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   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 14-Oct-2025 21:52:02 JST Paul Cantrell

   ❝Americans are democracy’s equivalent of second-generation wealth. They were born into democracy and have no appreciation of what life is like without it.❞

   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/14/wang-jian-china-journalist-reports-united-states-donald-trump-xi-jinping

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 14-Oct-2025 22:31:06 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     I would add that his comment is spot on but does not apply to the whole population, and we ought to be paying a lot more attention to the people here in the US who do know what life without democracy is like.

     Like for example: Jim Crow existed in full force within living memory, and a huge part of the current fascist pitch in the US is bringing it back.

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Oct-2025 00:51:02 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • Reginald Braithwaite

     @raganwald

     And folks who’ve been through that know what it’s like to fight it. Some of the answers we white folks are grasping for right now are just next door.

   • Embed this notice
     Reginald Braithwaite (raganwald@social.bau-ha.us)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Oct-2025 00:51:03 JST Reginald Braithwaite

     in reply to

     @inthehands I agree with you, people of colour know exactly what life is like when any police officer can stop you for any reason, and execute you if you are smoking a joint or shoplift a cigar. They know what life is like if you have to line up for 12+ hours to vote while being intimidated by armed whites and it being illegal to distribute water to those in line.

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     zenkat (zenkat@sfba.social)'s status on Wednesday, 15-Oct-2025 04:46:07 JST zenkat

     in reply to

     @inthehands Or immigrants who came here from authoritarian states, and know exactly where this is going. I have friends who grew up in Ceaușescu's Romania. They've been terrified since 2020.