Roxane Gay

Like, oh, thank God they're there, but what a shame that they're there.

And it just, you know, it's like, the price for doing this kind of work should not be, I'm afraid for my life and the lives of all the people who have joined me in these public spaces.

Like, that's just ridiculous.

And I think we should all agree on that.

And same with, like I said, with Charlie Kirk, like the price for having odious opinions is not death and it shouldn't be harassment.

But here we are.

Yes.

We are definitely under authoritarian rule.

My parents are from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

They fled a dictatorship.

I grew up understanding what a dictatorship is and what authoritarianism is, like many children of immigrants.

And since January 6th, my dad has just been shaking his head in disbelief.

And over the past several months, for me, he's the canary in the coal mine.

And he is like, oh, wow, we are in a dictatorship.

And he is disgusted.

And understandably so.

So I think we're already there.

I do not know how much worse it's going to get.

I don't know when it's going to get better.

But I do know that very few dictatorships last very long.