Sometimes, inspiration can take unexpected turns. For me, inspiration flows mostly from an event and symbolism that dovetails the two. Since 2017 has become a gold mine for my emotions, it’s easy to find a muse in just about every headline. Suffice it to say, I have felt overwhelmed.
If a Dreamcatcher doesn’t take the mind down a certain path after recent Government announcements, then forgive my presumptions. This piece is a throw-away, something I didn’t put much heart into as I was painting it, but I feel a strange connection with now that it’s done. After the brushes dried, just like so many other times creating while a reactive feeling hit me from current events, I stepped back and asked what the literal meaning of the object is, unsure if my intentions for the project were ignorant of something more meaningful. Thankfully, the almighty internet is my spell-check. Dreamcatchers originated from the Ojibwe tribe, which revered spiders as symbols of safety and comfort. As a maternal force, the presence of the mother spider would represent protection for the young, shown in the webs of woven patterns in the middle by catching their nightmares so that good dreams could come through. As the Ojibwe tribe began migrating farther away, the dreamcatcher was often made as a keepsake by mothers and grandmothers in the tribe to young wanderers as a sign of love and security. Cheesiness aside, perhaps after learning the connotation of this legendary piece, I became more attached to my little watercolor, especially given the fact that it was to align with writing that I feel sincerely fervid about. The ebb and flow of creativity and devotion to a piece is always fresh and fluid, changing as the meaning evolves in the artist. What started as a tiny creek of an idea, has flowed right into my massive river of a rhapsody…
Go figure. That’s all I have to say about headlines declaring that DACA will be on the chopping block. I had always imagined deporting immigrants was the jaywalking ticket of the government’s priorities; sure, it could happen, but it’s a lot of work to enforce authority on an issue happening every two seconds and within every square mile. I am trying to keep my tea on the cool side here, only one bag, just enough to taste the flavor of my contempt of this decision, but careful not burn the reader’s tongue with the emotion that is generated from it.
Before I get to DACA, let me be clear about my feelings on illegal immigration, specifically from Mexico. By the way, why have we called them illegal immigrants and not refugees? Their circumstance certainly seems similar to those in the Middle East, right? Anyway, they are a people who by all means, would have prefered to stay home. They were compelled to escape, forced to lose their way of life because of danger and violence. Americans with the opinion that these people are unwelcome have villainized this whole ethnicity as criminals for merely walking across an invisible line. Their argument seems nothing more than that of a spoiled child having to share a toy. As though these Mexicans were flooding over the border because of our awesome healthcare and employment opportunities… or how nice we are to them. The anger against their presence is bellowed out as ‘they are stealing our jobs’, ‘taking advantage of our government resources’ ‘bringing drugs and crime’ and just overall, ‘breaking the law’. Typical point of view from this lowbrow mass of people throwing stones. I’d love to see them in the same shoes as those who fled their homes due to fear for their lives. Perhaps we can put it how most of those rubes would understand: if they were to shoot a bear without hunting tags, because it was self defense from attack, would they consider their actions illegal and bow their heads to any prosecution that came from it? See, when arguing against pro-wall-builders, it is best to use a gun and dead animal in your theory, speak their language.
No matter the reason for being here, crossing the border from danger, expired work visas, crafty planning to steal the American way of life- they are here. They have been here. They have children and their children have children. I find a hint of solace in hearing the many people from every side of the argument agree that DACA is an effective, coherent policy. A child born or brought into a country, illegally is not making that choice and cannot be held accountable for punishment. It’s pretty simple, yet this is an action Trump’s rocky administration is actually proposing to go ahead with instituting an end to protecting. The resistance to this choice is too easy to defend. If there is an actual bill that passed to allow such an atrocity, there would be so many lawsuits that would instantly slap the idea back to its infancy. Therefore, am I worried that ICE is going to be bursting through immigrant homes in SWAT gear, yanking children from their beds and tossing them into Auschwitz-style camps before deportation? No. I am grateful that the vast majority of the country is too sane to allow it. Sure, I am sitting in my comfortable white skin, with all the benefits of America at my pure-bred disposal, so my apathy may come across as harsh, but believing DACA’s removal could actually displace people is about as likely as the Kardashians donating money to charity anonymously… yet again, I didn’t believe Trump could be President.
Here is the core of the problem for me: the public announcement of this plan was not to prepare young people who would be affected, it was to send a message, which is worse in so many ways. Mass media outlets going nuts reporting Dreamer’s holding off on applying for school, selling their homes, fearing the very worst from the only home they’ve ever had. In that game, the suits are strategic with their words and know that the small twinge of fear is enough to keep that population under control and on edge. It was the same for these and other minorities, with the wall and the ban and the fire and the fury- it’s a business tactic, by a businessman. Why are we surprised that the gambit used to plow over land to build a chintzy golf resort is also the strategy to shit upon the country’s most vulnerable demographic?
