Kaitlin Is Just Getting Started

@gothamgirlblue.com

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Defiance posting. Vibes: Enraged 🔴 Not a Democrat anymore. Columnist @ Dame Magazine, bylines @ The Cut, Harper’s Bazaar and more. Black, millennial, feminist, tired. Going to keep fighting anyway. Pay me for ideas: patreon.com/gothamgirlblue

More absurdism spewed by a complete ignoramus: White liberal here Katlin, while I agree that some white people lie, asserting that most are sounds biased. If you have statistical evidence that shows what you assert please share. After living a decade or more in Mass, TX, and WA, + other states & countries there's little difference by ethnicity

Nonsense thoughts from a ridiculous person in a post that reads: im just hearing a bunch of david duke arguments reframed and its just as bad this time

A dapper looking Black woman wearing a blue pantsuit with gold buttons and a long flared jacket in the back—almost like a bustle. She stands underneath an arch of roses, bright multicolored heels on a brick path.

A series of folders with tabs that are all labeled “Violence” as a hand with extended fingers hovers over them, presumably about to flip through and choose

Lovely mint green B6 280 page notebooks, still in the packaging

A screenshot of the Merriam Webster gif with many words flashing and the instructions to take a picture of the screen to select your word of the year. Upon following these steps, the word was “preeminent”.

A brilliant Black woman with cropped hair in glasses and an oversized gray sweater looks into the middle distance and holds a mug with the words: Honestly, I would rather be wrong.

From the Patreon essay by GothamGirlBlue, “Something for Good People to Do”: Every government-despotic and liberal-operates on the consent of the governed. One key reason we are in the grips of a tyrannical regime is because a significant portion of our polity has abandoned the authority of their own consent: They feel it is irrelevant or meaningless, that it has no power to compel those who wield it, or resolve the problems that plague them. This silent plurality is neither left nor right ideologically; they are helpless and apathetic. Without engagement from this group to defend rights that they don't even believe they enjoy, we are never going to be able to beat back the fascists. This is a simple truth.

A screenshot of a paragraph from a post on the Patreon of GothamGirlBlue in February 2025: I want to create a new political party. I want to do this because existing third parties are products of the system as it was, and that system is crumbling. I think something entirely fresh, unburdened by previous leadership, mistakes, thinking, approaches will allow us to capture the discontent from across the political spectrum. Equality will be at the heart of this party; equality will be the purpose of it.
This party will do what the two major parties have failed to do: Listen. It will organize around what the major parties have not: the People. The focus will be on electoral deserts for one party or another, so as to disrupt the two party system least - at inception. It will use a non-profit to offer grants to local organizations that are filling in the gaps torn open by the Trump Administration, and build trust and community through keeping people sustained. It will start at statehouses and local councils, and it will harp on issues that have not yet been negatively polarized, where people have not been taught to rule by hate. It will have the colors of the sunrise: gold and white. It will remind us that we are at our best when we lift people UP.
The United People's Party.

Screenshot from the essay “Congress Could Be Our Last Defense Against Trumpism” by Kaitlin Byrd at Dame Magazine, published July 18, 2024: And should the worst happen, and Donald Trump once again assumes the powers of the presidency, the only inhibiting force he can face is an aggressive and empowered Congress. Even as far gone as they are, some of the voters who are with Trump for tax cuts or immigration are unlikely to want him to be entirely unfettered to follow his every impulse. In places where Democrats are playing defense for either the House or the Senate (or both), arguing for a congressional leash on Trump could be the distinction that separates a moderate Democrat willing to tell the truth to a stubborn executive branch irrespective of party from an obsequious Republican willing to submit entirely to imperial power for the "right" one.

