Politics Corner January 16th

Via Visit Milwaukee 

Politics Corner is in Johannesburg. We're not here for the crisis tourism but maybe we should be. Tomorrow we go to Botswana and then we're off to Zimbabwe and Zambia and then back to Cape Town.

Even though he died around the time that I was born, Martin Luther King, Jr. has always been a part of my life. An often distorted part of my life because I don't think I've ever still heard a true story. He was bigger than life and everyone wanted a piece of him or to cut off a piece of him. I haven't gotten far into Johannesburg - I plan to explore more when I have more time in Cape Town. I'm anticipating/dreading visiting the island prison where Nelson Mandela and so many others suffered for so long.

In the meantime, I've got touristy plans to stay a safe distance from hippos on the Zambezi River and hopes for water at Victoria Falls. I'm wondering what's ahead in Mozambique and Madagascar where things seem more unstable than here. There were riots today in Johannesburg but I'm safely ensconced in a secure hotel literally across the street from an international airport that can get me anywhere in the world.

Mike already played the obligatory (and perfect) "Happy Birthday" from Stevie Wonder to start our day. Most years, I end the day with the speech that everyone knows. Fuck it. I'll do that too.

But to me the thing that always sticks out is not even the basic inhumanity and bigotry that should be so obvious. I'm a gay man with a brown (more or less) husband so I know all about that and we can bring in some women's voices and people that are something other than Christian. But you know what? Our world is bigger than the haters. And all you straight guys with a conscious? We love you too.

And all you "conservative" fascists who are trying to steal Martin Luther King, Jr.'s name for your movement? Well you already know that you're going to hell.

Political discussion welcome