Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.

— “The Diary of a Young Girl,” Anne Frank

Welcome to fascist America, where racial profiling is now Supreme Court-approved, child labor is encouraged, civil rights have been erased, a new Trail of Tears is being built, and wokeness, the simple act of being aware of systemic social injustices, racism, and discrimination, is taboo.

Brown people are now hunted, ripped from their families, brutalized, and frequently disappeared with no due process. Speaking Spanish in public can get you hurled to the ground and/or pepper sprayed. U.S. citizens, including Indigenous people, are cuffed and stuffed for simply not being white. Rainbow crosswalks are painted over or torn up. Transgender people are banned from bathrooms.

I’m enraged by all this government-sponsored hate and willful cruelty. I’m sick of being “governed” by the delusional, vindictive, and spiteful. I’m disgusted by the fact that every government thug who rails against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) is superbly unqualified for the position they hold. I’m tired of the feckless Democratic Party.

In the late 1930s, Joseph Stalin ordered his goons to Russia’s Far East to extirpate foreign elements and “disloyal” citizens. Some 19,000 Chinese were deported, taken — along with equally unwelcome Koreans — by boxcar to the interior of Siberia, or otherwise disappeared.

Today, the U.S. fascist-in-chief and his army of (non)Christian nationalists stoke fear. Exploit desperation. Reward brutality. Dehumanize the weak and powerless. Ignore the rule of law when it suits their fascist agenda. Punish those who don’t bend the knee. Take no responsibility. Take credit for things they voted/railed against. Blame political opponents for all that is wrong. Enrich themselves over serving the public. Lie with impunity.

Terrorizing people of color is fine; sanctuary cities are invaded by the military. Being a wealthy sexual predator isn’t worthy of an investigation; pregnant women are surveilled. Nonviolent protest of fascism will get you arrested; storming the U.S. Capitol during an insurrection gets you a government job bullying the public. Celebrate the life of a person who spent most of his spreading hate and bigotry; ignore the assassination of a political opponent, her husband, and their dog. Wearing masks to kidnap people is permitted; wearing masks to stop the spread of disease is communism. Rewrite history; ban books.

Give the genocidal Benjamin Netanyahu billions in taxpayer money; make health care more expensive for millions of Americans. Bail out the failing economy of the anarcho-capitalist government of President Javier Milei in Argentina with $20 billion; defund DEI initiatives here. Give Muskrat billions so he can get to Mars (that might be worth it); claw back money earmarked for climate crisis mitigation. Spend millions on weekend golf outings; take free lunches away from schoolchildren growing up in poverty. Give wannabe ICE goons $50,000 signing bonuses; threaten to gut Medicare and Medicaid and up the retirement age.

Murdering people at sea is tough; diversity in the military is weak. Calling those who serve or served fat and losers — sometimes both at the same time — is unpresidential; asking them to take arms against the regime’s political opponents is unconstitutional.

If you applaud, celebrate, and/or support this evilness, I’m truly sorry your life is so meaningless.

The rest of us need to vote — even when the Democratic Party routinely runs uninspiring candidates and when third-party applicants are no more than distractions. The rest of us need to protest, nonviolently but loudly. The rest of us need to demand all non-fascists in government, at all levels, do something to counter the insurgency (writing strongly worded letters won’t suffice), or, at the very least, say something rousing, repeatedly.

The rest of us need to stop/reduce our consumption/support of products, services, institutions, and industries controlled by those who enable fascism or capitulate to the regime’s extortion. Sadly, this list is quite long, but here are several of the more notable deplorables: Amazon; Apple; CBS; Columbia University; fossil fuels; Fox; Oracle; Paramount; Tesla.

Yes, it sucks that boycotting enablers could hurt working people, but at least it’s for a genuine purpose. Unlike, say, firing federal employees and attacking health-care professionals, teachers, and academics who don’t share the regime’s fascist values.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all human beings, all living creatures, and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Note: The last paragraph is an adulterated quote by Albert Einstein.

Frank Carini can be reached at [email protected]. His opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.