The year was 2008. I was young, in college, and I had this notion in my head that the world was changing, that humanity's collective work to make the world a more peaceful, inclusive place was finally paying off, and that I was lucky enough to be a part of the generation that brought about huge social change. Back then, I thought the election of Barrack Obama signified a clear shift in the American narrative toward a more liberal period, a time where people who looked like me would be accepted by...well, the people who provide you with a paycheck. We weren't asking for much. We just wanted a place at the table. We never really got that place at the table, and, though I may not always agree with Barrack Obama, it would be silly to blame him for this. He did the best he could with a crappy situation, that being that he was an agent for change in a nation that was directly opposed to change. As soon as Obama realized that he could not pass anything through the senate without pretending to be a Reagan era conservative I knew that any hope we had for real change was over. This realization led me down a very dark path of despair that I will not go into here. It really devastated me to know that this was the result of the protests, and the essays. Another Reagan era conservative, another screw job for people like me. I have come to expect that from America: screw job after screw job. But one thing did not surprise me in 2008, and that was the coexist movement. I saw it coming from a mile away. The Catholic Church's last big attempt to convert the heathen. Don't get me wrong, they didn't lead with that. They were sure to use all the right buzz words: "peace", "acceptance", and the ever so important, yet entirely vague, "tolerance" were preached as if they were in Leviticus. It was the new law of the land. The Catholic Church had given up its oppressive history for coexistence. Everywhere there was rejoicing. Even popular politicians were photographed with the new popular Pope Francis, as if he was their cool uncle who was going to give everyone free candy. Francis enjoyed a huge surge in popularity for saying things like "homosexuals are children of god" and "atheists do not have to go to hell". This was seen as progressive by popular liberals on the alternative and popular news channels. It was a uniform reaction to a bunch of meaningless statements, so I knew back then something was awry. Meanwhile, the Catholic church has continued to hide priests, and protect priests who have committed crimes. They have still failed to release various records that may indicate their priests and nuns in child sex abuse cases. How much could this benevolent, hip new pope actually do to change such an old, and seemingly unchangeable organization? Were we supposed to believe that he could somehow wipe away hundreds of years of tyranny by simply saying "my bad"? America seemed to think so. All of a sudden you could not look at someone's laptop or backpack without seeing a coexist sticker. There were coffee mugs, t-shirts, banners, the whole nine yards. Yep, the Catholic church was making money, and promoting "peace" at the same time. It's funny how people like Pope Francis, who advertised for the catholic church's coexist movement, seem to cry foul when evangelicals get to talking. It almost seems like they're old rivals jockeying for position or something, but the official narrative of American history has told us that is simply out of the question. So why did Pope Francis mislead the gay and black communities into thinking they had a future in the Vatican? Why was everyone telling me this was a liberal pope as he simultaneously was disrupting the hard work that activists did to secure the right to abortion, gay marriage, and racial equality? Why is this pope ritualistically given a pass because he used to hang out with Obama? Is this the "logic" that the "facts" based movement is boasting about? It is. Welcome to the coexist is over party!