Some Optimism

It's been five days since my last post and I've been on a bit of a whirlwind since then.  I don't regret giving these issues the gravity they deserve, but I must also admit, I've been exposed to more than a small amount of evil in my time.  Honestly, the last post may have been influenced simply by the fact that Stryper's releasing another album in September (Spotify notified me the week before that post).  I used to love them for opening the door for Heavy Metal for me, Heavy Metal asked me to have compassion on the different, the strange, the outcast.  Stryper betrayed that by endorsing Trump in 2016 and I don't think they've experienced enough to feel that was the wrong decision.  Seeing Christians commit this kind of blasphemy hurts more than they will ever know.

There were some good singles last Thursday, namely, Tony Harnell and Joel Hoekstra teamed up in a new Rock Project called the Echobats whose first single sounds like 60s Pop.  You can search up a socially-distanced music video of the group performing in their homes with their families on Youtube, just search "Echobats Music Video."  Also, Gary Clark Jr., one of my favorite African-American Musicians, released a probable cover of "A Change Is Gonna Come."  You might be familiar with Gary Clark Jr. even if you don't think you are, he provided the cover of "Come Together" for the Justice League movie.  This song shows off more of his tender, bluesy side and he is the African-American musician I've bought from the most since late May.

I also live in Western Washington and last night, finally got to sit down and watch the Mariners Social Justice video where broadcaster Dave Sims had a video chat with J.P. Crawford, Dee Gordon, Kyle Lewis and Shed Long, Jr.  This was helpful to understand what African-Americans sometimes have to go through, and how difficult it is to be a baseball player of that ethnicity; society expects you to play football or basketball.  The Mariners currently have 10 African-Americans on their 40-man roster, the last time this happened on any Major League Club was the 1971 Pirates.  This was informative to me and I love what Mariners manager Scott Servais said, the best advice to people who want to help African-Americans, the LGBTQ+ community and all others under attack from xenophobia, "Listen and Learn."  I am also proud to hear that Braden Bishop is standing up for his fellow teammates and it makes me wish I could be as active with those who think "status quo is good enough."

Yesterday, speaking of xenophobia, I received the disturbing news that voice actress Laura Bailey (Lucina in Fire Emblem Awakening/Super Smash Bros., Rise Kujikawa in Persona 4) is receiving death threats over playing a transsexual named Abby in the game The Last of Us Part II.  Laura Bailey has always been one of my favorite voices since I heard her as Rise in a Let's Play of Persona 4 almost a decade ago and she deserves to be commended for playing a character of a group that doesn't get much attention in media.  This reminds me of the hate Barbara Dunkelman and Arryn Zech received over their characters in RWBY when they came out of the closet February 2019, for me, seeing Bumbleby become canon was the gift of a lifetime, especially since I was seeing the subtle hints since 2014's season 2 where Yang tells Blake she'll "save her a dance" and Blake takes her up on the offer.  And unlike some TV shows (don't get me wrong, I love Korra and Asami), it's not limited to the finale episode.  I'm wondering if the cast of Fire Emblem; Three Houses had to put up with the stupidity of homophobia, since at least in the Black Eagles route, every character seems to be capable of romantic interests of either gender (and if you play as a girl and side with Edelgard, you effectively see the most obvious lesbianism in a Nintendo game, she hugs you, pants your portrait and in the A Support Rank, asks you to call her "El," as her parents and sisters did before they died).  These should be celebrated, commended and declared milestones for the LGBTQ+ community in media, not hated on by some narrow-minded jerks who are too myopic to see they've become fascists.  Hopefully, the creators will continue undeterred, as they have done.  I certainly believe so, and I do believe we can make the world, or at least our communities, better places if we can band together and stand up for each other.

"What you did for the least of these, you did for Me."