Member-only story
Freedom From Fear
He pulled over to the side of the road. He got right in my face with his finger, and said: ‘Satan! Don’t speak through my wife anymore!’ For the first time I didn’t cower. I didn’t grovel. I grabbed my purse, opened the door, and stepped out onto the side of Interstate 40. I knew I was crossing a line of no return. It was always clear what would happen to a woman who left the church. In our homeschooling textbook there was a picture. It shows a giant umbrella — and that umbrella is God. Beneath ‘God’ is a slightly smaller umbrella — ‘The Husband.’ Beneath those umbrellas are the wife and children. You can see the rain, and the rain is Satan. But it wasn’t raining the night I escaped. It was clear and dusky dark. I said: ‘Well God, I finally did it, and I wouldn’t mind a ride.’ Up in the distance I saw a car pulled off the side of the road. And the passenger door was open. I had no idea what was in there. It could have been a killer. But I knew whatever it was — had to be better than what I’d known.’”
— Humans of New York
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In our day, the cross and the lynching tree have been displaced by the AR-15….The Black Panthers learned the hard way that the Second Amendment was meant for land holding white males. So did women who shot abusive husbands. So did the working poor who rose up against robber barons.
