Willis Gordon
Willis Gordon is a musician, stand up comedian, actor, author, essayist, activist, and veteran of the War on Terror. Gordon is committed to quality entertainment and the improvement of our communities through art, action, and inclusion. He organized the “Rock the Block” voter registration concert in 2016, and continues to register voters and fight for civil rights across Stark County. He is the author of The Long Road Home and The Empty Boulevards. His live album, Willis Gordon: Live! is available anywhere you stream music. He wrote the monthly column "The Road Forward: Practical Discussions on Seeking a Better World" for Unlikely Stories Mark V.
The Democratic Party in the United States is in chaos. The party has no leader, and the biggest names associated with the party could scarcely be more different from each other. Democratic socialists who excel in the social media demographic pull the conversation to the left...
When his perceived enemies were the targets of mail bombs this fall, he never once reached out to the many high profile targets, but instead decided to whine about how the news coverage affected “republican momentum” before the midterms.
As a general rule, our society is drifting back towards purity. Though this time it is not sexual or religious purity we seek, but ideological. Both socially and politically our culture hungers for a monolith of belief. A Liberal is One Thing, a Conservative is another.
The world is shrinking every day. Information travels at the speed of thought, we can share ideas, funny pictures, recipes or new music easier than ever and the walls between cultures that were once impenetrable have now become translucent. We are supposed to be closer to one another than at any other time in human history.
Don’t just donate your money, but your time and your talent as well. Get in the area and engage in politics until you recognize yourself in your leadership. Be good to people and fight for the people who can’t fight for themselves.
We can’t give in to the sheer volume of problems. The people who want to stifle our voices want us to be overwhelmed and checked out so that we don’t engage in our communities and vote in these crucial elections.
It was recently discovered that 22% of Millennials in the US either haven’t heard of, or aren’t sure if they’ve heard of the Holocaust... That same study found that 11% of ALL US ADULTS fell into these categories.
A big reason there are fewer bigots in the military than in the civilian world is that prejudice does not stand well under contact. It’s hard to hate or stereotype a people if you are constantly confronted with their reality. When you eat together, laugh together, work together, and yes, sometimes suffer together, it becomes near impossible to create a false or hateful image of them.
We have to work together, side by side in pursuit of a common goal. That doesn’t mean we never have to disagree. It doesn’t mean we don’t have our issues or qualms: This isn’t kumbaya, this is survival.
Many people in this country have been conditioned to believe that racism is an American-made product and that something can only be racist if it's filled with or inspired by hatred. That's not the case. Subconscious bias is a massive part of racism.
Now cannot be the time for passivity; love is kind, but it is also fierce. As we go forward we can’t get lost in the weeds arguing with people about the very basics of human decency. People know right from wrong, and if they want so badly to hurt other people we know exactly where they stand.
