What historical event fascinates you the most?
History as Mirror
We often think of major historical tragedies… such as the transatlantic slave trade, the treatment of people of color during and after the civil-rights movement in the United States, or the Holocaust, as distant. Important. Horrific. But past. What is less comfortable: the patterns they formed still echo today. And we may be witnessing a new chapter of systemic threat. But this time, not abroad or in previous years , but in our own country right fucking now.
From Slavery to Civil Rights
The oppression of not white Americans through slavery and the trail of tears (and many other horrible historical events) created generational trauma, economic disparity, and social exclusion. The civil-rights era sought to dismantle legalized segregation and voter disenfranchisement. These struggles were about identity, dignity, belonging, equality of rights. Americans rightly look back and say: “Never again.”
But “never again” only works if we recognise the signs when they return. Never again only works if we are not continually doing the same damn shit just in other ways.
The New Frontline: Rights Under Fire
Transgender Passports & Identity Documentation
In early 2025, the Donald Trump administration issued Executive Order 14168 titled Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. The order declared that federal documents must align with “biological sex at birth.”
As a result, the U.S. Department of State suspended changes to gender markers on passports and revoked the “X” gender designation option for many applicants. Which affects many people who aren’t trans but are intersex and left to figure it out.
Legal action followed. A federal judge blocked parts of the policy that prevented transgender and non-binary Americans from obtaining accurate passports, recognising the policy was likely unconstitutional.
But the damage is real. People have been forced to use documents that mis-mark their gender, creating risk and exposing identity. In other words: state-sanctioned mis-identity.
SNAP Cuts and Food Insecurity
Around 42 million Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for basic food security. The government shutdown and refusal to allocate contingency funds means SNAP payments risk being withheld starting November 1, 2025.
When we compare this to historical deprivation of rights and access, for example: poll taxes or economic exclusion of minorities, the parallel is stark. Denial of sustenance is denial of dignity. Most Snap recipients are your friends, the workers, the disabled, and the elderly. As well as the children the party that is causing this is so quick to claim they care about.
Deployment of Troops and Erosion of Checks & Balances
In 2025 the Trump administration has explicitly floated deploying the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines into U.S. cities, bypassing traditional guard & civilian limitations.
Cities led by Democratic governments have seen National Guard troops deployed despite objections from local authorities. For example, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Portland, and even West Virginia?
Legally this raises questions of federal overreach, the Posse Comitatus Act, and state sovereignty. When the military becomes an instrument of domestic policy without proper checks, the separation of powers erodes.
Moreover, framing transgender people, activists, or political opponents as domestic “threats” or “Antifa” emboldens the machinery of suppression, another echo from historical oppression.
Why This Matters
When identity is controlled (who you can say you are, what documents you carry), then belonging becomes conditional. When access to sustenance (food stamps) can be politically withheld, then the social contract falters. When the military is repurposed to internal enforcement without clear guardrails, then the rule of law and democratic accountability are at risk. When these issues disproportionately target minorities: trans people, racialised communities, the poor, it reflects the same structures that enabled slavery, Jim Crow, Nazi bureaucracy.
Who’s Affected
Transgender and non-binary people facing documentation that erases or mis-represents them, as well as intersex people. Low-income families reliant on SNAP who may lose assistance, elderly, working class Americans, and people with disabilities. Not to mention the cut local economy will face without snap being pumped back into it. Communities in states where federal troops may intervene despite local governance. Allies and minority voices who stand for change, inclusivity, and equity.
What We Can Do
Raise awareness: Highlight these issues in your networks, your blog, your community. Support legal advocacy organisations: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lambda Legal, etc. Document personal stories and amplify minority voices who are most impacted. Push for structural policies: Transparent oversight on troop deployments, secure funding for social programs, identity-affirming documentation rights. Build inclusive publishing forum to centre voices that are excluded, silenced, or under-represented.and most importantly create community and help one another when you can!
Don’t Be Silent
The historical parallels are evident. This is not hyperbole, it’s reality. And if we don’t write it, publish it, challenge it, then we risk letting history’s darkest chapters repeat. Use your voice. Raise the spark. Let every word matter. What side of history will you look back and be able to say you were on.
Because when the lines blur between democracy and dictatorship, when troops march where civilians should walk… we have to ask… where is fucking NATO?
