Episode 15. Divide the People, Control the Country

MIKE DONOVAN: The America that we are living in right now is not a free America. You know, I had hoped as an American, as a kid growing up, that somehow America would be immune from this. That when tyranny found its way to our shores that we would fight it back.

Hello folks. Welcome to another episode if Not Free America… radio episode 15 in our podcast series. I'm so excited to say that we've had over 12,000 downloads in the first 15 days of the podcast… 12,000 downloads. Thank you all so very, very much for engaging in this incredibly important topic. But let's have at it. We've got a short period of time each day and a lot of news to cover. First and foremost, as we have said as I have said here, Mike Donovan here, your host…

I fund, among other things, a law firm that helps sue governments and agencies and companies in some instances… that that harm the civil liberties of Americans like you and me. And if you are harmed, you should call us. We can help. Toll free number to call area code (855) 925-2833. If you need legal help, we love to to get on the front lines of fighting racism, homophobia, you know, the types of inter-governmental biases that particularly trouble communities of color and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.

Anyway, that's one of the things I want to talk about tonight as it relates to the COVID disaster… communities of color in America. And what does it mean? How do you find your voice in this epically frightening time? I want to talk about that. But first, shocking news, except maybe it's not so shocking…

You know, we hear about this flattened curve all the time. We were promised a flattened curve and the idea was that we would all stay home. We would stay under our beds. We would follow the orders of the Kings and Queens that are running our state governments… under threat of police force or violence. We would lock ourselves in our homes and that's what we've largely done.

And so we have seen, and the president said it today, look, many, many less people dead because we did what we did. Okay. The problem is if you look at the curve in Italy or Spain or the UK, that curve doesn't go down nearly as fast as it went up. And in many instances in Europe now, we're seeing that curve, like that apex, almost looked like a plateau, like a mountain. When are we coming back down the other side?

I think the biggest issue here has just been misinformation, partly, largely because the information hasn't been available and synthesized. But the reality is we have a huge government with a lot of money that it is spending right now. It could be spending that money on pragmatic things to bring testing to the fore so we can get America back to work. What it's doing now instead is issuing -- at the gubernatorial level -- and almost all of the states in this country--incredibly extreme lockdown order is that to take away the rights of the American people.

And those situations particularly affect communities of color. And we had protests today in Richmond, Virginia. Protestors protesting Governor Northam stay at home order in Richmond, Virginia gathered. Now, these protesters were largely white men and women, but mostly men. Many of them were, I would guess, from the militia movement. Yeah. Because they had like huge guns. I'm just assuming that's why -- like these big AR-15 and stuff like that. And they came out and they protested the stay at home order. You know, what's really, really shocking to me is we've talked about these protests all over the country and you know who's protesting guys? Do you know who stepped up to protest? These militia groups… these freedom fighting groups.

Maybe that's not too surprising. In other words, I would expect that those groups who have a sensitivity to government control and a distrust of government would probably be the first ones to think these stay at home orders were something more than an effort to protect all of us. Well, I agree. I think that's true too. It may have started that way, but now it's power… and absolute power corrupts. Absolutely. And you've got governors who are now Kings and Queens. This is insane. The power that they're taking and the power that they're using, they're never going to give back.

So we have protests across the United States… protests in Virginia… protests in Michigan… protest in North Carolina, and Utah, Ohio as well. And in the next day or two, we have big protests coming in, Oregon, Idaho, and Texas. Now what I notice about these protests -- I'm not seeing a lot of socioeconomically disadvantaged people of color, normal Virginia, out there.

We're all still hiding. Okay, that's fine. That's good. You know what? You should stay in your home. You should be socially distancing because it is what's keeping us safe. And it is, but you shouldn't do it because Governor Northam is threatening to throw you in jail if you leave your home. And see, this is where the principal breaks down and I've had friends, friends of mine, that are civil rights activists… I will tell you -- that are wonderful people -- that have said to me, “We have to stay safe.”

Well, we do have to stay safe, but staying safe is something more than just staying healthy. Staying safe is being ready to answer the next challenge that comes. And the challenge that's coming after this is immeasurable right now -- a great depression. Even if the economy kicks back faster, we've lost 22 million jobs in three weeks… 22 million jobs in three weeks.

Folks, that's never been done before. All the talking heads who sit around and all the individuals in government that sit around and say, “Look, the economy is going to come back. We're going to be fine.”

No one knows that because this has never happened before. And I'm going to tell you if you believe that, if you really believe that, you're more gullible than I thought. Guys, come on now. Again, we don't have a large body public in the United States that has caught on yet to the fact that the reaction to the disease is just as bad as the disease and may in fact be worse because of how long we may live under the tyranny of the fascism that results from this crisis.

I had a message from John in -- it looks like Salt Lake City. John says, “Hey, you got it all wrong, buddy. You know what they're really trying to do? They're just trying to control the population and the virus is fake.” Well, John, I don't think that's true. I do think that the reaction to this is an attempt to control, but I don't think that the virus is fake. In fact, I think we all know that it's not. What we know and we've seen through human history is that fascists -- and I don't mean just fascist and people, but sometimes it's fascist and systems… or in bureaucracies.

But fascist find their way. They find their moment, and they find their voice. Fascism has found its voice in 2020 in this world and fascism has found its voice in America in 2020. And it is up to us each and every one of us to fight it back to get back what we once had -- what we had month ago, at least what we thought we had a month ago.

Now we've lost a lot and we didn't realize it. But let this be a wakeup call. But you know, the biggest concern and what I said at the beginning of this podcast and the point that I really want to drive home -- where are the socioeconomically disadvantaged communities? Where are the communities of color that are being disproportionately impacted in every single way? …Access to health care, worse off… access to transportation to get help, worse off… access to jobs that keep you employed during the pandemic, worse off… access to quality health insurance, worse off…

The risk of being jailed and having their lives completely torn apart because they spent a couple days in jail because they violated an executive order? Way worse. The communities that are most impacted by the fascism we see arriving today are the communities that seem to be asking for it. Isn't that a sick twist on human history? Partly because it's not a twist at all.

You know, I had hoped as an American, as a kid growing up, that somehow America would be immune from this… that when tyranny found its way to our shores, that we would fight it back. And I always imagined that that would come with air power, perhaps a major superpower that developed, but it's coming from inside of us and we're letting it happen.

Don't criticize the people that are standing up and speaking out. If you're not willing to stand up for your own rights, you don't have to like them. You don't have to agree with them on anything. You don't even have to like the fact that they're out there, but they have a constitutional right to be out there. And if you don't think they do, this country isn't the place for you. It's just not.

Folks, thank you so much for joining me tonight. Join us tomorrow when we talk about Nevada's response to the CV-19 virus and news that professional gamblers in Nevada who are unable to go to the casinos now can collect unemployment. That's right, folks. That's the kind of world we live in right now, going crazy, crazier by the day.

Thank you so much for joining me tonight. Really appreciate it. Please feel free to give us a call if you have any concerns about civil rights issues, particularly civil rights issues impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. Thank you all so much for joining us on Not Free America radio. Have a wonderful day.