Baby Boomers for Taking a Knee
just got off the phone with my 4'9, 70 year oldgrandmother. She's a fiery, opinionated little matriarch who will put you in your place faster than you can say 'zucchini banana bread.' I've been one of her grandchildren for the last ten years and we have a lot in common. We both have 'take no shit' attitudes and are very outspoken with our opinions and really don't care if we piss off our families with said opinions.
She called me to get some things off her chest after hearing about the conversation that inspired my first blog post about freedom of speech and the #takeaknee protests.
The call lasted 11 minutes and I didn't get many words in because Grandma had so much inspirational gold to say to me.
Remember she is 70. Born in the 40s. This is around the same time as Pearl Harbor, World War 2, and other crazy historical American shit.
When I think of boomers I often think of little old republican house wives knitting blankets for their grandchildren, shit talking 'kids these days' and generally just doing grandma-y things.
My grandma is queen rearranger of houses, queen of the witty one liner that'll shut you up in seconds, absolute slayer of Christmas baking, and OPINIONATED DEMOCRAT.
First thing out of her mouth at the beginning of this wonderful phone conversation was:
'It really pisses me off that this SOB has no respect for women. He gets mad about disrespecting the flag but not about disrespecting women. He should apologize to that player's (Kaepernik's) mother. We live in a country where we have freedom of speech and just because they're on their knees does NOT mean they're disrespecting that flag!'
Lets back up for a second. This woman was a military kid. Her father was a veteran. I've seen his perfectly folded flag in a beautiful wooden shadow box. 2/3 of her children are veterans. Keep that in mind while reading her opinions.
'I have no use for Trump.'
'Trump is an embarrassment to this country.'
'They're protesting police brutality, I'd do it too.'
'I don't even acknowledge him as my president.'
'He may be your's but he's not mine.'
'Grandma is really worked up and is ready to go to DC and kick Trump in the knee because that's as high as she could reach.'
'Trump's got to keep things stirred up.'
This woman just exploded some real talk, everyone. She even told me to bring up grandpa, who is sadly passed.
She said grandpa would agree with her and would slap the shit out of anyone who insulted a woman, by calling her boy a 'son of a bitch.'
My grandma, everyone.
I am proud of her. I'm proud she exists and that I get to hang out with her. The boomer generation often gets a bad reputation for not understanding a lot of current issues or having 'old school' opinions surrounding life, politics, and the world. Like the millennials, whom a lot of boomers talk shit about, not all of them are bad. Not all of them are blindly racist. Not all of them are detached from the current world. It's so reassuring to hear older generations express their distaste for Trump and the bullshit trash heaps that slop behind him and his ilk. Hearing grandma say all of this was fucking poetic. We may think we know it all, we are the future, however, old folks know a thing or two especially when it comes to social injustice, calling bullshit, and living life. Sometimes we should actually listen to them, they have really rad shit to say.
She said that if she had a Facebook, she would post all these things herself and she doesn't care who knows it! What's the last thing she said to me, in response to me being an outspoken, ready to fight on the internet (or in person), social justice warrior against Trump?
'YOU GO GIRL'.
cheers
-Chels.