scrub

That tide has turned under President Xi Jinping, whose government is tightening controls on Pride events, restricting queer representation on TV and pressuring internet sites and platforms to scrub LGBTQ-friendly content.

He has also pledged to fire thousands of civil servants unless they pledge to be loyal to him, as well as scrub references to climate change from government documents.

Several officers said in anonymous declarations earlier this year that they were forced to add extra security at their homes and pay for online services to scrub their identities from internet searches.

Some of that is a product of an educational system scrubbed clean of inconvenient history and basic civics lessons by conservative lobbyists and politicians.

The scene was so familiar: the sour scent of the scrub brush and palms, the hillside homes glowing at dusk, the old burn in my calves.