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You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Acts of Kindness: Let’s Go Brandon

Acts of Kindness: Let’s Go Brandon

by | 48 Comments

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Today, I’m going to focus on a single family. Sheletta Brundidge is a writer, comedian, and parent with kids on the spectrum.  Following her on twitter is a joy. After the Uvalde shooting, they traveled to Uvalde and delivered a thousand books to the library and gift baskets from MN. Only one of her many acts of kindness.

But this is what caught my eye:

Here are the photos in that tweet (click to embiggen):

 

That letter from Presiden Biden, because he is (a) a good person and (b) unbothered by incoherent rants from the … I’ll stop there since this is a kindness post.

After that tweet, sales of the book (her third children’s book) went through the roof, I was one of the buyers.  And it’s led to some special moments including this one:

If you don’t know the story, Brandon Brown’s win is what started the ugly chant. He wanted to change that. This gave him the opportunity.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (AP) — Brandon Brown wanted a way to change the narrative behind the “Let’s go, Brandon” message after his first career NASCAR victory inadvertently fostered a chant that has been used to insult President Joe Biden.

Brown found that new message thanks to the family of an 8-year-old child with autism.

Brandon Brundidge of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, was on a spring-break trip to Houston in March and saw signs with the “Let’s go, Brandon” slogan. Brundidge believed the signs were meant to encourage him. He consequently started trying activities he’d never attempted before, such as learning to swim and removing the training wheels from his bicycle.

His mother, Sheletta Brundidge, used that story to write a children’s book titled, “Brandon Spots His Sign.” Brown had the cover of Brundidge’s book on the hood of his Camaro for his Xfinity Series race Saturday at Road America.

“To have this come through was like that breakthrough moment for us,” Brown said. “This can be positive. This can be good. It doesn’t have to be hateful or divisive.”

NASCAR driver Brandon Brown visits with Sheletta Brundidg, left, and her son Brandon on Saturday at Road America. Sheletta Brundidge wrote a children’s book in her son’s honor after Brandon Brundidge saw “Let’s go, Brandon” signs and assumed they were cheering him on.

This divisiveness had started after Brown earned his first career NASCAR victory last October.

The crowd at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama chanted “F— Joe Biden” during the winner’s post-race interview. NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast incorrectly told Brown the fans were chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon.”

From that point, “Let’s go, Brandon,” became a rallying cry for Biden critics, with signs bearing that message popping up all over. Brown unintentionally found himself in the middle of the firestorm that surrounded these chants.

“I’ve just been hopeful that I could make it a positive, I could have my name back and not have it be so divisive and scary, where it wouldn’t be a political statement for my friends and family to cheer me on during a race,” Brown said.

================

“I’m sorry for what you went through all of this past year,” Sheletta Brundidge told Brown on Saturday. “I know it’s been horrible. But I’m so glad it happened because this child would not have this breakthrough (otherwise). He still would be afraid to ride his bike without training wheels. He’s literally walking up to kids and passing out this book. He would have never done that (before).”

more at the link

 

 

And this isn’t her first book to be inspired by one of her kids, her book Daniel Finds His Voice is her second children’s book:

This really highlights that there are soooo many good people out there. It brightened several of my days as the story grew.

=======================

And finally, here’s your weekly critter pic. That look that says, what? what did I do to make you frown like that?

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Trixie decided as I was rushing to get ready to go see a client yesterday, that she would get into some trouble. The best part? While watering the tomatoes earlier in the morning, my hose burst (it came with the house, so who knows how old it is) and I had no way to hose her off. Luckily I have a large supply of “dog towels” for just such an occasion.  She’s 9 months old this week. She’s such a good dog. Here are some photos of her and Scout for the occasion. 

That’s it for today. Be kind. Especially to yourself.

 

NOTE: I am aware tonight’s topic might trigger some less than kind responses. I KNOW this because I feel them and I have to work to remember a bunch of folks are trying to create good from this. I would like to remind everyone that I’ve created these posts to give everyone a mental health break, so please try and keep the comments in line with that. Plenty of places to rage on the blog. Let’s be kind in this one spot. Thank you  xoxo

 

 

Reader Interactions

48Comments

  2. 2.