A post on Reddit from user Rage_Like_Nic_Cage: “The Dems are the Uvalde Cops, the Republicans are the shooter”

An image of the assembled military generals and leadership gathered by Hegseth and Trump, with well over 100 stone-faced people staring into the middle distance, possibly contemplating how their commitment to their country and lives in public service brought them to this moment

The first two paragraphs of “Is Anyone Going to Fight for Democracy?” an essay by Kaitlin Byrd for Dame Magazine: From the start, Donald Trump has offered autocracy to the United States. He has built his vision of the
country on Big Lie politics, threatened, cajoled, and corrupted everyone who would challenge him, targeted millions of citizens as unworthy of rights, and rejected millions of would-be citizens, dismissing them as unworthy of life. His campaign lied its way into the Oval Office, attacking President Biden and then VP Kamala Harris on the premise that DJT would replace the real, complicated domestic progress of the current administration with a fantasy of easy, unrealistic perfection, with the only cost being that Trump would be in control of everything. Trump promised that we would receive a government free from the shackles of compromise, of complications, of checks and balances, of general welfare and common defense.
And in response to this unmaking of the American experiment, Democrats have promised ... compliance.

That Breaking Bad meme with Jesse crying, screaming: He can’t keep getting away with it!

An excerpt from “Can America Be Governed?” an essay by Kaitlin Byrd for Dame Magazine (Dec. 2020): Elections—the foundations of our government, the essence of representative authority-have transformed for millions of people, from an imperfect reflection of popular will to a mortal contest of ideology where Republicans have either prevailed through tenacity and strength or been cheated from victory. With a concentrated and constant campaign, Republicans have successtully convinced more than a third of the country that there is no such thing as a legitimate government run by Democrats. The consequence is a country with millions of voters in conflict about whether our elections are choices or impositions, if majoritarian sentiment is real or fabricated, if Joe Biden's victory is a validation of our country or a crime against it. With a government that rests precariously upon the consensus of popular sovereignty, Republicans have not only encouraged 1 in 3 voters to deny the authority of the government, but to deny that the other 2 in 3 voters even exist.

Excerpt of a June 2023 Patreon essay from Gothamgirlblue: During the 2020 campaign, Biden promised an end to the dysfunction and acrimony in Washington. He'd get government working again by bringing civility back and cutting deals like the old hand returning for one last rodeo. His win was supposed to put Trump and Trumpism to rest, restoring sanity to a country sorely in need of it.
And then a violent coup attempt happened two weeks before he took the oath of office.
In the days and weeks that followed, the problem of Trumpism went unaddressed. By the time midterms rolled around, the Dobbs decision from the Trump SCOTUS majority and the increasingly unhinged candidates served up by the GOP showed that far from dissipating, Trumpism had metastasized in the body politic. Added to the frankly outrageous behavior from the new GOP House majority, it doesn't seem like Biden can identify the problem, let alone solve it.
Which is kinda what he was hired to do.

A NY Times update from reporter Theodore Schleifer:
As donors try to assess their next moves in the mayoral race, one of the biggest donors to Andrew Cuomo's super PAC, the investor Mark Gorton, said he is likely to back Mamdani. That is because of the support that Mamdani had gotten from Brad Lander, who Gorton said he ranked first. "I feel like people misunderstood my $250,000 for Cuomo for real enthusiasm," Gorton said in an interview. "It was basically, 'Oh, looks like Cuomo is coming back. We don't want to be shut out. Let's try and get on his good side? That's kind of how things work with Cuomo. It's sad political pragmatism. I wish we lived in a world where those sort of things were not useful things to do."

A young Black girl smiling next to Hillary Clinton during her 2000 Senate run in New York; they’re in a ballroom in Albany, during Black and Puerto Rican Caucus weekend, a major political event held usually during the President’s Day holiday

A screenshot of a Spill app notification which reads: Japanese Scientists Develop Artificial Blood Compatible With All Blood Types

A gif of Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, saying “Look how they massacred my boy”

A man in a blazer and a woman in a blue suit with tails walk past brownstones along a tree-lined street on a sunny day

A text alert from some political outfit asking me for money due to Senator Cory Booker’s historic speech

An absolutely bonkers reply in my mentions: “55% of the vote isn’t a clear cut victory”

A tweet from Bernie Sanders on November 5, 2016 that reads: I do not believe that most of the people who are thinking about voting for Mr.
Trump are racist or sexist.

