I am not referring to the opportunity to change Medicare plans. No, I refer to hunting; not the hunting of ducks or deer or other game, but the hunting of people. In Amerika, it has always been open season on people of color – particularly the descendants of African slaves. But these days, it is just as often open season on Muslims, people of Asian descent, Hispanics, Jews, and anyone else who does not look like George Zimmerman or Kyle Rittenhouse.
Open Season didn’t begin just today with the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. We have several hundred years history of open season on “second class” citizens. But, the legal game species have gradually expanded to include even those not formerly fair game. At first, it was just slaves, and their children. Then in was Mexicans, then various immigrant groups, and more recently the species include various religious groups.
With today’s acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, we can now see who the “second class” truly are. They are the unarmed. If you go anywhere there may be armed White people who find your countenance fearsome, you must be armed to have any chance of defending your life from the white (male) fragility that can transform you from an innocent or perhaps hapless presence to a menacing “other” in need of lethal confrontation to put you in your place. I suggest that you leave your Haka at home because it might get you killed. If you do bring your Haka to the social sphere, bring a Glock too; it’s the only way to have a fighting chance at survival.
We are entering a phase of the American social compact wherein the agoraphobias of past years are being replaced by a traumatophobias. People have become so fearful of being hurt, that they sooner assume the role of aggressor, if only to avoid becoming the victim, than go into the public space unarmed. And, in so doing, they become the very thing that they fear.
Alas, we are such a foolish species.