Rest in power, Michael Brooks (1983-2020)
"Be ruthless to systems, be kind to people" - Michael Brooks
Rest in power, Michael Brooks (1983-2020)
Hello, friends,
It was the year 2012 and I was living in a basement, lost, wandering, and finding my way into left politics. And although my brother ran for the mayorship of the little town we were born in, our family wasn’t “political” in any true meaning of the word. I remember becoming interested in politics, mostly in a very idiosyncratic way and basically on my own—animal rights, anti-Iraq war politics, climate change, and environmental conservation; these were some of the issues that moved me as a late teen early twenty-something.
I was a late bloomer; this is true in many senses of the word and I definitely have a more firm sense of why that might have been now that I’m into my thirties. All I knew then is that I was preternaturally and insatiably curious and I discovered that there were people like me. Online, through sheer determination and obsession, I found what is called “little magazines,” with small print runs but outsized passionate and committed devotees; these were Dissent and Jacobin. I felt so grateful to be able to jump into this world; I was hooked: and I still am. This brings me to Michael Brooks.
At this same time, I discovered the world of political podcasts, too, and I eventually switched my major from biology to political science because of Citizen Radio, Chris Hayes and his first show Up, and The Majority Report (TMR) w/ Sam Seder and Michael Brooks. There wasn’t a podcast I listened to more when I first discovered TMR in 2012 than it. It was my favorite. My first year after my switch from biology to political science, I remember walking to class one day and Sam was talking about patents and how much of a rent-seeking fraud the U.S. intellectual property system was; I thought, “cool, this podcast is going to get into policy details; awesome.” Michael Brooks was Sam Seder’s producer, and eventually, through sheer tenacity, will, and dedication to learning and understanding issues, his co-host on The Majority Report. Michael Brooks’ Thursdays and then Matt (another producer) and Mike Mondays were always such a treat. Michael brought interest and passion for foreign policy and international politics to the show. And Matt covered the rising “men’s rights activists” and anti-feminist and white nationalist movements that were brewing years before the mainstream learned that these tempests were back.
I didn’t have any friends at the time, and the parasocial relationship that I developed with Sam and Michael was formative. I quickly learned that this world was my world. I felt so alone at that time of my life, and Michael and Sam kept my spirit alive. And I learned so much from their first hour interviews with academics, activists, and comedians. Their curiosity, humor, and dedication to detail and commitment to policy— because policy is what determines if someone poor; or a single mother; or a laid-off worker receives health care, a life of dignity, more chances and opportunities—was palpable. They felt that and knew that practical politics is a matter of life and death. Then, the second hour, “the fun half,” was the sharpest, funniest political humor I’ve ever come across. This show helped build my confidence and who knows if I would be a Ph.D. candidate without it.
The more I learned about Michael, the more I related. He grew up poor; he and his mother and sister were on food stamps. Michael was also hilarious; his political impressions were better than any impressions I’ve ever heard. And he did these with compassion and he threaded needles that could have easily gotten misconstrued - but nobody misconstrued him because they knew where his heart was. Watching Michael late at night was always cathartic - he would finish your thoughts (and do so in a more articulate manner); he would make you laugh in a time when so many people have lost their sense of humor. My friend Steve pointed out that he doesn’t think there is anyone else on the left who could have passed away that would have seen such an outpouring because the left is obsessed with the “narcissism of small differences” as we are seeing today and last night for Michael. Everyone loved—no, loves—Michael Brooks.
Michael eventually started his own show, The Michael Brooks Show, and as Bhaskar Sunkara wrote, he finally—just now—was a bit financial secure for the first time in his life. His future was so bright and the world is a lot dimmer now that he is gone.
His eponymous show was the only show you could turn to that would, in the same show, interview an activist from Western Sahara who was discussing how Morocco was occupying his country, and then next he would have a smart conversation about how to help win Medicaid expansion; then, he would crack everyone up with his impression of Dave Rubin, Jordan Peterson, or Rightwing Mandela. And his laugh could lift the room; and it was contagious.
Just days ago he was interviewing Robert W. McChesney about media monopoly and world hunger. Michael has boatloads of patience for people but absolutely none for injustice. Michael can’t be replaced. The Michael Brooks left is the best left. His sister, Lisha Brooks, says Michael and him spoke almost daily and that he was her biggest champion. And, she said, Michael was becoming clear that the basic goal of making sure people had food security was a no brainer. Everyone who called in today to The Majority Report answered the question “was Michael as great in private as he seemed to be” with a resounding “yes.”