    Scout211

    I’m not crying, you’re crying!

    Oh my. Such beautiful stories.

    Thank you, TaMara.

  5. 5.

    jnfr

    Love the Brandon story so much. I had seen the first bit, but I really appreciate that you’ve posted the follow-up. How nice for both young Brandon and the original guy who didn’t want any of this.

  6. 6.

    Starfish

    I love that you do these posts. People really do need them so much right now.

  7. 7.

    Jacel

    When I started seeing the words “Let’s Go Brandon” turn up, I first thought it was in support of San Francisco Giant shortstop Brandon Crawford as a prospective NL Most Valuable Player. Glad there’s additional positive purposes for that phrase.

  8. 8.

    SpaceUnit

    The Trumpies who put up those “Let’s Go Brandon” signs would be horrified by this.

  12. 12.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I saw the Brandon story earlier and so happy to see it broadcast here. The story at the top about Sheletta Brundidge’s mission to help the children and librarians in Uvalde is too amazing for words!

  13. 13.

    TaMara

    @SpaceUnit:

    @geg6:

    I am so grateful in all of this that Brandon Brown was able to remove that stain. He seems like a kind and caring person who did not deserve to be wrapped up in all of this.

    All for the innocence of one child…lives are changed for the better.

  14. 14.

    Mnemosyne

    There is something very powerful about being able to turn people’s hateful words another direction. It’s one of the reasons LGBT people have worked so hard to reclaim the word “queer.”

  16. 16.

    SpaceUnit

    @Kropacetic:

    Exactly.  Plus, now there’s a Black kid in their swimming pool.

    They’re probably curled up in a ball on the floor of their basement with their crumpled signs in their fists.  Too funny.

    Fuckem indeed.

  18. 18.

    Kropacetic

    @TaMara: I am so grateful in all of this that Brandon Brown was able to remove that stain. He seems like a kind and caring person who did not deserve to be wrapped up in all of this.

    I loved the messages he was putting out there about this (that were posted here).  He legitimately seems kind.

    @Mnemosyne: There is something very powerful about being able to turn people’s hateful words another direction. It’s one of the reasons LGBT people have worked so hard to reclaim the word “queer.”

    When I run into someone who’s on some homophobic shit, I can be accepting in a way that turns them around quick.

    Krop – ::Posts pride month symbol on my game emblem::

    Rando – “Gay homo, gay homo, gay homo”

    Krop – “It’s nice to be seen.”

    Rando – ::Grumble::

    It often veers into flirty too. Technique has even produced new friends.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    @Mnemosyne:

    There is something very powerful about being able to turn people’s hateful words another direction

     

    Fine American tradition too. See Yankee Doodle Dandy.

  21. 21.

    sab

    Boy these check all the boxes. I have an 8 year old mixed race grand-daughter on the spectrum.

  23. 23.

    Cameron

    What a lovely story.  The good guys win, and the bad guys helped them. Doesn’t get much better.

  24. 24.

    Gvg

    I remember wondering what the actual race winner named Brandon thought of his win being turned into coded hate speech at the time, but no reporter that I read ever seemed to even think to ask. I did not think about his family though.

  26. 26.

    zhena gogolia

    @TaMara: Yes, this is so sweet.

    And how can anybody not like Joe Biden??? It boggles my mind. He’s clearly working so hard for the country every day. His approval rating should be 73% (minus 27).

  29. 29.

    SpaceUnit

    @zhena gogolia:

    Corporate media has been working overtime to convince me that Joe Biden is unpopular since the day after he won the election by 7 million votes.

  30. 30.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Jacel:

    1. Dansby Swanson is MVP

    2. There is a Tesla near me with that sticker on it. Didn’t think asshole trumpers drove EVs, but maybe Elon’s idiotic behavior has driven (ha!) them to buy his cars.

  31. 31.

    TaMara

    @Mike E: More Larry!

