"MONSTERS IN AMERICA"

 "MONSTERS IN AMERICA"

        Today is All Hallows Eve, which came to be known as Halloween.  Like all such holidays, its origin is murky. It is partially rooted in the idea that October 31, the day before All Saints Day or All Hallows Day, is a time when the spirits of those who have died are allowed to return to earth, for both good and ill.  Hispanic Culture recognizes this in its Day of the Dead on November 1 also.  In the current Halloween story, ghosts of those who have died seem to return only for mischief or malevolence.  It's rare that ghosts return for "goodly" purposes.  Yet,  All Saints Day remembers those who have been witnesses for good, and I want to remember those too.  So, I'll divide my thoughts on these into two parts:  ghosts for good, and ghosts as monsters.  This week, the monsters; next week the good.

        When I was a boy, I had a recurring nightmare in which I was on a train cutting through the countryside, with fields on each side of the train.  As the train passed one barn, I saw a Frankenstein type monster step out of the barn and begin to run towards the train.  I seemed to be the only passenger on the train who was aware of the monster's pursuit of the train - everyone else, including the engineer, was having a happy time as the train meandered its way through the countryside.  The monster was getting closer and closer, and it became clear that he was after me.  Yet no one paid attention to this developing danger.  I wanted the train to speed up so that I could make it safely home to my mother.  The dream always ended in such pursuit - the monster getting closer and closer, and my scramble in trying to get the engineer to speed up the train.

        I was thinking about this dream and about the idea of monsters after I heard about the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  There seems to be a letting loose of monsters, of Frankensteins in American culture.  The Trump presidency, the January 6 attack on Congress, the slowness and even reluctance of Republican leadership to respond to these threats - all seem to point to the loosening of monstrous forces in our time.  To me, it is reminiscent of people pouring into the territories of Kansas and Nebraska in the early 1850's.  Congress decided to allow those two territories to decide on whether they would allow slavery to exist inside their boundaries.  It led to terrible slaughter, a prelude to the Civil War.  Indeed, John Brown honed his skills in the killing fields of Kansas, before he headed to Virginia to seek to ignite a revolt by those held in captivity as slaves.

         Such monstrous forces seem to always exist close to the surface of American life, and in many eras, they break through the surface to seek to dominate life in America.  The late 1870's until early 1900 was a time dominated by the monstrous forces of white supremacy, seeking to put Black people back in the places that white people believed that they belonged.  After white legal and political power was re-established for all to see, lynchings became the monstrous way to enforce it.  Up until 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed, the monsters of neo-slavery held to our Frankenstein power tightly.  Since then those of us classified as "white" have used the criminal injustice system and police power as monstrous forces to keep people of color in the place designated by white people.  

        The attack on Paul Pelosi is a another sign that Frankenstein has stepped out of the barn and is now in pursuit of those who would expand the American idea of equality to include those who have been excluded by the creators of the monstrous forces of injustice, oppression, and white, male supremacy.  The monsters are on the loose.  The results of the November elections (and the denial of those results) will tell us a lot about where we are headed.  

        At this point some 8 days until the election period is over, it looks like the Republicans will take back the House.  If this is the case, a difficult battle will come to the forefront.  If you have not yet voted, please do so before the election period is over - and get your friends and neighbors to vote also.  Abraham Lincoln asked us to move towards our better angels, or "good ghosts" as I would call them. In today's culture, we seem to be moving towards the monstrous side.  Let us move towards the "saints" part of All Hallows rather than towards the monsters.