In yesterday’s post on Amy Sherald’s “As American as Apple Pie" (HERE), I shared examples of blatant Trump and maggot racism – including info related to the National Park Service removal of Black history markers near the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia because of Trump’s order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Another very recent example of Trump administration bigotry surfaced a few days ago in this story from the New York Times:
 | “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals, a highly unusual move that has prompted some senior military officials to question whether the officers are being singled out because of their race or gender. Two of the officers targeted by Mr. Hegseth are Black and two are women on a promotion list that consists of about three dozen officers, most of whom are white men, senior military officials said.” |
The stories just keep on coming and coming and coming. Still, Trump always describes himself as the "least racist person in the world" and his followers – well, they just bleat like fluffy white sheep – baa baa baa. Have the sheep been fleeced? Or are they fully aware – and they just buy into and celebrate their shepherd’s ways of dismantling, dishonoring, and discrediting Black history?
Baa, baa, white sheep
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, two terms full.
One for the present
And what is coming next,
And one for our country’s past
To whitewash all the text.
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, two terms full.
One for the present
And what is coming next,
And one for our country’s past
To whitewash all the text.
I suppose I could veer off in many directions, but let me exit here on an off-ramp to ART:
Seeing one’s identity reflected in history, literature, and art fosters self-worth, validation, and a sense of belonging – particularly for marginalized and oppressed communities. It validates lived experiences, builds community connections, and preserves cultural heritage for future generations. Recognizing oneself in these spaces reduces isolation and reinforces, "I am here, and I exist.”
In exploring this topic, I found lot of info related to artists who, through their work, challenge historical narratives and bring overlooked, marginalized identities into spaces of power and recognition. One article if found, HERE, discussed Frida Kahlo and Kehinde Wiley – and, of course, I’ve highlighted a couple of paintings by Sherald where she challenges the narrative of our country’s story by tweaking iconic images from history.
Seeing one’s identity reflected in history, literature, and art fosters self-worth, validation, and a sense of belonging – particularly for marginalized and oppressed communities. It validates lived experiences, builds community connections, and preserves cultural heritage for future generations. Recognizing oneself in these spaces reduces isolation and reinforces, "I am here, and I exist.”
In exploring this topic, I found lot of info related to artists who, through their work, challenge historical narratives and bring overlooked, marginalized identities into spaces of power and recognition. One article if found, HERE, discussed Frida Kahlo and Kehinde Wiley – and, of course, I’ve highlighted a couple of paintings by Sherald where she challenges the narrative of our country’s story by tweaking iconic images from history.
 | “Trans Forming Liberty”: “’Trans Forming Liberty’ challenges who we allow to embody our national symbols – and who we erase,” said Sherald in an article form "The New Yorker."
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Another such painting is “If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it”: The painting is a re-imagination of an iconic American photograph called “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper,” a 1932 photo attributed to Charles Clyde Ebbets of ironworkers having lunch “midair.”
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In this case, the iconic scene is reimagined with a single figure. In a description of the painting, HERE, Sherald reports, “He’s sitting pensively with his hand relaxed near his knee, ready to engage you.”
What would you ask him? What would he say?
For me, the solitary Black figure called to mind a work by Langston Hughes entitled “I, Too”:
What would you ask him? What would he say?
For me, the solitary Black figure called to mind a work by Langston Hughes entitled “I, Too”:
 | About the exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Sherald said, “American Sublime is a salve. It’s a call to remember our shared humanity and an insistence on being seen”; specifically about “Trans Forming Liberty,” she added, “It demands a fuller vision of freedom, one that includes the dignity of all bodies, all identities. Liberty isn’t fixed. She transforms, and so must we. This portrait is a confrontation with that truth.” But that truth is difficult for maggots to face. They beseech Trump to pull the white wool over their eyes. I’ve heard of “Mad Cow Disease,” but we seem to be witnessing a break out of “Mad Sheep Disease,” with our government actively pursuing coordinated strategies to whitewash Black history by censoring museum exhibits and public land narratives and by creating initiatives to promote "patriotic (i.e., white-based) education" that downplays the role of racism in US history. |
Additionally, there are daily attacks on the transgender and broader LGBTQ+ communities. On his first day, Trump signed an order defining sex as a binary "male" or "female" at birth, and with one stroke of a pen he attempted to stamp transgender and nonbinary individuals out of existence. There are now healthcare restrictions, a military ban, passport markers, restrictive education policies, and censorship (for example, federal agencies have been ordered to remove the terms "gender" and "transgender" from websites and have scrubbed data related to HIV research and LGBTQ+ youth health). This past March, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes blocked the Trump administration's ban on transgender people serving in the military, describing the policy as "soaked in animus.” Later, the Supreme Court allowed aspects of the ban to proceed.
