America is on life support, needs to be intubated, but has no living will, resulting in all her children left to squabble over the best treatment. The doctors who care for her are worried that she only has a few days to live, unless some of her guardians step forward with courage and a plan to save her life.
Who loves her enough to save her? Where are the true patriots?
On Wednesday, January 6th, with both houses of Congress gathered to certify the election of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice-President, insurrectionists, supporters of Donald Trump, invaded the Capitol, America’s seat of power. This tyrannical act was carried out at the behest of Trump and publicly supported by about a dozen Republican Senators and over 100 Congressmen and women, elected officials sworn to protect the Constitution, but who found it politically expedient to feed lies to a devoted following who were only too willing to do their bidding.
As the world watched, Capitol police offered little resistance, many were attacked, one police officer was murdered and more than 50 others injured. From all indications, some police officers fought valiantly to protect the Congress, others did not grasp the seriousness, even giving directions to lawmakers’ offices, others took selfies with the mob, still more held doors and escorted the mob in and out of the Capitol. It will take months, maybe even years for a full account of what happened to be known, including who helped organize and pay for the “Save America Rally?” Who knew what, when, and why was there such a catastrophic intelligence failure? From what is gleaned, this coup went to the highest levels of government. No stone should be left unturned by the FBI and others as every instigator and participant should be brought to justice.
That the seditious act on our Congress would also result in yet a largely political and divisive response speaks volumes about the level of polarization infecting our country. It’s also a grim indicator of how sick the patient, our country, is. And, for those of us angered and disappointed, but not shocked, about the easy breach, possible aiding and abetting, glove treatment of tyrants, and subsequent excuses for inexcusable behavior, we draw from the wisdom of James Baldwin, “The Negro’s experience of the white world cannot possibly create in him any respect for the standards by which the white world claims to live. His own condition is overwhelming proof that white people do not live by these standards.”
Civil War historian and novelist Robert Penn Warren once noted, “when one is happy in forgetfulness, facts get forgotten.” It is my belief that our casual relationship with facts and our painful history contributed to the attack on the Capitol. Despite an overwhelming amount of warning signals, we have largely refused to acknowledge a number of things about our sordid past, creating the atmosphere for repeat performances. These include, our discomfort and lack of honest acknowledgment of the sin, cruelty and long shadow of slavery; the depth of violence embedded in our societal norms and the frequency with which we use it to solve problems; our proximity and coddling of white supremacy and domestic terrorism; our refusal to acknowledge why we fought a Civil War – yes, the South wanted to preserve slavery; the fact that the South lost the war and yet we built monuments honoring the seditionists; the continued elevation of the Confederate flag, a symbol of hate, as a way to preserve white supremacy; our very unequal society and presumed justice system, painfully underscored by the incident on the Capitol. Lastly, our devotedness to elevating and equating whiteness with innocence, to the extent that when danger stands before us, it is unrecognizable and renders us complacent and exposed.
Frederick Douglass, escaped slave and abolitionist, warned us against our complacency in a speech he gave attacking slavery around the time of the Civil War, “There is danger that, like some of our Generals in the field, who, after soundly whipping the foe, generously allow him time to retreat in order, reorganize his forces, and intrench himself in a new and stronger position, where it will require more power and skill to dislodge him than was required to vanquish him in the first instance.” We face a similar danger today in thinking insurrectionists should go free for the unity of our country. What unity? They are responsible for many of our divisions.
Like the Civil War, the revisionist machinery will be hard at work to produce compelling, alternate versions of reality. Our willingness to be constantly told the American exceptionalism narrative – a false one that makes us happy, comfortable and innocent is also part of why we allowed this to happen. Donald Trump did not appear overnight; he was given space to feed us the lies we like to hear. As racism often does, Trump’s appeal started with the taunting and spread of malicious lies about Obama’s place of birth. “He is not a US citizen”, he said. “He was born in Kenya and we need to see his birth certificate.” Many laughed, and others asked, “what’s the harm of producing a birth certificate?” So, the sitting president went on national television with his birth certificate, an act most Black folks knew that would not appease a racist. We gave voice and stature to racism as his reality star posture only whet our appetite. A new star was born, selected from among 17 Republican choices, pushed under the guise of someone not afraid to speak his mind, and so began our giddy embrace of our downfall.
The rise of Donald Trump is and was yet another attempt for white supremacy to take its “rightful” place, front and center of American life. And as he grew viler and bolder, the louder the cheers became. White power was losing its grip, but the “Messiah” would right the ship and so he was let loose with the biggest megaphone, armed with lies, conspiracy theories, networks and commentators devoted to amplifying his message, other networks willing to give him airtime to sure up their bottom (profits) line, and garnering a level of devotion from party leadership and the masses, surprising many in media – many who failed in their most basic duty and helped create Trumpism.
For more than a decade, many Blacks issued warnings and pleas, and were largely ignored, again revealing just how little weight is given to the cries of Black folks, many of whom spoke of this very real possibility. We were often the ones chastised, shunned and criticized. We did not love our country, we were often defamed as not loving or respecting our country, while white nationalists went unchecked. Trumpism and white supremacy, words that are sometimes synonymous, are nefarious and until we are willing to accept and excise these cancers and hold responsible their enablers, there will be no path to national unity.
We are not the grownup nation that we purport to be, but our future can be bright. We have to find the courage to fight for truth, equality for all, and country over politics. Witnesses, like all of us who survived the attack on the Capitol, have a responsibility to render an accurate account of what we saw; to remember, so that we learn the lessons and do not repeat the same mistakes.
There will be no healing without accountability and justice. More than 150 years after the Civil War, we are still fighting a war for the type of country we want to be. Douglass understood the significance of the Civil War, and what it would require to save our nation. His words are a timely reminder, “The world has witnessed many wars—and history records and perpetuates their memory—but the world has not seen a nobler and grander war than that which the loyal people of this country are now waging against the slaveholding rebels (and insurrectionists – added). The blow we strike is not merely to free a country or continent, but the whole world, from slavery; for when slavery (or democracy) fails here, it will fall everywhere. We have no business to mourn over our mission. We are writing the statutes of eternal justice and liberty in the blood of the worst of tyrants as a warning to all aftercomers. We should rejoice that there was normal life and health enough in us to stand in our appointed place, and do this great service for mankind.”
The patient – our country – is on life support and needs to be intubated. Calling real patriots to save her! Who will stand for America?
Intrepid Observer 