"I Have a Dream"

April 4th.
The only way I would feel right about not acknowledging this day is if it flew by without my realizing it. Since we can only encounter or process so much information at once, for many years it has.

"We know the Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago. . . ."

Fifty years ago today, we lost Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to assassination.

This being a Snape-centric and potioncraft blog, I try to steer clear of excessive politics. Yet from the beginning, Severus himself was deeply immersed in politics. Dissatisfied with his lot, and the way his world was being run, this poor, greasy-haired yet brilliant son of a working-class British "redneck" joined the wizard version of the Hitler Youth while in school. Then, when later he saw the depth of evil to which he'd subscribed, he risked and finally gave everything to bring that same movement down.

So, too, did the Potterverse become increasingly political in its discourse and implications. From the start, Harry and his friends faced a deepening divide of sentiments in their world --- one not caused by racism or sexism, but "magism": The idea that if you're magical, you're a superior human being who can and should exploit and abuse other beings --- human and otherwise --- who are not.

After millions of the American equivalent of Tobias Snape voted in a "leader" who is as racist and abusive as he is ineffectual and useless (in my humble opine) in the hope he would bring change for the better, a lot of people I know felt so depressed, they had trouble getting out of bed. The past week, two hundred political science experts rated the "orange lord" as the worst president in US history, to which I agree. Yet Mr. Trump is no Voldemort; he's more a festering blend of Dolores Umbridge, Cornelius Fudge and Pius Thicknesse all together, a puppet leader enabling the much darker forces behind him to operate, and whose grandiose display of ego disguises a lot of their most heinous deeds.

That's the bad news. The good news is, the situations triggered by this latest administration are so blatant, so shockingly racist, classist and against human (and planetary) health and life, that more people are involved politically than ever before in history (numbers-wise, if not percentage-wise). Especially among the young, those my generation and younger: Zennials like me, Millennials, and Sept. 11thers. The Women's March took the world by storm, people of all genders brandishing the title "pussy" as proudly as Medusa's breast; indeed, brandishing their very gender itself, which, like my transvestite Snape, might be unique and curious and confusing and delightfully outside-the-box --- and terrifying to narrow, black-and-white, Christian patriarchal minds. Now, survivors of the Parkland tragedy --- this nation's umpteenth school shooting --- are standing firm, speaking out against corporations and politicians and weapon-makers, getting laws changed, and saying: No more. No more growing fat on the deaths of your own people, your own children, you complete scum. Death Eaters, indeed!

That's the good news. The attitudes that gave rise to Trump are exposed, unable to hide their Death Eater masks under glitter any longer. One could say the American cultural shadow of fear, hatred, bigotry, and sexually and emotionally repressed Colonial puritanism is the Voldemort at work, here, and now that the mask is off, we are closer to defeating it this time around than ever before. This time around, mind. Obviously, we as humans learn very slowly. We're still arguing about stupid shit like skin color, still cranking out garbage, and still breeding excessively. Constant vigilance is needed in the hope that one day, we'll finally get it. Or at least, the challenge will be within our ability to handle it.

". . . .it will merely take someone better equipped . . . and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power."

"If I could just rest. . . ."
"The Dark Lord isn't resting!"

With so much going wrong, it would be easy to become despondent, and many do. But for the reasons above, there's also great reasons to be hopeful. One who believes the latter is Bernice, daughter of Dr. MLK Jr. himself. More than ever, she insists, today we have the people-power and the spirit to continue Dr. King's noble work. (Sorry, Riddle, but it's in your face for that last phrase.)

People my age and younger, who have even been referred to as the Harry Potter generation, have in many cases been influenced by the series with regard to life, politics, and more. First, a general disgust with, and disassociation from, the government. Then, when it becomes clear that things will not improve unless we step in, that mere apathy and distancing will not solve our problems as greedy older generations continue to blindly ruin things for their progeny, a strong desire to take action.

Dr. King laid the foundation, and now, thanks to means he could scarcely envision such as social media and other types of organizing, we are better prepared than ever to carry on. Still, let us not forget the power of a single Baptist preacher with a big voice, a bigger heart, and greatest of all, a dream capable of leading us forward.

From The Guardian:

“Something big is going on,” [Bernice] King says. “I’m talking about a society that refuses to allow injustice just to persist without making our voices heard and without organizing to bring about effective change through our voting system.”

She was particularly struck at the march, which she attended in Washington, to see young people assiduously registering other young people to vote. In her analysis, that is the first indication that the apathy that has set in among young Americans – youth turnout in the 2014 midterm elections was the lowest in 40 years – may be about to change.

“The best way to sum it up is what my mother said, which is that struggle is a never-ending process, freedom is never really won – you earn it and win it in every generation. In my personal opinion this most recent generation has been in danger of not making their contribution to the freedom struggle.

“Now there is an opportunity for them to make their contribution to the freedom struggle, to tackle what Daddy called the triple evils of poverty, racism and militarism. It’s coming back again, with strength and fervor.”

There’s no holding King back now. There is inherited fire in her belly that is very much alight.

“This nation is awoke, there is a new, different kind of vigilance that we haven’t seen in the past 25 years,” she says. “In the end I still have the same hope as my father – that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the last word.”

In the words of witches: So Mote It Be, Ms. King. So Mote It Be.

On that note, this I'll pledge:
If you're a Native American, I can brew you a medicine from native plants . . . or, for that matter, whatever you'd prefer instead.
If you're Latin, I can blend you an Agua Fresca . . . or, whatever you'd prefer.
If you're Muslim, I can brew you a spice tea . . . or, whatever you'd prefer.
If you're of color, I can fix you a strong coffee or a watermelon tonic or a Keep Away powder or . . . whatever you'd prefer.

Potions are global, and if I am to serve my generation and all other beings honourably then so, too, must be I a person whose heart is open to any blend of humanity. I don't like the idea, mind, that this is a comfortable little self-righteous post and now my task is done; far from it. There is a lot to be done, to improve this nation and its racist-shadowed perspective, to where it's hard for me to know where to begin. But I would feel worse if I did absolutely nothing, and made no recognition at all, of how I feel or the direction I hope to help us move as a culture and species. For now, that is all I can say.