An excerpt of a column from Jackie Robinson in The Amsterdam News from November 9, 1963, titled “Fascinating Republicans:” […] already highly charged issue: laws alone cannot produce the full result we need."
Well, personally, I give less than a you-can-guess-what that some white people's emotions are going to run rampant because we want to insure our freedom." Our emotions have run pretty high when we have seen lynchings and our children bombed in churches.
As for the familiar crack about laws not being the end-all. I have to go along with Dr. Martin King in observing that "laws cannot make the white man love me. but they can keep him from lynching me-and I think that's fairly important."
I think it is also important for the Negro people to keep a wary eye on the Republicans-some Republicans like Goldwater. Dirksen, Nixon and Mr. Eisenhower. In parting, let me remind General Eisenhower that if he had used gradualism and moderation on D-Day on the beachheads of Europe, we wouldn't have to worry about civil rights. We just wouldn't be here.

A paragraph from the essay, “The Left Needs Its Own Megaphone” by Kaitlin Byrd at Dame Magazine: Democrats and their funders can't continue to rely on someone else to do the affirmative, engaging messaging that they have left as an individual matter, waiting for voters to make a logical choice when the politics of the country has lost its damn mind. The Republican Party and the right wing apparatus that funds and feeds it had no hesitation in warping the political discussion to serve their own ends: pumping gobs of cash into information infrastructure, curating a media strategy for every platform, and ensuring that everyone willing to parrot the company line has a very comfortable place to lay their head at night. We scoff at "wingnut welfare," but it has crafted a stable, self-perpetuating core that powers the conservative media universe.

“Just say no to DOGE” in block lettering with 🚫 replacing the letter “o”

A mock-up of a sticker that reads “Say No to DOGE” with 🚫 replacing the letter “o” placed on a silver laptop cover. A highlighted box in the UX below says “Medium 3x3 in”

A graphic that reads “Say No to Drugs” with the letter “o” switched to red circles with lines through them

A top view of an instant pot full of black beans cooked to their final form, with jalapeños, garlic, onions, and spices

Golden brown buttermilk cornbread in a round pan

A top view of an instant pot full of black beans cooking away with jalapeños, garlic, onion, and spices

Screenshot from the essay “Are White Voters Ready for Impeachment” from October 2019: To embrace a pluralistic republic is to not only cast aside the violence of racial supremacy and the suffering it inspires, but to abandon the idea and substance of a world in which it is possible. It would mean a world where Democratic legislators wouldn't worry about punishment but expect rewards for holding a corrupt President accountable, and Republican legislators would pay a steep price for accommodating him. It would mean that the offenses against Americans for their creed or color would be treated as violations of our human rights, and not mere rhetoric. Successfully impeaching Donald Trump would mean that white voters accept the illegitimacy of white supremacy as a governing philosophy. Because their rejection of equality is the only protection Trump has.

