by Rob Lyons
The events of the past 24 hours have shaken everybody’s confidence, and heightened the fear that our fragile peace may be splintered at any moment. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has called for guns to be banned within the “soft perimeter” around Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, but the Secret Service has refused to alter its security plan. The Daily Show with Stephen Colbert, which had been scheduled to be taped nearby the RNC this week, was canceled due to the “evolving situation”. (I had applied for tickets, as had some of my friends).
I rose early this morning and drove from Milwaukee to Madison, where Susan O’Leary greeted us warmly in her home and offered us tea and sweet potato donuts: so moist! Nine people attended from three local dharma groups: the Snowflower Sangha, Open Door Zen, and Madison Insight Meditation Group. We went around the table and each person spoke, many about the fear they were feeling. Most expressed interest in joining in our postcard writing retreats. I encouraged people to consider doing GOTV work in October and November, but there is much less enthusiasm for doing door-to-door canvassing or phone work. Susan reminded everyone to spread the word to their sanghas and friends and family, especially around the postcard writing, (our gateway activity), and we resolved to keep in touch with one another regularly throughout the Summer and Fall.
Back in Milwaukee I attended the “We All Belong” Rally for Democracy organized by Micah (Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope). Founded in 1988, MICAH is a multi-racial, interfaith organization that includes 42 congregations (Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist) and is committed to the justice issues of greatest impact on Milwaukee’s communities. For a good Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article summarizing the rally, click here. We heard from a dozen speakers. The main theme of the afternoon was to name, analyze and condemn White Christian Nationalism, which involves appropriation of Christian symbols and a selective reading of the Bible to underpin an ideology that is at its core racist, sexist, and exclusionary. Christian Nationalism has driven recent changes in state laws in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, and elsewhere, modifying the public school curriculum and textbooks to dramatically alter treatment of issues such as climate change; Black History; social and emotional learning; gender; and so forth. (Louisana now requires that the 10 Commandments be posted in every classroom.) Christian Nationalism is also an organizing force behind many of the planks in the “Project 2025” blueprint for Trump’s second term. The response to this program should be vigorous and sustained: register voters and Get Out the Vote.
I’m heartened by the counterprogramming being done under the aegis of the Great Milwaukee Block Party: a “joyful rebellion” including film screenings, discussion groups, fundraisers, karaoke, dance parties, fashion shows, gallery openings, comedy acts, basketball tournaments, and on and on and on. Milwaukee is awesome!.
And finally, the weather: it’s been in the 80s and 90s and muggy during the day, and the fields and forests are surging with green vibrant life; but the most notable feature of Milwaukee’s weather this week has been the nightly thunderstorms – regular lightning strikes anywhere from two to four miles away, over a two to three hour period, accompanied by heavy downpours. One strike must have hit no more than a block from here, it rattled everything in the house and jolted me just as I was drifting off. What struck me about this one was feeling like I was inside the thunder: as the peal rolled out into the countryside, the echoes kept bouncing back as the thunder moved out and away from the lightning strike, for what seemed like a minutes on end. Awesome!
