America is a strange bird. Like a syncopated dope fiend, the country's been teetering on the verge of a societal tsunami for decades now; nodding & dipping, perking up, shuffling left to right and dropping low, but never falling down. With the national report card showing continued failing grades in ethics and humanity, as well as declining marks in traditionally strong areas such as getting this money and making shit, the COVID-19 pandemic might be the final burden that tears apart the nations societal fabric, so if things fall apart (no Chinua) and goes to hell, it will be because of Donald Trump.

America had already become ridiculously partisan during the Clinton and Bush administrations; then a Black guy got elected president TWICE, and White folks wigged out! Their anger was so visceral, that on election day, they took a deep look into their devoutly Christian hearts…and decided to vote for a lying, cheating, bigoted-narcissist, who never pays taxes, bangs porn-stars as his wife is pregnant, while extolling hate and intolerance. That's like a Hip-Hop purist voting for one of those Lil-Yung-Baby rappers as G.O.A.T.!

He was the clear favorite of the folks that turned the flag and 2nd amendment into racist accoutrements, as they decided that their hate for Blacks, immigrants and perceived white liberals, was greater than their oft declared love for god. That's legit hate. That's O.G. hate. That hate is running really deep in this country, with not a single shred of love lost between either side. Did I hear you ask what exactly are the sides? Well my little self-isolaters, the exact makeup of the teams can get hazy, as there are teams within the teams.

The stain of America's original sin and the perpetual frontin' on those reparations left us with no choice but to make it Black vs Everybody. But it's also an uneasy and awkward teaming between Black people and White liberals that has traditionally yielded lots of patronizing, government programs and MLK Boulevards. This makes for an uneven alliance, where at some points it's the "enemy of my enemy" line of thinking and at other points it's more of a real coalition.

On the Republican/Conservative side Obama is still the boogey man, the preferred immigration isn't dark, black people=handouts + crime and non-white is non-cipher; and any White person that doesn't mirror that mindset is considered opp. Although the sides can be drawn up around ideology, philosophy, economy and geography, the real separation is in the heart.

Man never needs much prodding to pull out any of his isms, so with a historically devastating pandemic running roughshod over the country, we're sporting our racism, geographism, ageism and sexism like a fresh pair of British (80's reference). COVID-19 presents the specter of actual death AND economic death, so it's not a surprise that we're getting those isms worked up into a lather. In fact, this is the part of the movie where the monster changes from the beast scratching at the door to the beast that lurks inside. ...

... to read the rest of this story and others by Richard Burroughs, visit his blog, "Uncontrollable Urges," here.