Tag Archives: Donald Trump

FPP Interview: Max S. Gordon

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max harlemIn this 2021 FPP Interview with Max S. Gordon, Gordon shares how he believes “the spirit of Fannie Lou Hamer definitely lives on in the work of Stacey Abrams,” how difficult it is to sustain “relentless pain” in this country without wanting escape, about how his writing about Donald Trump has changed over four years, and so much more. Join us on Sunday, January 17th for “The Way Forward,” to hear Max S. Gordon read live, via Zoom, with writers Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Desiree C. Bailey, Roberto Carlos Garcia, Sara Lippmann, Gloria Nixon-John and Samantha So Lamb and Alex Torres who will be memorializing Anthony Veasna So. RSVP here.  – SPL

We have been so lucky that you’ve written an essay every year since 2016 for this post-election reading. I will never forget how in 2017 you told us about getting so angry and disgusted with Trump that you shouted at the TV: “The power of Fannie Lou Hamer compels you!” Looking at what Black women organizers and voters en masse achieved ever since, I think her power indeed compelled! How would you describe life over these past four years? What have you learned? Who gave you inspiration?

Thank you for remembering that essay, and for making that beautiful connection.  I believe the spirit of Fannie Lou Hamer definitely lives on in the work of Stacey Abrams.  I am inspired by Ms. Abrams because I thought when she lost the governorship, they had snatched her dream and smashed it.  But clearly she had more than one dream – and spirit had a plan for her.  Now I think the powers that be wished they had made her governor because look at the trouble she’s caused! Being governor, in some ways, seems a smaller destiny when compared to how she has changed American history forever.

I watched her take pain, disappointment, outrage, and inspiration and apply it to a greater vision, which she and others alchemized into the result that brought us a win for Joe Biden in the presidential election and two democratic senators – a Black man and a Jewish man, who will now serve under a vice-president who is a Black woman.  In short, I needed that lesson from Stacey: don’t give up.

That was very important for me after four years of Donald Trump; it’s hard to have your heart broken over and over again.  It wears you down after a while, the lack of consequences, the lack of collective outrage, the complicity, the constant assaults, you can give up hope.  It’s important to see someone who hasn’t given up hope, who puts that hope into action. 

You’ve written movingly about addiction, and what it’s like for those in recovery to cope with our political circumstances. What gives you hope?  What keeps you frightened?

I see it all connected, all part of the same story.  I have a visceral response to Donald Trump; my body recognizes him energetically, as a recovering addict and as a child who grew up with trauma.  I can listen to others talk about Donald Trump all day long in terms of politics, but because of his malevolence, I know the child part of me wants to hide under the covers when I hear him coming up the stairs.  I try as often as I can to listen to that part of myself, especially when I write.  That was the child, who became the teenager, who became the adult who used drugs and alcohol to numb his pain.

To be clear: Donald Trump isn’t responsible for my addictions, but he has definitely triggered them, and I know I’m not alone in this.  There are probably millions of us who find ourselves struggling again with eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, post-traumatic stress disorders.  I’ve talked to friends who have gone on medication for the first time in their lives.  There have been overdoses and suicides. This isn’t weakness; something has been very wrong for years now, and it’s hard to sustain that level of relentless pain and not want to escape.

What’s scary is that everything we are dealing with now was foretold.  We have a library of information now on Donald Trump, but all we needed to know could have fit on the paper inside a fortune cookie.  “Grab ‘em by the p—-y” foreshadowed exactly what happened at the Capitol on January 6.  Many of us who recognized his personality disorders early, because we’d seen them in our own families, had been waiting for his rhetoric to result in a larger act of violence.  And that’s distressing on so many levels.  But I’m glad that I have a recovery that tells me, “Yes, Donald Trump is an abusive asshole; and no, that doesn’t give you permission to have a drink today.”

How has your writing changed over the past years?

At some point, I’d like to compile all the writing I’ve done on Donald Trump.  What a fascinating arc it has been!  And to think that sometimes, when I was shopping on 5th avenue in New York many years ago, I’d go to the basement of Trump Tower and have lunch; they had the most delicious pasta there.  While I ate, I didn’t think much about Donald Trump himself, I saw him as a grandiose fool; I’d never even watched a single episode of “The Apprentice.” I just never got around to it.

