What the Fourth of July means

Or, at the very least, an attempt to figure out what it might possibly mean. Plus recs for Chris Colin on customer service, Columbus Public Library social media geniuses, and Sandy Allen on food.

First of all, thank you to everyone who read last week’s newsletter and responded with their own stories of waterbeds. I honestly had NO IDEA how many people in my life had spent years of their lives sleeping on giant plastic sacks of hose water. I am astounded. I read stories that I will never forget, from high schoolers accidentally flooding a bedroom with their energetic usage, to a waterfuton custom made to fit inside of a station wagon, to a divorced dad trying to seem cool. The waterfolk sleep among us and I never knew how numerous they were until last week.

I don’t have nearly as lighthearted a story for this week. To be honest, this has got to be the most depressing Fourth of July weekend of my life. And look, the Fourth of July being a fraught holiday is nothing new. Frederick Douglass knew that on July 5, 1852, when he gave his famous "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" speech. More than 200 years later, his descendants are still asking that same question. Our country is in a very dark place and seems determined to only make it darker. Here are two moments from the past month that I have been going over and over in my head.

One: Mollie and I are taking our son to the playground nearest to our house. It’s in a small shady park that’s always packed full of people from our neighborhood. Grandmas and grandpas pushing their grandkids on the swings, families having barbecues and picnics, birthday celebrations, and baseball games. But when we get there on a Sunday afternoon, the parking lot has tons of spots, which never happens. The park is deserted. No families, no picnics, no parties. There are only a handful of solo people in what is normally a vibrant community space. I asked Mollie if there was a Dodgers game or some other big event that everyone was at. Instead, she told me that she thinks it’s empty because our neighbors are afraid to go outside.

As soon as she said it, I realized she was almost certainly right. People are terrified right now because of ICE. Even legal residents and U.S. citizens doubt their safety if they look Latino. Because people are genuinely getting kidnapped off the street by unidentified masked men in unmarked cars. I wish that was a conspiracy theory but it’s happening every day in Los Angeles.

I can’t figure out how that could ever make me or anyone else safer. To have people who have done nothing wrong other than try to work and provide for their families kidnapped. No due process, no legal rights respected, no phone call, no nothing. I knew it was happening but nothing made it hit home more than realizing that my neighbors didn’t feel safe bringing their kids to the playground. That grandmothers couldn’t risk eating lunch in the park. Thinking about all those little kids stuck at home hiding rather than being allowed to play outside, that really broke me.

Two: I was filming a video this past week in Minneapolis with Chef Sean Sherman, who runs one of the only Native American restaurants in the United States. I got to interview him and we cooked a meal together. The way he uses delicious food as an entry point to conversations about indigenous culture, history, and rights is an inspiration. Not to mention the food he cooks is some of the most delicious I’ve ever tried. But as I was chatting between takes with some of the other folks who work with Sean, one of them casually mentioned the concept of “blood quantum.” I had never heard of it before, but they explained that the U.S. government issues Native Americans an ID card and one of the entries that’s printed on every card is the person’s "Certified Degree of Indian Blood," a fraction like 1/4 or 1/16.

I probably shouldn’t have been shocked, but I was. The federal government issuing identification cards measuring the racial purity of someone’s blood. I knew the shameful history of the “one drop rule” for anyone to be considered Black and denied equal rights. But I hadn’t ever learned about the Native American version and I certainly didn’t know it was still ongoing.

Spending the week talking to Native folks and learning more of our history was a reminder that the U.S. government has been engaged in terrible, violent repression from the very beginning. Whether it was outright deceit and slaughter or weaponizing viruses or destroying sources of livelihood and food (like the intentional eradication of the buffalo), there has never been a time when the United States was peaceful and welcoming to all. But talking to Sean and his team was also a reminder that despite the violent machinery and structural forces intended to silence and destroy, people living on this continent have always found ways to survive, to take care of each other, and to preserve community and what’s important.

These are dark times, there’s no doubt. But the answer is and always has been community. It’s always been protecting and caring for our neighbors.

My projects and upcoming events:

PODCAST: How to Be a Better Human (TED/PRX) - Anil Seth is a neuroscientist who studies consciousness. He’s asking some of the most fundamental questions about our human existence. What is it that makes you… you? We talked about everything from the future of medicine to the dangers of brain-computer interfaces to what it means to have a self. It’s a real mind-bender of a conversation. Listen here (or wherever you get podcasts).

This week’s list

GREAT:

Chris Colin is one of America’s greatest nonfiction writers, as evidenced by the fact that he was able to turn the maddening experience of dealing with corporate customer service phone lines into a compelling, enlightening, and occasionally even hilarious deep dive into why it’s so hard to get any problems solved these days. “Endless wait times and excessive procedural fuss—it’s all part of a tactic called ‘sludge.’” That Dropped Call With Customer Service? It Was on Purpose.

FUNNY:

The Columbus Public Library system is making some of the funniest and best social media content on the internet. Here’s an interview with the librarian behind the account and a roundup of some of their best pieces. (h/t Mollie)

INTERESTING:

Sandy Ernest Allen is a transgender author and journalist who tends to cover issues related to gender and mental health. His book A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia forever changed the way I think about sanity. Sandy is a brilliant writer and also happens to be one of my oldest friends. He wrote a very fun and different piece for Eater about how growing his own food has become part of survival for him, both physically and mentally. It’s well worth the read: The Delicious, Life-Saving Joys of the ‘Trad Trans’ Lifestyle

BONUS FOR PAYING SUBSCRIBERS:

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That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! Please share Bright Spots with anyone you think might enjoy it.

Take care of yourselves,

Chris Duffy

This has been Bright Spots, a newsletter.

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…wait, who are you?

I'm Chris Duffy, a comedian, TV writer, podcast host, and both a former fifth grade teacher and a former fifth grade student. I’m currently writing a nonfiction book about humor for Doubleday.