A digitized copy of an article from the Richmond Times Dispatch on December 6, 1860: Slavery an evil.
One of the ablest of the conservative journals of New York, in an earnest advocacy of the Southern cause, says that no one denies that slavery is an evil, but that it is an evil which cannot be got rid of by violent or unjust means.
Now, we beg leave to dissent totally from this declaration that no one denies that slavery is an evil. On the contrary, in this very city of New York, the foremost man of all its law, Chas.
O'Conor, emphatically denies that it is an evil, and there are tens of thousands in that noble city, both in church and State, who hold that slavery has the sanction of Almighty God, in His revelation to man, that it was no evil to the Jews, and is no evil to our own countrymen. The ablest Scriptural argument ever heard on slavery was in a free State from a New Yorker. In many parts of the North, and even in New England, there are thousands of men who agree in opinion with Chas. O'Conor. As to the South, the time has long gone by when anybody considered it an evil. In what respects is it an evil - moral, social or political! Compare the people of the Southern States with those of any other community, and we challenge all history to produce a higher- toned population, more honest, honorable, humane, and just in all the relations of life. Take the single State of South Carolina, in which there has not been a divorce since the foundation of the government, and show what respect slavery has proved a moral and social evil to the whites on the one hand, or, on the other, to the blacks, who, under slavery, have become elevated from savage barbarians to civilized and Christian men, and are most of them far superior in character to the abolition senators, editors and orators of the country.

A digitized copy of an article from the Richmond Times Dispatch from December 14, 1860, as follows: The Colored population of Georgia
--A bill has passed the Georgia Legislature which provides that every free person of color who has reached the age of fourteen years, may choose an owner and go into voluntary servitude for life; that parents may choose owners for their children when the latter are under fourteen years of age; and that all free persons of color found in that State after the first of May, 1862, who have taken no steps to select owners, shall be liable to seizure and sale as a slave for life.

A digitized copy of an article from the Richmond Times Dispatch on December 14, 1860, as follows: National Humiliation.
--The events of the last month, says the Journal of Commerce, have humiliated the American Republic before the whole world. For the honor of the nation we might better have experienced a severe naval defeat, or a sad reverse on a battle field. The voice of the Executive at Washington has already lost half of its power. We can almost hear the suppressed taunt and jeers of European despots, in response to our demands for the redress of indignities suffered abroad, or depredations upon the rights of our citizens.--The "stars and stripes" once rent asunder, we immediately sink to the position of a second, third, or fourth-rate power, and from the Canada to the lower extremity of the South American continent, there will be presented a sorry spectacle of the working of our much-boasted Republican system. In the dreary prospect, there is not a citizen who does not feel personally humiliated. The tyrants of the old world will take courage.

Screenshot of a paragraph from a column at Dame Magazine titled “Congress Could Be Our Last Defense Against Trumpism”: For decades, the national narrative has seduced voters with promises of easy answers and singular saviors, whose decision-making abilities would either whip Congress into shape or neutralize it altogether. We have been given myths of executive power in the form of FDR or Ronald Reagan using Congress as a pass-through for their accomplishments instead of the complicated and difficult truths of negotiating and managing desired legislation through often strained relationships with the co-equal branch of government. And that's just for those of us who still have a choice and aren't gerrymandered or suppressed into submission to one party or another, because politicians picking their constituents has become the rule rather than the exception. We have been so overwhelmed by problem after problem and crisis after crisis that it has become easier to abandon our government than ask it for solutions.

A post by one of the most selfishly ignorant people online: I don't think you have sufficient evidence to claim he is racist, and you seem to be hair triggered on the subject.

A godforsaken post by an absolute ignoramus in my mentions that demonstrates exactly why white people can’t be trusted on racism, reads as follows: His adopted children are part black, so l'm skeptical about the claim that he's racist.

Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl, standing amidst dancers in red, white and blue coordinated like the US flag

A meme of SpongeBob looking cross-eyed at a book with a cover split between blue and red halves. SpongeBob is labeled “me” while one half of the book is labeled “acknowledging the courts have legitimacy” and the other half of the book is labeled “acknowledging that courts are worthless”

A screenshot of a Patreon post from GothamGirlBlue: Elon Musk asserted this weekend that he may defy a court order to stop doing a coup, and this is the line upon which Democrats should line up. The federal judiciary is stocked with GOP judges, but it is still a whole branch of government that exists as a check on the other two. If Musk asserts the right to do whatever he wants despite the courts, Democrats should make clear that this is tantamount to an internal insurrection against the Constitution, and anyone loyal to their oath must first, deny him compliance, access, or authority in any part of the federal government, and second, bring him in under contempt of court. Anyone who fails to do so — up to and including the President of the United States — is in violation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and cannot act with the power of their office unless cleared by 2/3 of Congress in both chambers.

