It was the grown-ups’ turn for presents. Tradition was to do a swap-or-steal gift exchange. I watched as my brother-in-law, a usually mild-mannered man, picked a gift and then shook it at the camera in our direction, a taunting glint in his eye. I looked closer. Whoever had wrapped it had meticulously taped a $2020 bill to the top, with Donald Trump’s smug face glowering on it. I grimaced. I didn’t look at the then-president’s face or listen to his voice if I could help it anymore.
My sister-in-law was next. She unwrapped her gift and held it up for all of us to see. It was a red football jersey with “Kaepernick” printed in big white letters across the back. The three of us on our side of the screen reacted with excitement before realizing that what we thought were cheers from the rest of the family were, in fact, jeers. They laughed with derision as they passed the jersey around and heckled the Black football player who had dared to peacefully protest police brutality and racism. Only one of my in-laws claimed the jersey and wore it with pride. Something sunk inside of me…
Black and Unarmed and Killed by the Police…an incomplete list…This is America….
Houston Police chief to Trump: Please, keep your mouth shut if you can’t be constructive
Donald Trump and American carnage // Will Urban Uprisings Help Trump?
May 1968 – June 1989. It’s been five decades since 1968, and things are somehow worse
Mukul Kesavan – Donald Trump and the global equalization of awfulness
Karl Marx: Letter to Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America; 1865
Simi Mehta – Martin Luther King: Changing The World With Love
After the truth-shower 