Billy Porter, Pose star, Broadway performer, fashion icon, on America: “So, let me be clear right up front: America is not now, nor have we ever been, better than this. We have tried and, for suspended moments in time, we have succeeded. But make no mistake: This moment we are in is pure and purposeful chaos. We are a country founded on the plunder and genocide of a people who were already occupying this land, and a country built on the backs of a people stolen from their homeland, shackled on ships, and brought here to be enslaved. For 250 years! Think about that for just one moment. Take that number in for real. I finally have: a quarter-millennium.” America can do better, but we haven’t yet, and, sadly, it’s because we keep electing white men into power. Try a little color, a different gender, another orientation; try electing people who have been disenfranchised throughout time and see if things change. I bet they can. photo |