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CamHumphreyFirstEssay 3 - 25 May 2025 - Main.CamHumphrey
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< | Part I: The Judgment of Nations
“In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There, I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people of Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. – Joel 3:1-3.
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> | Part I: The Judgment of Nations (Joel 3:1-3) | | | November 21, 2180 | |
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< | Environmental justice, the hallmark of the last century’s struggle, had been fully realized. The scars of environmental racism, had on the surface, healed. This was the work of the Humphrey Administration beginning in 2037. From day one, the Humphrey administration worked tirelessly to put an end to extractive and polluting industries and enact legislation that established environmental justice as a core tenant of American Democracy. | >
> | Environmental justice, once a pipe-dream, was now reality. The scars of the history of environmental racism had, on the surface, healed. This work, beginning during the Humphrey Administration back in 2037, extended into a century-long rebuild, changing the ways in which society functioned. Once a society heavily reliant on fossil fuels slowly became reliant on renewable energy. The people that made this movement possible. Communities across the country, and across the globe, worked tirelessly to end the use of extractive and polluting industries. In America, leaders enacted legislation that established environmental justice as a core tenant of American Democracy. Yet, the century-long work was on the brink of becoming fully undone. A far-right regime took power for the first time since Donald Trump’s second term. | | | | |
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< | But over one hundred years of environmental peace have become undone in the last few years. A far-right regime took power in over a hundred years for the first time. Emmanuel, a young civil rights lawyer, was the son of a prominent civil rights lawyer trained in the era of environmental justice that ensured that every law remained in service of equality and ecological balance. Emmanuel grew up holding on to those lessons from his father. Yet the world he had been taught to defend was facing something it had never before seen – a red scare far worse than Donald Trump was here. | >
> | Emmanuel, a young civil rights lawyer, was a descendant of Caleb Franklin, the prominent environmental justice attorney who led the environmental justice crusade of the 2030s, ensuring that our nation’s laws remained in service of equality and ecological balance. Emmanuel grew up holding firm to the lessons of his ancestor, but never thought he would ever have to rely on them heavily in the world he lived in. The new regime was promising an eradication of environmental policy that no one in this era had ever seen. | | | September 30, 2181 | |
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< | An elderly man came into the law office where Emmanuel worked in the low country of South Carolina. The man wanted to file a complaint claiming that the government was illegally seizing his land to tap newfound oil reserves discovered on the man’s property. The man owned land off the coast of the Gullah Geechee Islands and the land was in his family dating back to the Reconstruction period in the late 1800s. Emmanuel did not see any success for the man. Those environmental justice laws that would protect the man were now nothing but old dusty relics lost seemingly for good. But the man was adamant that he had a successful claim by mentioning a law from the 2040s that protected communities of color from displacement under the guise of environmental projects. Emmanuel had never heard of the law. He swore all of the laws had been repealed. But the man’s unwavering belief led Emmanuel to indulge.
Determined to find out more, Emmanuel visited the man’s home. In the man’s library was a treasure trove of where dissent still lived and whispers of a buried history thrived. Emmanuel had stumbled upon something remarkable, something that could save the future of the country, yet again. The man, who apparently was a former computer expert, had hidden files encrypted on a secret server that contained stories of the last great environmental battles over a hundred years ago. The files contained more than just a forgotten history. They held the golden key to understanding the present moment and resisting the new regime’s agenda. Emmanuel had to act, but the question was how. | >
> | An elderly Mr. Jon Trinket entered the law office where Emmanuel worked in the low country of South Carolina. Mr. Trinket claimed that the government was illegally seizing his land to tap newfound oil reserves discovered on his property. Over the last hundred years, the law of eminent domain became nearly defunct as there was no reason for the government to seize private lands for government use. The process for seizing those lands became more and more difficult to view as rational as the courts began to signal that eminent domain laws were becoming anti-canonical. | | | | |
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> | Mr. Trinket owned land off the coast of the Gullah Geechee Islands and the land had been in his family dating all the way back to the Reconstruction period of the late 1800s. The allegation surely caught Emmanuel for surprise. Due to the reputation of eminent domain type laws, the government had not attempted to seize private land for many decades. Thus, surely that same reputation would extend here. For Emmanuel, if the claim were true, it was an open and shut case. However, Emmanuel, as a smart lawyer, knew that if the government were trying to attempt such a maneuver, they must’ve found some good justification for it. | | | | |
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> | Determined to find out more, Emmanuel visited Mr. Trinket’s home. In Mr. Trinket’s library was a treasure trove of where dissent still and lived and whispers of a buried history thrived. Emmanuel had stumbled upon something remarkable, something that could save the future of the country, yet again. Mr. Trinket was a former computer expert and kept hold of hidden files of his working years encrypted on a secret server. These files contained stories of the last great environmental battles over a hundred years ago. They were more than just old relics of history. They held a golden key to understanding the facism of the present moment. And how to combat the new regime. The last century made many complacent. Society, arguably much better, cleaner, and healthier, also became more naive. Many people never thought a Donald Trump-like regime would ever rise again. After all, it had been over a century since anything remotely close to Trump regained power. Yet, now it was here, and Emmanuel needed to figure out how to utilize the keepsakes to Mr. Trinket’s, but also the betterment of society’s advantage. | | | Part II: True Fasting (Isaiah 58:6-10) | |
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“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” – Isaiah 58:6.