Michael Brooks - Impressions, memorials, and tweets
This special TMR episode (posted just below) from today is something I will never forget. I can’t believe how hard this hit me. Well…I can believe it but it’s not something you plan for, a 37-year-old suddenly dying from a blood clot and medical condition, according to his sister, that he wasn’t even aware he had. The episode today was cathartic, sad, beautiful. It’s just so heartwarming to hear everyone call in, names I knew from being a listener of this show and this community for 8 years now. Jamie, old Matt, new Matt, his lovely younger sister Lisha called in and broke all our hearts. Nomiki, Anna, Emma, Bhaskar - they all called in. Man, this is really the best community that I’ve ever known, period.
(1) The Majority Report from today.
(2) Nomiki Konst had a two-hour show today, honoring Michael.
Kelly Carey, another old producer for The Majority Report, and Nomiki Konst discussed how complex and compassionate Michael was. And Briahna Joy Gray, Bernie’s 2020 national press secretary, also jumped on to express how important Michael was to her. She said Michael was the first person to ever invite her onto a show to talk about her writing. Meagan Day (see below) shared similar experiences with Michael. All of this outpouring and love has been incredibly touching.
(3) Emma Vigeland’s, of RebelHQ, moving tribute
(4) Nation of Islam Obama; and a great compilation video of Michael’s impressions. As Jamie mentioned today on the show, trying to explain Michael’s impressions is difficult. What he did was let us all feel our frustrations. He made us laugh and we laughed because we needed to. We laughed because assholes who are trying to make the world a worse place laughed at misery. We laughed to feel connected in this fight. This levity wasn’t a joke. Michael did all kinds of idiosyncratic impressions that were satirical and as Sam Seder remarked in the Jacobin piece, satirical in nature. Meaning: the joke wasn’t actually what it appears to be at first. He never dumbed down his impressions and once you got them, oh man, you got them. They were beautiful, smart, and he never punched down. My favorite was his Nation of Islam Obama; and his Bernie or Bust Bill Clinton was hysterical.
(5) Michael’s book, Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right (2020) Today on the memorial show, it was recommended that people jump out and buy Michael’s first book; and to do so through independent book stores if you can. Well…people did. It is on backorder through IndieBound and it jumped to #1 today on Amazon, too. His discussion of the book and the larger political project of cosmopolitan leftism HERE is a good place to go to understand Michael.
Good job, Michael.
(6) Some nice written tributes to him from the last two days
“I Owe A Lot to Michael Brooks,” by Meagan Day, Jacobinmag.com (July 21, 2020).
“Remembering Our Friend and Comrade Michael Brooks,” by Bhaskar Sunkara, Jacobinmag.com (July 20, 2020).
~
Literally, as I was writing this, something weird happened on Messenger and my account sent some emojis to an old friend who I haven’t spoken to until—I had to look—the week after the 2016 election. And before that it was years. Well…I remembered that this friend was someone I met on lefty Tumblr 10 years ago. I asked if he had heard about Michael. He said yes, and he was watching some of the tributes and was watching the Nomiki tribute specifically right then. He told me that:
And, guess what, we plan on catching up more and we planned on a video chat next week to discuss politics and the world. Michael knew that friendships mattered dearly to a life well-lived. This moment felt serendipitous and full of synchronicity. Michael would smile at this.
~
I know this newsletter wasn’t the most sharply written. It was part of my grieving process. This one was for me. That said, I never understood public displays of grief and last night, I understood them. On Twitter, the “in Memorium Michael Brooks” thread got started. And it was trending in Brazil, in the U.S., and in the U.K. And we all were laughing together at how funny he was; people were sharing drawings; and clips. I never knew how many people were impacted by Michael. It was beautiful. Michael would have felt humbled and grateful. I think most of my readers were not familiar with Michael. But, for those who are, hello, and for those who aren’t, it’s hard to point you exactly to where to begin with him, but some of these links throughout this would be a start.
Let’s go defeat this monster in office on Nov. 3rd for Michael. This is the biggest loss I’ve felt from someone passing away who I’ve never met in person before.
I’ll leave with Michael’s words from just hours before he tragically passed away:
Rest in power, Michael.
- Patrick M. Foran