Yes, we write omegaverse MM romance, but also draw heavily on history. Therefore, we can’t be entirely apolitical, nor would we want to be.
There are also current events that are, shall we say, drawing on the history we write about. So while we don’t anticipate frequently posting about current events here, we wanted to say something.
Despite many invoking the Boston Massacre, it’s not actually the best comparison historically speaking to the events of today (though, the misinformation around it makes it understandable why people turn to this narrative). We’ll discuss the various narratives around the Boston Massacre versus the actual facts closer to the release of Stubborn Things, but for now: a far better comparison the current administration’s reign of terror in Minneapolis is actually the Kent State Massacre of 1970, but people are more drawn towards having an “foreigner” they can hate as opposed to taking their fellow countrymen to task (indeed, the Kent State Massacre isn’t officially called a “massacre” even though the facts show that it clearly was precisely that).
There is one thing the Boston Massacre and Kent State have in common though–they weren’t the first nor the only incidents of people dying. Chris Seider was killed only a few weeks before the Boston Massacre, and students had been shot and killed in protests at other universities (including those fighting for Civil Rights in the Orangeburg Massacre of 1968) prior to Kent State and mere days after (at Jackson State, a historically Black school, in Mississippi). Violence tends to escalate before erupting. And the goal is pretty clear, as future-disgraced-president Richard Nixon said in the aftermath:
“They can talk all they want about the radicals. You know what stops them? Kill a few. Remember Kent State?”
It’s also worth noting that the soldiers at the Boston Massacre were arrested within hours, tried with a defense attorney who was an ardent supporter of American independence, and then mostly acquitted. (Again, if you look at the actual facts of the event, this seems less like an injustice than hanging those men would have been; as John Adams said, “facts are stubborn things,” and the facts do indicate the soldiers were reasonably at risk.)
The Kent State shooters were also charged, but had to have those dismissed on a technicality (and even when doing so, the judge who wrote the decision condemned their actions; still, we’d call that a lack of justice).
At Orangeburg State, the shooters were also arrested and charged, but then acquitted (likely for racist reasons); however, after the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act passed, the cases were reopened in 2010. Charges aren’t going to happen because of double jeopardy, but it’s at least an acknowledgment that this was unjust.
Jackson State didn’t have any arrests, but in addition to genuine complicating factors, there’s also some pretty blatant racism involved in that decision, and today most consider this a stark denial of justice.
The point is, justice or injustice at the end, at the very least, Jonathan Ross and the eight agents who attacked Alex Pretti need to have a day in court. We should want to get better at justice, not worse. And with those videos, honestly, it’s hard to understand how Ross and the others wouldn’t be convicted by a jury of unbiased adults.
Stay safe, if you live in the US, but do resist fascism however you can, even if it doesn’t feel like you have any power. Show love and compassion to your neighbor–that’s resistance, too.
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