CSI: American Carnage (Saturday, June 20, 2020)
WASHINGTON – In the early pre-dawn hours, Nixon looks down at Donald and says, The main thing is, you’ve got to have a plan. You have a plan, then you’ve got them where you want them and no bums or kooks are going to push you around. Donald sniffs. Nixon twirls the ice cubes in his scotch. Donald stares at the portrait and shakes his head. I’m gonna leave in a little while. My people are calling for me. Nixon says, They’ll turn on you, they always do, because, and this is what I learned, they hate you, they hate you because you’ve got what they all want and there’s no way they can get it because it’s yours, and you are not gonna give it up. Oh, sure, you can say, I gave it up, but I gave a shit. You don’t give a shit, so no way are you going to give it up. Donald says, We are going to Tulsa. The Guard is ready. I’ve got the law enforcement, state and local, and my guys from the other places, on high alert. We got the blacks all riled up. Nixon says, That’s the thing, you get the blacks riled up, then you can do just about anything. Works every goddam time. Ask Ron down the wall there. Donald says, Ron don’t know shit. Nixon takes a drink. Talk to Poppy, then. He hired your man Billy Boy and got everybody off the hook in Iran-Contra. Before that, he made Willie Horton famous. Everybody remembers Willie Horton; nobody gives a shit about Iran-Contra and nobody remembers Dewey Clarridge. Poppy may look like nothing, but he played the game for 50 years and went out on top despite all the bullshit he pulled. Donald says, Our people are in place. We are taking and holding the BOK Center and other significant strategics. We are not going to let Tulsa burn! We will defend. We’ll see what happens. We will see what happens. And we will take it to the limits, if there are any. Nixon says, Remember what I told you. Donald says, Law and Order! Nixon says, Yes. Donald says, School Choice! Nixon takes a drink. Donald says, Silent Majority! Nixon finishes his drink and looks coldly down at Donald. Meanwhile, the Professor and his small strike force have been following behind the heavily freighted ship of Black Eternity as it sails across The Cyber’s endless prairies, like a schooner. Little Timmy, pup reporter, says, Professor, that sign says Entering Tulsa. The great ship sails on, past Paradise Baptist, past Fat Guy’s, past the university and all its flat greenness. The streetscape turns dark. Clouds close in. The air is thick with the smell of old smoke and the faint cries of ghosts. Still the ship sails. Music swells over the plaintive sounds of those long gone. Chanting. The streets are filled with masked people. Timmy says, It is the crowd lingering from Juneteenth! Sarah says, They are taking ownership of what is theirs. The ship docks at the southern end of Greenwood Avenue. Everywhere are people. The crowd from within the Ship of Black Eternity pours over the sides and melts into the crowd on the street. Pete, the pirate, looks on and says, It’s enough to make the scales fall from your eyes. Reverend Al saunters onto the street to greet the ship. He tugs on his black rubber gloves, looks at the Professor, and says, Remember, they tell their children that Lincoln freed the slaves. The fact is, the slaves freed Lincoln. What was is. The street is filled with masked demonstrators and musicians. Powerful chanting in the distance echoes off the low front of StudioPOP Cycle & Yoga and across the sculpted landscape of John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, All Lives Matter! All Lives Matter! Sarah says, Those are the sounds of a setup in the making. – Saturday, June 20, 2020