It’s just a shirt. I mean, it is my favorite. It fits well, and I wear it to all my band’s gigs because the words and picture on the front carry a deep personal meaning to me as a musician.

But it’s just a shirt.

The emblem is a reference to a guitar. A guitar that fought fascism one chord at a time.

But it was just a guitar.

The guitar, and the words painted on the front, “This machine kills fasciitis” are on the front of that favorite shirt.  I won’t pretend to know if there was some deeper meaning in Woody Guthrie’s mind when he painted those words on the front of his old acoustic guitar, but to me it means that art and music can bring us together as a community, working together to support each other, and defeating fascism  without the need for violence.

But they’re just some words.

Now the Government is at war with words. Words like DEI, Woke, Democrat, Anti-Fa[scist], LGBTQ+, and more. They are saying that people who identify with or use those words are the enemy and must be punished.  They are forcing reporters to only report party approved information or risk being denied access. They are changing the names of departments from “Defence” to “War”. That Government is big, and has lots of weapons, and a desire to use those weapons on American people.

But it’s just people.

Those people are cruel. Those people want to hurt others, and abuse them for profit. But there are also people who want to stop that. People like me, and presumably you. When you look at the size of our Government it’s so easy to think “There’s so many of them.”.

And I’m just one person.

A person who feared State sponsored violence because  of a shirt, about a guitar, with some words. Words that the government had declared war on. Words that made me, in the Government’s eyes, an enemy.  When I was young, and learned about what made [US] America truly great, it was things like the social safety nets that pulled us out of the Great Depression, and freedom. Freedom meant we were able to say what we wanted without reprisal from the Government. The press was allowed to report as they saw fit, including things critical of the Government. Our current Government is no longer respecting those freedoms.

But we have more words.

We have the words of Patrick Henry, “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! “. It’s with those words in mind that I resolve to again wear my shirt. It’s not that I no longer fear reprisal from the Government. It’s because I’ve prepared for it. I’m ready to get picked up by armed agents of Government, over some words. I’ve practiced what words I’ll use when those agents approach me. I’ve also practiced what I’ll say to regular people who ask me about my shirt. I’ll use it as an opportunity to connect with people and talk about my ideas of non-violent resistance to fascism through art, music, and words. It will be an opportunity to build community.

And then there might be two people.
And then there might be three people.

And, to paraphrase Woody Guthry’s son Arlo, that my friends is a movement.

About the Author

Riker Brown is new to the writing world, and is just now getting their feet wet. Their odd outlook on the world gives them insights that may not be evident to others. They hope to share those outlooks and idiosyncracies in a way that brings just the right balance of wonder and weird.