March 21, 2082
Looks like a 100-year typo to me....
The new regime claimed to be restoring order to a chaotic nation. Their rise was built on fear. Seeking justice, as if the regime did not provide for it, was seen as a tool of division – an extreme deviation from what the regime, and therefore the country, stood for.
What made the regime truly dangerous was not just their ability to control information but their ability to control hope. The regime’s propaganda machine worked overtime to convince people that resistance was futile. They promoted a narrative that their rule was the natural order of things, and that those who fought against it were fighting against the very future itself. Environmental justice, once a signal for progress, had been twisted into a tool for authoritarian control. | >
> | August 21, 2182 | | | | |
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< | But as a lawyer, Emmanuel knew he was never far from evil. Going against the regime was a dangerous and risky business. The business of civil rights law was the business of civil disobedience. What he was doing, uncovering government secrets could be considered treason. Emmanuel paid this no mind. His father had always told him to love justice more than hating injustice, and to allow that love to take him to the deepest and darkest depths to see that justice prosper. | >
> | The new regime claimed to be restoring order to what was a chaotic nation. Their rise was built on fear. Seeking justice, as if the regime did not provide for it, was seen as a tool of division – an extreme deviation from what the regime, and therefore the country, stood for. | | | | |
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< | This was the reality Emmanual faced as he considered what to do about what he was discovering. The archives contained the forgotten laws that protected communities and provided environmental safeguards that could still be used to mount a legal resistance. More than that the archives held stories. Stories of hope in the face of oppression. Emmanuel knew that bringing these stories to light would ignite a new wave of resistance. His only goal was to find justice, no matter how hard it hid itself from view. | >
> | What made the regime truly dangerous was not just their ability to control information, but their ability to control hope. The regime’s propaganda machine worked overtime to convince people that resistance was futile. They promoted a narrative that their rule was the natural order of things, and those who fought against it were fighting against the very future itself. Environmental justice, once a signal for progress, had been twisted into a tool for authoritarian control. | | | | |
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I'm surprised you think there will still be a reason to burn petroleum in 150 years. | >
> | As a lawyer, Emmanuel knew he was never far from evil. Going against the regime was dangerous, risky, but necessary. The business of civil rights law was the business of civil resistance, rebellion, and disobedience. The road that Emmanuel was heading down, in fighting for Mr. Trinket, uncovering government secrets, would be daunting. Yet, Emmanuel paid this no mind. He loved justice more than hating injustice, and allowed that love to take him to the deepest and darkest depths to see justice prosper. | | | | |
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< | One can't do much "world-building" or establish much of a narrative premise in 1,000 words, particularly if you use much space for scriptural quotations, so I think it's fair to say this is quite efficient in that it works at all. Probably you have in your imagination the epic to which this is prologue; the reader, of course, doesn't. But despite some flat-footed sentences, it's an interesting start.
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> | This was the reality Emmanuel faced as he considered what to do about his discoveries. The archives contained the forgotten strategies that protected communities and provided environmental safeguards used to mount a legal resistance. More than that, the archives held stories. Stories of hope in the face of oppression. Emmanuel knew that if these stories were brought to light, they would reignite a new wave of resistance. His only goal was to find justice, no matter how hard it hid itself from view. | | |
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CamHumphreyFirstEssay 2 - 27 Apr 2025 - Main.EbenMoglen
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| | | March 21, 2082 | |
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Looks like a 100-year typo to me....
| | | The new regime claimed to be restoring order to a chaotic nation. Their rise was built on fear. Seeking justice, as if the regime did not provide for it, was seen as a tool of division – an extreme deviation from what the regime, and therefore the country, stood for.
What made the regime truly dangerous was not just their ability to control information but their ability to control hope. The regime’s propaganda machine worked overtime to convince people that resistance was futile. They promoted a narrative that their rule was the natural order of things, and that those who fought against it were fighting against the very future itself. Environmental justice, once a signal for progress, had been twisted into a tool for authoritarian control. | | | But as a lawyer, Emmanuel knew he was never far from evil. Going against the regime was a dangerous and risky business. The business of civil rights law was the business of civil disobedience. What he was doing, uncovering government secrets could be considered treason. Emmanuel paid this no mind. His father had always told him to love justice more than hating injustice, and to allow that love to take him to the deepest and darkest depths to see that justice prosper.
