Tim Wise, you’ve nailed this in so many ways. For those of us who lived through the inhumanity of the American 80s outside the bubble of white, suburban, Christian somnolence, the idea of going back there is pretty horrifying.

My friends and chosen family were dying from a virus nobody cared to devote national resources to. Whiteness was usually a precondition of economic success. Men abused women with impunity.

We have to face this head on and understand that progress, no matter how slow and painful, is necessary if American is ever to be truly great — in the sense of offering happiness and fulfillment to even the least of us.

Boys wearing MAGA hats while protesting women’s rights is not a sign that we’re marching in a healthy direction.