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I’ve been silent and I’m sorry I’ve not been here for you.
I’ve been here. (I’ve just been silent, and I’m sorry.)
I’m here.
I saw this coming thirteen years ago. It began with their false allegations that Barack Obama was not born an American. Then they bought guns and joined hate groups in record numbers when he became the Democratic nominee. Then, once he became president they began denigrating the office. They shouted “You lie!” at him as he addressed Congress, in a breach of decorum unseen in the modern era. They vowed to make him a one-term president. They undermined his authority by refusing to hold a hearing on his supreme court nominee. They began killing Black children and adults in increased numbers, and most often the killers were not brought to justice. They tried to deny and demean him – us – at every turn. Then they elected a man so unsuited for leadership, so gross in his misuse of people and ethics, because that man promised to Make America (White) Again.
Last week I saw a tweet that read, “On a scale from terrified to furious, where are you?” It’s a false binary: I’m terrified and furious. If you’re only furious, be grateful that you’re not terrified. And ask yourself why you are not terrified and why others might be?
This is a teetering moment. As when twelve years of Reconstruction was brought to a halt by the rise of the KKK and Jim Crow. Let us learn from that earlier time. Let us not stand watch as others try to undo a democracy of multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious people.
A college friend of mine named Xavier Briggs is a part of the Biden-Harris Transition Team. On a call with him and some others three days after the insurrection, Xav said that he is quite optimistic about what the new administration will accomplish. This degree of hope from an educated, thoughtful, engaged, insider buoyed me. He told me that his inspiration for what lies ahead comes from Nelson Mandela, whom, in Xav’s words, managed to “seduce” his political enemies – the Apartheid leaders – into embracing a multi-ethnic, multi-racial democracy one relationship at a time. Xav urges us all to read the book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation. Yes, this is the book that inspired the wonderful movie Invictus starring Morgan Freeman. But read the book. And if you buy it online, use Bookshop.org which gives a portion of all of its sales to independent bookstores.
And if you can stand something a little avant garde and appreciate abstract expressionism, here’s the poem I wrote in 2012 when I was starting to try to make sense of the growing drumbeat of white supremacy.
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