     

  35. 35.

    Anotherlurker

    @Steve in the ATL: I don’t get the MVP reference and its connection to a a-hole who drives a Tesla.

    Swanson is a great ballplayer and this opinion comes from a Mets fan. I know nothing else about him.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
     

    There is a Tesla near me with that sticker on it. Didn’t think asshole trumpers drove EVs, but maybe Elon’s idiotic behavior has driven (ha!) them to buy his cars.

    I think one of the best things Tesla has done is to convince people that electric cars aren’t just for tree-hugging liberals. They’ve made electric cars cool and desirable, which is a huge step in getting knuckle draggers to give up on their internal combustion cars.

  37. 37.

    Ohio Mom

    TIL how “Let’s Go Brandon” became a thing. As dumb and hateful an origin story as I could have expected. Had no idea a race car driver was caught in the middle of it, poor guy.

    As an autism mom, I LOVE seeing both of these stories front-paged. I’ll say that starting to “echo” words heard, like a catch phrase, movie dialog or a song, can be an important first step to acquiring spoken language. I am sure a lot of autism families with children who are pre-verbal or are using echolalia will find Daniel Finds His Voice reassuring and inspiring.

    Now the Let’s Go Brandon book —
    children with autism tend to take things very literally so of course he thought the signs were for him. The whole story is one giant great turn of events. Happy for both the Brandons.

    I will be sending this post to a bunch of my autism mom friends.

  38. 38.

    Ohio Mom

    @Mnemosyne: I’ve been thinking for a while now that autistics are going to have to reclaim the word “autistic.” I see it used as a slur to mean antisocial, pyscopathic and/or self-involved.

    Or maybe they will move on to describing themselves with an alternate term. Neurodivergent seems to be catching on.

  40. 40.

    Mike in NC

    Saw a “Let’s go Brandon” bumper sticker on a pickup truck today. The license plate frame indicated to me that he was a cop. Shocking, I know.

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ohio Mom:

    It’s already a replacement for what we used to called “retarded,” unfortunately. Most of the people I know who call themselves autistic are adults, often ones who were only diagnosed as adults, so they may end up reclaiming it just by claiming the label.

    And “neurodivergent” covers both ADHD and autism since there’s a lot of crossover between us (I’m on the ADHD side, not the autism side).

  42. 42.

    CarolPW

    @Ohio Mom: ​
     I was fascinated when I read the book by the dad of an autistic kid who started communicating by using stuff the Disney cartoon helpers said (the kid had all of it memorized). He couldn’t put together his own words but could take appropriate chunks out of the Disney script and communicate that way. It was really astonishing.

  43. 43.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Mnemosyne:

     

    It’s already a replacement for what we used to called “retarded,”

    You’re referring to “let’s go, Brandon!”, right?

  45. 45.

    Ohio Mom

    @CarolPW: I didn’t read the book but i heard the dad speak about four years ago. It was intesting to hear what his son’s life is like now — at that point, pre-Covid, he was working part time in a movie theater.

    @Mnemosyne: Yeah, there was an attempt at “Respect is the new R word,” now we call it Intellectual Disability (ID). Doesn’t seem to stop people from using “retard” and “retarded” as slurs though — needless to say, the people doing so aren’t the type to keep up with changes in medical terminology.

    I have mixed feelings about the term neurodivergent because it is so non-specific and autism already suffers from being a garbage can of a diagnosis (I know two FAS children whose parents keep telling me they are autistic. Whatever gets you services but no, they are not autistic). But whatever label is adopted is not up to me.

  46. 46.

    West of the Cascades

    Thank you for this uplifting post – so wonderful to see that stupid hatefulism get turned into something good for Brandon Brundidge and thereafter for Brandon Brown.

    Also, seeing all the Larry the Cat posts, and autorefreshing the Guardian live blog totting up all of the resignations and dismissals, it makes me wonder whether, by tomorrow afternoon (London time), Larry will be heading at least three ministries in the UK cabinet, if not actually be the new Prime Minister.

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