My first writings were more sympathetic; in 2016 I wrote about his being bewildered that he won the election and feeling lonely in the White House. I assigned him self-reflection, maybe because part of me wanted to believe he had some. I’ll admit, I was exhilarated by his sass in the Republican primaries of 2015 – I loved him taking down other Republicans.  There was danger from the very beginning, his behavior was already repulsive, but who believed he could actually win?

The last piece I wrote about Donald Trump included a conversation about prayer, because by 2020 his relentless cruelty and sociopathology had brought me to my knees.  And I don’t usually write about spirituality so overtly – that was different for me.  The question I had to ask myself last week after the Capitol insurrection was: did Donald Trump change, or did we?  Did he surprise us?  Because upon reflection, I feel that he has been extraordinarily consistent.  This doesn’t absolve him of any of his crimes; and I think that, as he fades into history, he will become less interesting.  But I think the question we will ask ourselves is not whether he changed, but how we allowed him to change us.  What did he reveal in us?  There is no question that he was definitely eager to take away our power; but why were we, as a country, so willing to give it to him?  That’s a question to make you sit down and think.

Suzanne Russell and the Deep Black Hole

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Suzanne Russell is an attorney, artist, and activist who splits her time between New York City and Copenhagen. She shared a bit of what the past year has been like for her. Come out to Shrine on Tuesday, November 7th at when she joins Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Yarimar Bonilla, Keesha Gaskins-Nathan, Max S. Gordon, PJ Marshall, Matthew Olzmann, and Carla Shedd for One Year Later: Writers, Artists, & Advocates Respond to Our American Crisis.

IMG_2391This year has been psychologically challenging. I have never experienced depression before, but Trump’s election really made me fall into a deep black hole. I joined the YMCA and started exercising for the first time in my life. I am feeling better now, but I was in shock. I have lived in Denmark for 28 years and never wanted to become a Danish citizen. In December 2016, I took and passed my citizenship exam. In January 2017, I applied to become a Danish citizen. I have learned to stop obsessively checking the news. I wear a giant anti-Trump button wherever I go. I never approach other people, but those who need to talk about politics feel free to chat with me and I think that this is mutually beneficial. The other day, I spoke to a construction worker and toothless man in a deli on Canal Street. The toothless man said, “If you had told me in the 80s that Bruce Jenner was going to become a woman, Bill Cosby was going to be accused of rape, and Donald Trump was going to become the president of the U.S.A., I would have called you crazy.” I have hope in all the intelligent Americans who are doing whatever they can to stop Trump from destroying our environment and our humanity. I am saddened that Trump was elected, but I am hopeful for the future of the country I love.

One Year Later: Writers, Artists, & Advocates Respond to Our American Crisis

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One year ago, Donald J. Trump was declared winner of the 2016 US Presidential Election. We’ve been coping with crises – new, and continued – ever since. Join us on Tuesday, November 7th (7-9pm) at Shrine Harlem as acclaimed writers, artist, and advocates respond. Bring your responses, too – they’ll be room for audience participation. Featured participants: Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Yarimar Bonilla, Keesha Gaskins-Nathan, Max S. Gordon, PJ Marshall, Matthew Olzmann, Suzanne Russell, and Carla Shedd. Shrine is located at 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd between 133rd and 134th, near the 2/3 135th stop and the B/C 135th stop. Admission is free.

ibrahim headshot (1) (1)Ibrahim Abdul-Matin is an author, radio contributor, and environmental policy consultant. He has appeared on FOX News, Al-Jazeera, ABC News, and contributed to “The Takeaway.” As a writer, he’s appeared in The Washington Post, CNN.com, The Daily Beast, GOOD Magazine, ColorLines, Wiretap and Elan Magazine. His is the author of the book Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet and contributor to All-American: 45 American Men On Being Muslim. He is a former sustainability policy advisor to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and member of the founding team of the Brooklyn Academy for Science and the Environment. He currently serves as the Director of Community Affairs at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and on the board of the International Living Future Institute. Ibrahim earned a BA in History and Political Science from University of Rhode Island and a master’s in public administration from Baruch College, City University of New York.  

Yari B&WYarimar Bonilla is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Latino & Caribbean Studies at Rutgers University and currently a visiting scholar at the Russel Sage Foundation where she is completing a manuscript about Puerto Rico’s political, economic, and environmental crisis. She is the author of Non-Sovereign Futures: French Caribbean Politics in the Wake of Disenchantment and one of the founders of the website: Puerto Rico Syllabus: Essential Tools for Critical Thinking about the Puerto Rican Debt Crisis.

