support and protect them.
“How do you fight with compassion? Simple. Instead of spinning your wheels looking for reasons why your neighbor is wrong to vote Republican, you look at their most basic human needs – the need to protect their loved ones, the need to be loved – you see how voting the way they do serves that need. You focus on that. You talk about that. You ignore baited attempts to get into a debate; political debates never manage to change anyone's mind. Human psychology, tribe mentality, always turns it into a personal matter, no matter how carefully or diplomatically you try to word it. You strive for harmony instead, on what makes you similar. Instead of focusing on what a know-it-all liberal your child has become, you think about their future, the life that lies before them, and how scary it must seem. You assure them that everything will be fine, that they’re strong and smart and backed by you, their loved ones. Instead of focusing on what a woman-hating racist your parent has become, or always was, you remember that they don't want this country to burn any more than you do.” She paused, and put extra emphasis on the next part. “This is how you fight with compassion. You break the barriers that divide us, so together, we stand unified. Compassion is the ultimate weapon against tyranny and ignorance – all you need is to know how to use it. Nobody wants to fight someone who’s on their side. If we focus less on what divides us, and define our relationships on what brings us together and not what makes us different, they cannot drive us apart. If we fight them this way…they cannot drive us apart. Their bombs and bullet will amount to nothing, because when we stand together, they will be forced to see that they are outnumbered. When we can rise as one, as a true majority, and demand, ‘we want police killings of innocent black citizens to stop going unanswered…or, ‘we want our children to grow up with better education’; ‘we want Americans to have affordable healthcare they need to survive…not just the chronically ill, but the forty-year-old father from Ohio, the single mother in New York…we want them to survive, to continue supporting their sons and daughters, so they can grow up to be Senators, engineers, writers and teachers.’ When we can stand as one and demand these things, when we can deliberately try, all at the same time, to remain vigilant, to refuse to be swayed by their propaganda, their attempts to drive a wedge between us…they will not be able to fight us, but we will fight them. And that is how we will win.”
A thunderclap of a cheer, one that dwarfed the one before, exploded from the crowd. For all the talk about how much people suck, deep down we all feel the same way about the things that matter, she thought. “Let us start today! Call that relative you haven’t spoken to in years. Text that rival at work. You cannot control how they react, but if all of you try to use compassion, to build bridges that they have tricked us into tearing down, tear down instead the walls that they tricked us into building – you will begin to notice, my fellow human beings, a change in this world. Together, we will tear down what they have built to oppress us, and build what they have made us tear down. Together, we will restore this great country. Practice compassion today, and someday soon, someday in our lifetimes, we will be strong enough to force those in charge, those who sit at the top, to stop treating their lofty positions, their ivory towers, as divine rights to take what they want and spit on those below them; or we will force them out of those ivory towers to join the rest of us, down here. Together, we can force them to stop treating this country like a brood sow for their own profit, and start doing their jobs, or step aside and let someone competent take over!"
She stepped from the podium then as the crowd cheered. Deep down, she thought, I think they all knew that what I was saying was true. We can’t fix a broken political system if our own lives are broken. Deep down, we all want to love and be loved. They just needed to hear somebody say it.
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