This evil and hatred is deeply rooted in these loathsome beings, and I wonder where and how this will all proceed? I mean, what happens over time when the “don’t tread on me” crowd fully embraces Fascist beliefs, radical Christian nationalism and unbridled bigotry and treads all over the rest of us?
Hmm…that calls to mind another poem by Langston Hughes:
This evil and hatred is deeply rooted in these loathsome beings, and I wonder where and how this will all proceed? I mean, what happens over time when the “don’t tread on me” crowd fully embraces Fascist beliefs, radical Christian nationalism and unbridled bigotry and treads all over the rest of us?
Hmm…that calls to mind another poem by Langston Hughes:
 | Have you ever wondered why Hughes named this poem “Harlem”? The poem was originally titled “A Dream Deferred,” but Hughes changed it to “Harlem,” the historically Black neighborhood in New York City – and the epicenter during the Harlem Renaissance of Black dreams and culture. The title “Harlem” highlights also the frustration of post-WWII black residents facing racial injustice, mirroring the stagnation of "deferred" hopes. Following the 1920s "Renaissance," a time of immense cultural hope, the 1950s brought increased economic stagnation, racism, and housing issues for many black residents in that area and around the country. The poem warns that if dreams are continually delayed through social inequities, the growing frustration in places like Harlem – and elsewhere – could lead to social upheaval. |
Let me repeat something here that I shared yesterday, a post I saw on Threads:
“MAGA isn’t drawn to Trump because he’s smart or competent. They’re drawn to him because he tells uneducated, insecure, angry people that their stupidity and ignorance is actually strength. He gives them a script where nothing is ever their fault. Blame immigrants. Blame ‘elites.’ Blame Democrats, blame anyone except the person in the mirror. He turns racism and sexism into a political identity. He makes being uninformed feel heroic. And MAGA eats it up because it saves them from having to grow, learn, or change. They don’t want leadership. They want validation for being ignorant. And Trump gives it to them every single day.”
“MAGA isn’t drawn to Trump because he’s smart or competent. They’re drawn to him because he tells uneducated, insecure, angry people that their stupidity and ignorance is actually strength. He gives them a script where nothing is ever their fault. Blame immigrants. Blame ‘elites.’ Blame Democrats, blame anyone except the person in the mirror. He turns racism and sexism into a political identity. He makes being uninformed feel heroic. And MAGA eats it up because it saves them from having to grow, learn, or change. They don’t want leadership. They want validation for being ignorant. And Trump gives it to them every single day.”
These people want to erect monuments to him. HE wants to erect monuments to him. He's planning for a gold statue of him to tower above a hole at a golf course. Can you imagine -- a monument of gold dedicated to the man who has fueled the national debt and who has bankrupted our country (from "Fortune" magazine on March 21, 2026: "The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it").
I wrote a poem about him based on one by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mine is below on the left. Shelley's original is on the right.
I wrote a poem about him based on one by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mine is below on the left. Shelley's original is on the right.
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Now look how far down the page I am, and I have yet to make a connection to Emily Dickinson. I searched the Dickinson archive for any use of the word "monument," but no -- she never used the word "monument" in any of her poems. In the third series of the initial posthumous volumes of her poems, editor Mabel Loomis Todd provided a title "The Monument" to a poem about a gravestone, "She laid her docile Crescent down."
Next, I checked for the word "history," and I found this:
Next, I checked for the word "history," and I found this:
 | While the poem does not specifically address themes found herein -- the whitewashing of American history, the inclusion of all communities in our nation's narrative, expanding (or diminishing) the underpinnings for individual's dreams -- I rather liked the third line, "Yesterday is Poetry." I wonder how, in today's political climate, we are bracing the necessary supports for people's dreams. When time flutters away -- as it always does -- will the youth and dreamers of today look back and be able to say, "Yesterday is Poetry"? |
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