Gilead Part III
Two things happened last night—disconnected and yet, unfortunately, in sync with each other. We’ve been watching the series Underground—a 2016 drama set at the brink of the Civil War, about slavery, the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad. We’re in the second season and, if I were to put on my tv reviewer’s hat, I’d say the narrative isn’t quite as strong as season one; I’d say the storytelling tends to feel disjointed and a little over the top at times. However...yesterday’s episode left me speechless.
It’s obviously old news by now—it originally aired in 2017—but this episode was a complete departure in terms of form, one in which actress Aisha Hind (who plays Harriet Tubman) gives an hour long monologue, recounting her life, her trials and ultimately her motivations. It’s a pure theatrical moment, a one-woman show worthy of the Broadway stage, a profoundly mesmerizing tour de force that knocks the air out of you. When she ends her story and—for the first and only time—looks straight into the camera, breaking the fourth wall and uttering words that suddenly flash forward to the (2017) present...the effect is chilling. Especially given the events of the past months. Heck...of this past week.
But it wasn’t my only chill of the evening. Later that night I opened my iPad to quickly check on the news. I saw a building flooded in light, a group of people standing on a balcony as a tightly packed, adoring crowd cheered them from below. I saw a makeshift palace, flanked by giant screens displaying the signage of a political party. And I saw that flag, waiving, crowning the entire spectacle. Despite its colours however, this was not an American scene.
I saw the People’s House, invaded and besmirched. A third-world show of force featuring a cheap, wannabe royal family. A historical abhorrence.
This was The End, so close you could taste it.
...
I doubt anyone reading this will fit the bill given my positions on the matter, but if you happen to be an American citizen and you’re still on the fence or—God forbid—ready to support another four years of this “administration”: wake. the fuck. up. Look and listen. Wake up for your country, for your children and for yourself.
Today I tried imagining ANY Canadian prime minister, regardless of affiliation, left or right, using our nation’s Parliament as a political prop this way...and I couldn’t. This doesn’t happen in democracies.
Last February I wrote the following:
I believe there is an America out there, desperately fighting to emerge from these death throes. But its days are counted. There are only so many markers left before the road ends... This is the accelerator phase. Your clock is ticking my friends.
Hyperbolic, pre-pandemic words...that didn’t even go far enough. Words that couldn’t even fathom how deep the hole would be. Gilead is now primed, locked and loaded. The assault is happening in broad daylight, so obvious and vulgar it’s become difficult to actually grasp. “Surely we can’t fall...surely checks and balances...surely this and that and...”
No.
The pieces are snapping into position, one by one. Adversaries have been cleansed.
All nations can fall.