A screenshot of a digitized article from the December 6, 1860 issue of the Richmond Times Dispatch: Slavery an evil.
One of the ablest of the conservative journals of New York, in an earnest advocacy of the Southern cause, says that no one denies that slavery is an evil, but that it is an evil which cannot be got rid of by violent or unjust means.
Now, we beg leave to dissent totally from this declaration that no one denies that slavery is an evil. On the contrary, in this very city of New York, the foremost man of all its law, Chas.
O'Conor, emphatically denies that it is an evil, and there are tens of thousands in that noble city, both in church and State, who hold that slavery has the sanction of Almighty God, in His revelation to man, that it was no evil to the Jews, and is no evil to our own countrymen. The ablest Scriptural argument ever heard on slavery was in a free State from a New Yorker. In many parts of the North, and even in New England, there are thousands of men who agree in opinion with Chas. O'Conor. As to the South, the time has long gone by when anybody considered it an evil. In what respects is it an evil - moral, social or political! Compare the people of the Southern States with those of any other community, and we challenge all history to produce a higher- toned population, more honest, honorable, humane, and just in all the relations of life. Take the single State of South Carolina, in which there has not been a divorce since the foundation of the government, and show what respect slavery has proved a moral and social evil to the whites on the one hand, or, on the other, to the blacks, who, under slavery, have become elevated from savage barbarians to civilized and Christian men, and are most of them far superior in character to the abolition senators, editors and orators of the country. We do not know a single member of the African Church in this city, who is not a better Christian and gentleman at this moment than Horace Greeley, [etc.]

A screenshot of a Patreon post from Kaitlin Byrd - GothamGirlBlue: For the first two years of conflict, the Union preferred to leave the inciting factors intact rather than openly challenge the slave system for fear that they would alienate the people who started a war [emphasis] rather than accept a fairly elected, majoritarian, not pro-slavery government. The North refused to see what was blatantly in front of them: That only complete concession and full acceptance of slaver terms-forever-would compel a return to order. And such a win would be no win at all.
It is our turn to do better. Our opponents want a world of unstable and unnatural hierarchies that would dispose of the vast majority of human potential for the sake of protecting their egos and wealth-not a far cry from maintaining slavery to "preserve order." Over and over again, leadership insists upon telling this contingent that they are valid, that their desires are more important, that nothing will meaningfully change. In response, these people adhere to a fascist strongman who promises to abandon treaties and violate promises, perpetrate human rights abuses against citizens and noncitizens alike, and break the government so that only his political philosophy will reign.

Screenshot of a news story: EL PASO - On a recent windy, cold afternoon in this border city, dozens of people gathered at a park for an immigrant rights demonstration to denounce the Trump administration's immigration policies. Some held signs reading: "Immigrants Make America Great."
Alan, a local police officer, and his wife came and held a Mexican flag. He said he joined the demonstration because he worries about his father, an undocumented immigrant who works at a farm in southern New Mexico.
Alan said he voted for Donald Trump because of worries about the economy and because he believes Trump is pro-police and would combat the public's negative perception of law enforcement. He said he believed Trump's promises to make everyday items affordable for middle-class families.
But after two weeks of Trump in the White House, Alan - who declined to give his last name because he fears retaliation against his father - said he now regrets his vote. Partly because he was angered when Trump granted clemency to people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Screenshot from “The Evisceration of Diversity Programs Is Upon Us” from Kaitlin Byrd at Dame Magazine:

In response to this revanchist revision of American racial dynamics, the defenders of diversity have often fallen into two camps: to reason, or to plead. The former pile-up facts and figures and demonstrated truths about the value of different races and perspectives—on learning environments and business decisions and political consensus. They try to untwist the logic that white defensiveness has tied into an impossible knot, as if what underlies the belief that Black people have never achieved anything on our own merit is a lack of appropriately quantified evidence. Their approach is the opposite of the pleaders, who attempt with moral suasion to reach the cold and shriveled hearts that do not want to be warmed. These people try arguments about ethics, history, debts of duty and honor to appeal to the sense of justice in people who are keenly aware of how much of their success is unjust.

