My Weekend Crush

As Trump readies his new – though certainly no less terrible – Muslim Ban, I thought it might be a good time to share Valerie’s Letter again. For no reason, really. Just totally out of the blue, actually. Apropos of nothing, truly. I just felt like remembering my favorite part of “V for Vendetta.” You know, the part where the lesbian prisoner scribbles her life story out for someone to find about how she had roses and kisses but then war and authoritarianism and ominous sounding policies like the “Articles of Allegiance” happened and different became dangerous and they took people from their homes and their beds and now there are no roses just despair and ultimately death. Yeah, that part.

It’s not because we have a new president hell-bent on declaring the “others” the enemy with ominous sounding policies like V.O.I.C.E. (which stands for Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement, which even grammatically is wrong beyond belief). It’s also not because he has commissioned the Department of Homeland Security to publish regular lists of supposed immigrant crimes. It’s not because his policies are having people snatched for deportation from hospitals and churches and courthouses and press conferences by ICE agents overjoyed at their new freewheeling authority. Never mind reports that show immigrants are actually less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens. Never mind that publishing lists of Jewish crimes was something done to foment hatred toward them during World War II by the actual, goddamn Nazis. None of this matters when there’s an “other” to hate, apparently. But, again, there’s no reason I felt like sharing this clip today. I just wanted to watch Valerie and Ruth and all those beautiful roses, I guess. Happy weekend, all.