Searching for Hope

Let's be honest

 No matter where you grew up here in the United States, you are more than likely missing key American lessons in history. It really is inevitable and well demonstrated by how many people are fascinated by documentaries, historic sites, and podcasts like Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson.

There simply isn't enough time and American education, kindergarten through 12th grade, to teach our full, complicated story. So, each region, culture, school district, and sometimes religion, selects its curriculum based on its own culture, history, and bias.

 As a rural, white kid growing up in the shadow of historic racism in metro-East St. Louis and mid-Southern Illinois, I wasn't taught much about black, indigenous, or immigrant communities other than my own. Now, there are a lot of reasons to be upset about this gap in my knowledge and in our collective knowledge. But there's one significant reason I'm upset today.

 At the moment, I've silenced my phone. After hearing that our current DHS secretary doesn't even understand what habeas corpus is, and that the entire Republican party is on board with massive cuts to social programs to fund tax breaks to the wealthy, I needed a break.

 I needed to find a bit of hope.

And resilience.

That's why I'm mad that I didn't learn more about American history for my citizens of color. Because my favorite stories of Hope and resilience come from them.

And because Lincoln is never far away, I'm sitting at Old Union Cemetery, visiting a new friend, and learning a new story.

 In this moment that feels overwhelming and cruel, where it feels like democracy is falling apart, I needed to be reminded that there is always hope to be found.

 As a married white woman with a college education and the world's best husband, I am very lucky. Especially if I compare my situation to that of Mr Aaron Dyer, my coworker for today.

Aaron and Harriet Dyer

 Born Into slavery around 1816 in Virginia, Mr Dyer gained his freedom at age 21 and came to Springfield, Illinois. and 1837, Springfield was a frontier town, and a key Hub of the Underground Railroad. Mr Dyer went to work, driving a wagon and team, to assist Travelers on their way north. As tenuous Freedom hung in the balance, he refused to give up hope for his friends, relatives, and countrymen.

As he grew older, settling down with his wife Harriet, they moved to the town of Lincoln, Illinois, christened by the man himself.  Even with a progressive town like Lincoln had hoped to be, there were Copperheads, the KKK, and other hate groups that were making it the lives of black families difficult. Black neighbors like the Dyers were mostly tolerated to share the cemetery and water fountains in Logan county, but this was still an area where sundown towns existed, and folks of color could easily be harmed or removed back down south.

 Yet hope remained. The Dyer family was instrumental in the creation of a vibrant black community in Logan County, including helping to build Allen Chapel, a historic AME Church that welcomed Langston Hughes as a young man.

Their family, and it's unclear how many children they had, survived not only local racism, but the Civil War and the poverty and uncertainty that came with it.

The only reason I know this is because the hope found in Aaron Dyer found its way to his grandson, Mr. Alfred Dyer.

Or should I say Dr. Alfred Dyer?  Because some of you might have heard that name before. Mr Aaron Dyer's grandson was the first black military surgeon serving the US proudly in World War I.

 How remarkable is that?

 Our country, the United States of America, told Aaron Dyer that he was a slave, that he didn't even dare hope to be free.

Our country told Mr Aaron Dyer that he didn't belong in Logan County, and that he shouldn't hope to find community or friendship.

Our country told Mr Aaron Dyer that his family was second-class citizens and they shouldn't hope to make history.

What made Aaron Dyer believe that any of his legacy and that of his grandson were even possible?

 Hope.

 The sometimes impossible feeling in your heart that what you want, and what in Mr. Aaron Dyer's case was needed and deserved, is possible.

 Even in the bleak early days of Logan County, Illinois, with so many people relocating here from areas like Kentucky and Georgia, when racism was expected, Mr. Aaron Dyer held on to hope. And because of that hope, our country is the better for it.

 So, as I turn my notifications back on to see the bleak realities of today, I'm going to strive to be more like Mr. and Dr. Dyer. I'm going to hold on to hope for a better future for me and my grandkids.

 And fight like hell to make it happen. 

_________________________________________________________________

What the BLEEP is going on in Washington?

TL;DR of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that just passed the U.S. House:

🟦 What It Is: Trump’s signature second-term agenda bill—huge tax cuts, big spending shifts, and a hard-right wishlist all rolled into one mega-package.

💸 Tax Cuts for the Wealthy, Scraps for the Rest

• Make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent

• Adds new breaks: no taxes on tips, overtime, and "Trump Savings Accounts" for babies

• Raises the SALT cap to $40K, which mostly helps upper-income folks in blue states

🪓 Cuts to Social Programs

• Slashes Medicaid, food stamps (SNAP), and clean energy incentives

• Imposes strict work requirements for benefits (could kick millions off healthcare/aid)

🪖 Spending Explosion—But Only on Defense & Deportation

• $150 billion for military upgrades and a new missile shield

• $46.5 billion for border crackdowns and mass deportation infrastructure

🎓 Education & Culture War Nuggets

• Taxes on big university endowments

• End clean energy subsidies

• Tosses in gun lobby goodies (like ending the silencer tax)

📉 The Fine Print:

• Adds up to $3–5.8 trillion to the national deficit over 10 years

• Likely DOA in the Senate unless heavily amended

• Critics call it a “corporate Christmas list,” not a family-first budget.

Bottom line: It’s a MAGA manifesto wrapped in a budget bill. If you’re rich, fossil-fueled, or love walls and war toys, you win. If you need healthcare, groceries, or clean air, good luck.