Screenshot of a paragraph from Supreme Court decision Trump v Anderson, which outlined Congressional power re: Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Relevant text as follows: The text of Section 3 reinforces these conclusions. Its final sentence empowers Congress to "remove" any Section 3 "disability" by a two-thirds vote of each house. The text imposes no limits on that power, and Congress may exercise it any time, as the respondents concede. […] In fact, historically, Congress sometimes exercised this amnesty power postelection to ensure that some of the people's chosen candidates could take office.

A children’s chapter book with an illustrated bird on the cover, edited to read “I’ll shit in your goddamn mouth” where the title would go, with “Fucking dare me” as a subtitle

The Bluesky alt text rating for the gothamgirlblue.com account showing that 100% of 124 posts with images have alt text

A picture of a young Black girl (me) smiling next to Hillary Clinton during her campaign for New York Senate in 2000

An Instagram push notification for Donald Trump adding content to his Instagram account

An excerpt from the Trump v Anderson Supreme Court decision, relevant text to follow: The text of Section 3 reinforces these conclusions. Its final sentence empowers Congress to "remove" any Section 3
"disability" by a two-thirds vote of each house. The text imposes no limits on that power, and Congress may exercise it any time, as the respondents concede. […] In fact, historically, Congress sometimes exercised this amnesty power postelection to ensure that some of the people's chosen candidates could take office.

A professional audio and speech setup in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC

A screenshot from a Huffington Post editorial, Democrats Still Don’t Understand What They’re Up Against by Kaitlin Byrd: Democrats, by refusing to defend their authority to govern on behalf of their constituents and prioritizing the sentiments and responses of Republican voters, have sacrificed the instruments of power for the perception of principle. Continuing this strategy is to misunderstand this moment in history. The Republican Party has already conceded to its extremism, codified it and entrenched it. There is no political no norm it will not break, no kindness or tolerance its leaders will reciprocate. They do not believe in government by the people, for the people, but in government by Republicans for Republicans. To accommodate them is only to empower them.

A screenshot of a Merriam-Webster dictionary post that reads: Take a screenshot of this GIF, and whichever new word you land on is YOUR word for 2025.
Godspeed.
The word captured in the screenshot is “euphoric”

A graph titled “Trends in Global Emissions” that shows how the bulk of historic CO2 emissions were concentrated in land use, land cover change, and forestry until the 1950s, when fossil fuels and industry began a steep rise in emissions output that would be as high as 8 times more than land use. Data sourced from IPCC (2022), based on global emissions from 2019.

A screenshot of the column “The Evisceration of Diversity Programs Is Upon Us” by Kaitlin Byrd at Dame Magazine:

Affirmative action, DEI, minority- and women-oriented grants, LGBTQ+ equality— all are simply tools for an integrated society, where no one is set aside for who they are but recognized for what they can be. Integration takes the bait out of the trap; it creates affirmation rather than defensiveness; it asks us not to seek out what makes a given candidate insufficient, but what makes them special.

Imagine, instead of seeing headlines about Republicans and conservatives eviscerating diversity initiatives, we read "Ron DeSantis Guts Integration Efforts." We can (and should) attach the label to everything that encourages the marginalized to take up space, because segregation is the reality of rejecting these programs. The problem of pre-Civil Rights America was not that there were no Black people anywhere; it was that we were confined to what white people would allow us to be. To accept the absence of integration is to put ourselves back in a box. I simply refuse.