LICENSE TO KILL: a reflection on the arpaio pardon

so the rogue in power has pardoned joe arpaio—simultaneously predictable and horrifying, this moment reminds us of the lives at stake as our polity moves through this maelstrom…a license to run rough-shod over civil liberties and basic human decency has just been issued…it is literally a license to kill for the lunatic fringe of vigilantes roaming our southern border…over the week to come it looks likely that a number of the gains made by the movement for migrant rights during the obama years may be rolled back…we must gird ourselves for the battles to come—seeking to unite the divergent strands of resistance to this toxic proto-fascist agenda—aspiring to develop the most tactically and strategically advanced models of organizing we can conjure…the far right has been exposed and repudiated by the vicious violence displayed in charlottesville…but this insipid pardon is a reminder of how much toxicity our movements have to overcome…this is not a rhyming poem because these are not rhyming times—let us build the power to transform this system—let us build power to transform our lives

–BYPO PHOENIX c)2017

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