The Fire Is Here: White Men, Power, and the Illusion of Accountability

This morning, I saw a picture of one of the leaders I had in Kansas City. In my TikTok videos, I once said he was a great leader of mine. But something about seeing him smiling, bragging about the Gulf of America—while Gaza is burning, and mothers hold decapated babies, while the world is unraveling and poor people are in danger of losing healthcare —sent a shiver down my spine.

Because I now question wether he’s a safe leader. Not because he was resting and enjoying time with friends but because he thought it would either be funny or believed it was right to call it the Gulf of America. And that means he can’t tell the truth about reality.

A response from another person in the picture noted-this is “just the way it is” and “I have to call it that”. That shiver. That response and the picture that goes with it unsettled me this morning and it turned into this Substack post.