The taunting of Trump’s team against factions of race or religious differences is becoming routine. The fear that has began to boil up from people in these categories was not, in my opinion, Trump’s goal- it was an aftershock. His on-the-fly style of speech has made his individual and personal beliefs obvious, thus proving that anyone who doesn’t look or talk like his 1950’s ideal version of America, has got to go, or just be generally felt unwelcome. Any reports of Trump himself having difficulty with the decision to rescind DACA is a steaming pile of garbage. In handing the hot potato over to Congress to decide upon with a so-called generous time frame, he found a scapegoat to blame, like when Michael lets Dwight pick Dunder Mifflin’s healthcare plan- essentially, Pontious Piloting himself of the eventual results. Dick.
In addition, as each small group gets targeted, armed, entitled white assholes that feel comfortable under Trump’s umbrella, may feel the right to become vigilantes of the country’s conservative law. That is scary in and of itself. Need we say it? Do we really have to? Ahhhh, OK, just for the sake of making a point: Charlottesville... the proof in the pudding. No doubt, the whole shitball is getting a speedy roll downhill and it’s going to affect everyone in it’s rancid path and though it may be slow moving, it is wise to remember that Nazi-Germany wasn’t built in a day.
Imagining how it must feel for these people, who were given logical amnesty to then have it all grabbed away. They were granted not only relief, but social security numbers, scholarships to school, freedom to own a home or business and overall, have everything America is so boastful about embodying: opportunity. To have it announced that the investments toward education or property could be useless, that their own children will be kicked in the ribs just as hard, forcing them to watch their parents struggle, just like their parent’s parents, who thought America would lead to a progressively better life for their descendants. How startling it must be living in a place that feels like it doesn’t want you, and listening to the ignorance tossed around as to whether or not you should be allowed to stay.
Looking ahead, I feel it’s best to stay positive- the potential uprising against the hammering-down on innocent Dreamers is enough to mollify any fear- think about the chaos that would unhinge if the government tried to act on some of these threats- instead of announcing them from their safe little podium? The anemic clowns that make the highest decisions in Washington love to expel what their mighty power has “voted” -or, ahem, lobbied- as law. They can rant about how unconstitutional DACA is, come up with a shitty plan to deal with their appointed “problem” and activate bills that can make it very difficult for Dreamers- yes, they can indoctrinate whatever nonsense their Montgomery-Burns-finger-drumming collective deems as the best option but, there is a much larger crowd beyond the affected, who would combat these harsh changes. Thus my fear of destruction of the sanctuary America should be is nulled by remembering we have numbers and more progressive ideas coming from upcoming heirs to our laws. Along with that, it seems the government keeps busy enough trying to bandage potential danger from Hurricane @realdonaldtrump. .
Each time I begin a post, a new, savory news story comes up behind my current narration; much like a train, going too fast and slamming the box car in front of it, then shoving two or three subjects into one mangled mass accounting the frustrations of our current world. The loss of freedoms and lack of leadership in our government is frightening but most of all, vexatious. From picking petty fights with foreign dictators to demanding people be fired over silent protest and of course, to announcing that a very well constructed format made to protect a group in the jigsaw that didn’t have a fitting piece, will now be thrown out.
Can we just trade? Keep the dreamers and give up the President? We can make him a golden coated Trump resort in Cancun that we’ll tell him is Florida, he wouldn’t know the difference as long as brown people are making his bed. Then we supply him one of those squeaky toy gavels and let him loudly pound it when shouting his Executive orders and a cute little tropical pressroom where he can talk as long as he wants and fight with some decoy reporters…yes… this could work…..amazing how that plan is more sensible than ejecting guiltless numbers of young people.
The administration of fear by the most powerful people in the world, upon a small group who’ve lived through decades of struggles and uncertainty, can only be described in one word: cowardly
Fuck those fossilised corpses and their absurd agendas, along with their unintentionally comical attempt at intimidating menace… shame on the whole fucking system for allowing this drivel to go on. We need to stay alert, stay opinionated and protest, in any capacity, the profiling of innocent people. Considering the reality of the government’s attitude, remember that ants, though small in stature, can collectively bury the grasshoppers if their draconian conduct goes too far. Until then, lean into the people who have targets on their back and commit to the logic of humanity. The dreamcatcher is my vision of freedom from the crippled system and the many knuckle-dragging cretins expressing their opinions through screen names. I see it as the optic of what will clear a path toward peace. A balance of the web’s assurance to catch and trap the negative energy so that the positive is safe to pass through and emerge safely and freely as a doctor, a parent, a politician….a dreamer.