Screen Shot 2017-10-20 at 1.40.12 PMKeesha Gaskins-Nathan is the director for the Democratic Practice–United States program at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Ms. Gaskins-Nathan is a long-time organizer, lobbyist, and trial attorney. Prior to joining the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, she was senior counsel with the Brennan Center for Justice, serving as the director of the Redistricting and Representation program. Her portfolio included redistricting reform, voting rights, and elections, with a focus on voter suppression issues. Ms. Gaskins-Nathan is a frequent lecturer and writer on issues related to women and politics, movement building, and democratic reform. She is the author of a number of articles and publications related to voter suppression, voting rights, and redistricting. Ms. Gaskins-Nathan served as executive director for the League of Women Voters Minnesota, where she worked on a wide range of voting rights and civil rights issues. Prior to that, she was the executive director for the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus. She worked for a number of years as a trial attorney, most notably with the firm Bowman and Brooke, LLC. Ms. Gaskins-Nathan also served as a special assistant appellate public defender for the State of Minnesota. She is a frequent commentator on voting rights and redistricting reform and regularly appears on numerous news and public affairs programming, including past appearances on PBS’s NewsHour, MSNBC, and Bill Moyers.

IMG_0985Max S. Gordon is a writer and performer. He has been published in the anthologies Inside Separate Worlds: Life Stories of Young Blacks, Jews and Latinos (University of Michigan Press, 1991), and Go the Way Your Blood Beats: An Anthology of African-American Lesbian and Gay Fiction (Henry Holt, 1996).  His work has also appeared at The New Civil Rights Movement, openDemocracy, Democratic Underground and Truthout, in Z Magazine, Gay Times, Sapience, and other progressive on-line and print magazines in the U.S. and internationally.  His published essays include, “Bill Cosby, Himself: Fame, Narcissism and Sexual Violence”; “Be Glad That You Are Free: On Nina, Miles Ahead, Lemonade, Lauryn Hill and Prince”, “The Cult of Whiteness” and “Faggot as Footnote: On ‘I Am Not Your Negro’, ‘Can I Get A Witness’, and ‘Moonlight'”.

Olzmann AJB 1Matthew Olzmann is the author of two collections of poems, Mezzanines, which was
selected for the Kundiman Prize, and Contradictions in the Design, both from Alice James Books.  His writing has appeared in Best American Poetry, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Brevity, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day and elsewhere.  He’s received fellowships from Kundiman, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Kresge Arts Foundation. Currently, he is a lecturer at Dartmouth College and also teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

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PJ Marshall is an American actor known for his versatility, forceful onscreen presence, and athleticism. He began his career with guest roles on television, appearing on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Oz, and Law & Order: L.A. Marshall soon added movies to his resume, appearing in a variety of films, from Mississippi Grind, staring Ryan Reynolds, to Catch .44, starring Forest Whitaker, to Maggie, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Recent television credits include the plantation overseer Bill Meekes on WGN’s Underground, Detective Jack Colquitt on American Horror Story. His stage work includes Off-Broadway productions of Reservoir Dogs, Getting Out, Trailerville, Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind and Fool for Love, for which he received a Garland Award nomination. Prior to becoming an actor, Marshall was a professional dancer, martial artist, and competitive surfer. He studied acting at the Wynn Handman Studio.

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Suzanne Russell is an activist artist, writer, and lawyer living in Copenhagen and New  York. A big part of her social art practice for the past ten years has been providing free legal and social support to refugees, mostly unaccompanied teenagers in Europe. Since the election in 2016, Suzanne has been focusing on changing the political system in USA through a combination of artistic and practical actions. She is currently a graduate student at San Francisco Institute of Art and a volunteer lawyer for immigrants in the USA and Europe.

 

Screen Shot 2017-10-20 at 1.37.17 PMCarla Shedd is Associate Professor of Urban Education and Sociology at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Shedd received her Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University. Her research and teaching interests focus on: race/ethnicity; crime/criminal justice; law/inequality; urban education, and urban policy. Shedd’s book, Unequal City: Race, Schools, and Perceptions of Injustice (October 2015, Russell Sage), has won multiple academic awards including the prestigious C. Wright Mills Award given to the top book on social inequality each year. Unequal City deeply probes the intersections of race, place, education, and the expansion of the American carceral state using Chicago’s stratified education and residential landscape as its site of investigation. Shedd’s current research focuses on New York City’s juvenile justice system assessing how young people’s linked institutional experiences influence their placement on and movement along the carceral continuum.