This was the reality Emmanual faced as he considered what to do about what he was discovering. The archives contained the forgotten laws that protected communities and provided environmental safeguards that could still be used to mount a legal resistance. More than that the archives held stories. Stories of hope in the face of oppression. Emmanuel knew that bringing these stories to light would ignite a new wave of resistance. His only goal was to find justice, no matter how hard it hid itself from view. | |
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I'm surprised you think there will still be a reason to burn petroleum in 150 years.
One can't do much "world-building" or establish much of a narrative premise in 1,000 words, particularly if you use much space for scriptural quotations, so I think it's fair to say this is quite efficient in that it works at all. Probably you have in your imagination the epic to which this is prologue; the reader, of course, doesn't. But despite some flat-footed sentences, it's an interesting start.
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CamHumphreyFirstEssay 1 - 21 Feb 2025 - Main.CamHumphrey
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The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’” – Matthew 25:41-43
Part I: The Judgment of Nations
“In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There, I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people of Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. – Joel 3:1-3.
November 21, 2180
Environmental justice, the hallmark of the last century’s struggle, had been fully realized. The scars of environmental racism, had on the surface, healed. This was the work of the Humphrey Administration beginning in 2037. From day one, the Humphrey administration worked tirelessly to put an end to extractive and polluting industries and enact legislation that established environmental justice as a core tenant of American Democracy.
But over one hundred years of environmental peace have become undone in the last few years. A far-right regime took power in over a hundred years for the first time. Emmanuel, a young civil rights lawyer, was the son of a prominent civil rights lawyer trained in the era of environmental justice that ensured that every law remained in service of equality and ecological balance. Emmanuel grew up holding on to those lessons from his father. Yet the world he had been taught to defend was facing something it had never before seen – a red scare far worse than Donald Trump was here.
September 30, 2181
An elderly man came into the law office where Emmanuel worked in the low country of South Carolina. The man wanted to file a complaint claiming that the government was illegally seizing his land to tap newfound oil reserves discovered on the man’s property. The man owned land off the coast of the Gullah Geechee Islands and the land was in his family dating back to the Reconstruction period in the late 1800s. Emmanuel did not see any success for the man. Those environmental justice laws that would protect the man were now nothing but old dusty relics lost seemingly for good. But the man was adamant that he had a successful claim by mentioning a law from the 2040s that protected communities of color from displacement under the guise of environmental projects. Emmanuel had never heard of the law. He swore all of the laws had been repealed. But the man’s unwavering belief led Emmanuel to indulge.
Determined to find out more, Emmanuel visited the man’s home. In the man’s library was a treasure trove of where dissent still lived and whispers of a buried history thrived. Emmanuel had stumbled upon something remarkable, something that could save the future of the country, yet again. The man, who apparently was a former computer expert, had hidden files encrypted on a secret server that contained stories of the last great environmental battles over a hundred years ago. The files contained more than just a forgotten history. They held the golden key to understanding the present moment and resisting the new regime’s agenda. Emmanuel had to act, but the question was how.
Part II: True Fasting (Isaiah 58:6-10)
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” – Isaiah 58:6.
March 21, 2082
The new regime claimed to be restoring order to a chaotic nation. Their rise was built on fear. Seeking justice, as if the regime did not provide for it, was seen as a tool of division – an extreme deviation from what the regime, and therefore the country, stood for.
What made the regime truly dangerous was not just their ability to control information but their ability to control hope. The regime’s propaganda machine worked overtime to convince people that resistance was futile. They promoted a narrative that their rule was the natural order of things, and that those who fought against it were fighting against the very future itself. Environmental justice, once a signal for progress, had been twisted into a tool for authoritarian control.
But as a lawyer, Emmanuel knew he was never far from evil. Going against the regime was a dangerous and risky business. The business of civil rights law was the business of civil disobedience. What he was doing, uncovering government secrets could be considered treason. Emmanuel paid this no mind. His father had always told him to love justice more than hating injustice, and to allow that love to take him to the deepest and darkest depths to see that justice prosper.
This was the reality Emmanual faced as he considered what to do about what he was discovering. The archives contained the forgotten laws that protected communities and provided environmental safeguards that could still be used to mount a legal resistance. More than that the archives held stories. Stories of hope in the face of oppression. Emmanuel knew that bringing these stories to light would ignite a new wave of resistance. His only goal was to find justice, no matter how hard it hid itself from view. |
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