Happy Anniversary, Jussie!

His bravery lives on

Cast your mind back, dear reader, to this date a full five years ago: January 29, 2019.

Joe Biden is assumed to be planning a presidential run at the age of 76. A Quarter Pounder with Cheese sets you back $3.89. Sports Illustrated still exists, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an unstoppable critical and box-office phenomenon, and Taylor Swift is dating some British actor nobody knows or cares much about. You’ve never heard of COVID-19, or Disney Plus, or “WAP.”

A simpler time.

And on this date, in the middle of the coldest Chicago night in decades, a very famous actor named Jussie Smollett goes out for a sandwich and is attacked on the street by a couple of guys wearing red baseball hats. The vicious right-wing thugs splatter him with bleach and tie a clothesline around his neck while screaming, “You’re that [N-word] [F-word] from [FOX soap opera] Empire” and “This is MAGA country.”

It’s a deeply disturbing assault that definitely isn’t complete caca del toro.

The reaction among our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters is rapid and fierce: