Month: September 2020

During the past few weeks, I’ve been reminded of my childhood when a kid who was older, bigger, and stronger set the rules of a game and then reset them in order to win. It wasn’t uncommon for the bully to change the rules in the middle of a particular game if he felt a loss was looming. I recall my utter frustration and confusion over unreliable rules that ensured my loss and the other child’s win. My cries of unfairness were usually ignored, laughed at, or provided with a bogus excuse. However, the result of the rule changes always lead to my bewildering loss and a gloating winner. I wondered how someone who won by cheating, could be so happy with the win. I’m still puzzled by that. The sad part is that I didn’t know how to stop the shameless cheater then and I can see that we collectively don’t know what to do about the shameless cheaters in our politics now.

It frightens and frustrates me that there are adult human beings in political leadership positions who believe it is acceptable to lie, cheat, suppress the vote, conceal evidence, and steal to win an election to remain in power. For these people, winning means everything. I don’t know if they feel they must win to satisfy personal ambitions or because they truly believe that the policies they will enact are best for the American people. It could be a bit of both. But with 200,000 dead Americans, I’m tending to believe that they simply egotistical power hungry politicians. With the level of COVID-19 spread, the economic disaster, the racial unrest, White House corruption, and a climate that is screaming at us to change our ways, how can these power grabbers genuinely believe that their ideas are better than their oppositions?

If it is true that they believe that their ideas are better for Americans, then why don’t they make the case for those ideas without resulting to lying, cheating and tactics to steal two Supreme Court justice seats? It appears that their personal integrity, their honor, their credibility, goodwill, and actual fairness mean less to them than winning in the moment. I want to hear about how they will improve healthcare, protect the lives of the living not just the unborn, provide equal protection under the law, equitable opportunities, and how they will prevent climate change from ending civilization.

How does a nation move forward and effectively address pressing issues when its political leaders show themselves to be this unscrupulous? How do people trust anything that comes out of their representatives’ mouths? The better question is how do we rid ourselves of political leaders who do not deserve to lead us?

I think the answer is to be as unrelenting in calling a lie a lie as they are about lying. It is to expose the cheating on a massive scale. It is to shine a bright light on the thieves as they are trying to steal. And then it is to ban together to vote them out by overwhelming majorities in all fifty states by helping each other to overcome every obstacle they put in our way. I applaud Michael Bloomberg and LeBron James for paying the legal fines of 32,000 ex-felons in Florida so they can retain the right to vote. This is one way the cheaters can be dealt with.

When I was a child, I felt helpless against the older and bigger cheater. It didn’t occur to me that I had options. I could have called for a parent or teacher to enforce the rules. I could have quit and refused to play with that child. Or I could have announced to all the other kids that this particular child was a cheater and not worth playing with. I did none of those things and suffered unfair losses. What will we do as we are now faced with Republicans who will tell any lie, make it difficult for Democrats to vote, conceal any ugly truth, and change the rules when it suits them to the detriment of the country and the environment? If we do nothing or very little, we will continue to lose.

Every American who has ever lived through or read about oppression should be terrified by the prospect that Trump will nominate and McConnell will move to confirm a Supreme Court Justice to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. May she rest in peace. Our task in this very moment is to raise our voices and our fists in order to prevent the unabashed hypocrisy of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who refused to give Obama’s nominee a hearing in 2016 because he claimed it was too close to a presidential election. In 2016 the election was 300 days away; today it is only 43 days away. If the Court becomes more conservative, the majority will soon experience the oppression of a right wing religious minority. It feels reminiscent of that book and Hulu television drama, “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

However, I’m really not exaggerating by using the word “oppression”. It is a harsh and scary word that means being subject to prolonged cruel and unjust treatment or control. History warns us that the Supreme Court stands between whether Americans are free or oppressed. The Court once decided who is human and who is not fully human, deeming African Americans as “chattel” and only 2/3 human. The Supreme Court decided who was “white” and could therefore be a citizen of this nation, could own businesses, could buy property, get certain jobs, serve on juries, were deserving of justice, and could vote. The Court upheld Jim Crow Laws for 100 years. The Court decided on a woman’s reproductive rights. It decided on the legality of Obamacare that provided health insurance for millions of Americans. It decided on Affirmative Action that literally forced open college doors and occupations previously closed to women and people of color. It decided the fate of same sex marriage. It made George Bush president instead of Al Gore. It was the Court that turned corporations into people. These are only a small fraction of the decisions from the Court that determine our quality of life in this nation.

Another Trump appointee to the Court could literally turn back the clock on women’s rights, minority rights, immigrant rights, same sex couples rights, and a host of other issues near and dear to the majority of Americans. When a religious minority who don’t value science are in control of the Courts, the earth itself is in peril. When religious minorities believe they have the corner on morality and the will of God, then the lives and livelihoods of non-believers and people who believe differently are in peril. I may be a Christian, but I don’t believe in forcing my beliefs down people’s throats.

Beyond physical peril, the education and mindset of the nation is at state. I watched in horror yesterday as Trump blamed history teachers for the unrest in the nation. He proclaimed they teachers should be teaching history with an eye towards recreating patriotism as opposed to exposing some ugly truths about our nation. Imagine a Court that says science teachers must teach creation, history teachers must gloss over negative historical facts, that whiteness is superior, that gender is limited to male and female at birth, and that contraceptive education is banned along with abortion.

Even though I am older and Christian and so I won’t likely personally suffer from the affects of decisions made by an ultra conservative Court, I’m still an empathetic human being who cares about how well young people will be able to live. So, this morning I wrote directly to Mitch McConnell urging him to wait on this nomination hearing like he did in 2016. I participated in a national poll to amplify the voices of we who are in opposition to it. If need be, I will gladly protest against any hearings scheduled for a nominee. I predict that if McConnell confirms a new justice to the Court this year that national unrest will ensue with greater vigor than we’ve seen. And with good reason.

It is time for us to join forces to denounce the hypocrisy of Mitch McConnell and to hold Republican senators across this nation accountable for their hypocrisy along with their silence and consent in favor of the most corrupt, morally depraved, and lawless president in history. We will have the leaders and kind of country we are willing to vote for or we will suffer under the tyranny of the few who do the voting.

When I was eleven years old, I recall for the first time feeling like this was my world, too, and that I should have just as much say in how it operates as anyone else. I don’t recall the exact event that inspired the thought, but my mother validated my declaration and actually empowered me to do some things. I was fearless, creative, a bit reckless, and certainly naive. What I didn’t understand at the time was that empowerment needed to be accompanied by enablement. Having the authority (empowerment) to do something and possessing the means (enablement) to do it are two separate things. I am eternally grateful to my mother for encouraging my sense of empowerment by putting forth resources (time and money) to enable me to follow through on many of my youthful exploits.

I took that new sense of empowerment and proclaimed that I should be able to decorate my own bedroom. My mother’s response was not only agreement, but shopping trips with her wallet wide open. I was into blue in those days and so I painted my walls a sky blue. I wanted an additional twin bed for a friend or cousin who might sleep over and she purchased it. I selected fabric for my curtains and two royal blue velvet bedspreads with matching headboards I fell in love with. She purchased them all. I selected and she paid for the new lamps, shelves, throw rugs, and pillows. I painted the walls, installed the shelves, sewed the curtains and put them up all by myself. l loved the finished product. But most importantly, by creating my own space as an eleven year old girl, I felt powerful and in control of my environment for the first time. My self-esteem and confidence blossomed to the extent that I dreamed up and took on other projects that at first only impacted my life and later those in the community.

The mindset that this is my world, too, has never left me and I’ve spent my life trying to encourage my children and my students to believe that they have the power and responsibility to influence and help shape the world for good. For women and people of color, this is a relatively new concept. Oppression is forced impotence in the minds of people through violence. For much of U.S. history, blacks and other people of color were made powerless through laws and violence. In the 1950’s it took the joint efforts of oppressed people and their allies to change the laws. As the late John Lewis said, they decided to get into “good trouble” by using what they had, their bodies. Perhaps my mother’s lesson to me about empowerment came from the Civil Rights Movement we were living through. Empowerment has to be accompanied by enablement. And the Civil Rights leaders were enabled by their bodies, their numbers, their pain, and their strong passion for right. They used the tools of their voice, their numbers, their organizing, and their courage. A person can only do what is in his or her heart and mind to do if he or she is able. Given the right resources and tools, we can be a force for change if we want it. Right now, I have turned my sights on changing the political leadership in our nation.

I’m a patriot and this is my nation, too, so I’m determined to use every tool and resource I have to help oust Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and to help elect Joe Biden. I am forever grateful to the Civil Rights warriors for my expanded tool box so that today my power and capability can be fearlessly directed in my blog and social media postings. I can use my pocketbook to donate to the campaigns of Biden and McGrath (McConnell’s opponent). I will use my “blood-purchased” vote to help select Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this November. I’m thankful for others who continue to take to the streets, phones, use their art, music, athletic platform, and speeches to combat the white supremacy that seeks to maintain the remaining bastions of oppression.

As Americans we are empowered and enabled by our Constitution to protest, to express ourselves, and to vote. We have the power and the ability to design or redesign the destiny of this nation. Others made the ultimate sacrifice to not only empower but to enable us to make changes for the greater good. Let’s take our power and use our tools and resources to do what is good, right, and just in November. If nothing else, we have the power and the ability to vote. And for many of us, that was not always the case.

When I was a kid I discovered that embellished stories and outright lies were more compelling, attention getting, and sometimes “ass-saving” than simple truths. Adults were amused, entertained, moved, impressed, and sometimes acted based on my lies. At first I thought that this was a good thing. My exaggerations and false words were powerful. However, I soon learned that embellishing stories and telling lies often had dire consequences. I recognized that real people could be hurt by my lies. I soon understood that the damage to my personal credibility was too high a price to pay for momentary gratification. And because of these early lessons, I grew to value personal integrity as a virtue and a way of life. I think similar experiences have had the same kind of moderating effect on most people’s behavior. But what happens when a person who is prone to lying is addicted to the attention, craves constant adoration, is overly ambition, is shielded from consequences associated with his lies, and doesn’t give a damn about hurting other people?

What happens is what we are living through in this moment in our nation’s history: A liar in the White House. A liar who is addicted to applause and power. And so the outlandish lies just keep coming via tweets and public interviews. They get aired on television and repeated by Fox News commentators and radio hosts and end up on social media and then they are either silently ignored or endorsed by Republican politicians and religious leaders seeking Trump approval to further their own agendas. The lies are false accusations like, Biden wants to defund the police. Lies like voting by mail causes voter fraud. They take the form of saying you will protect Social Security while seeking to decrease the tax dollars to pay for it. They take the form of associating Black Lives Matter with violent protest groups. It’s saying a deadly pandemic will magically disappear. It’s claiming to be a Christian who doesn’t need forgiveness while being unable to name a single Bible verse that is meaningful to you. It is calling the press the enemy of the people. It is claiming to be pro-life when you separate babies from their parents and refuse to promote wearing a mask during a pandemic. It is saying whatever comes to mind that will boost his ego or gain applause no matter how ridiculous.

The outlandish lies garner attention and capture the imagination of desperate people who want to be entertained, to feel relevant, or who feel threatened by the changing diversity in the U.S. These people grasp unto lies like we’re going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it. These people grasp unto lies like people coming through our southern borders are rapist and murders. They grasp unto lies like trade deals are really easy. Such a person easily stokes underlying fears, elevates deep seated prejudices, readily incites violence, and poisons the morality and reputations of otherwise decent people. Such a person is dangerous. And when the lies are continuously met with silence, or worse, complicity, all hell breaks loose. The chaos we are experiencing today has Donald Trump stamped on it as the creator.

It is difficult to counteract outlandish lies, especially when the lies are more interesting, salacious, emotive, inflammatory, and provocative than the truth. But if they are not loudly exposed every time, then the truth itself is co-opted. Americans must beware. We are obviously not immune to being dazzled by the cult of personality and we can be led down the same road that Nazi Germany was by a loud and bullying personality like Adolf Hitler. History is screaming at us that Donald Trump is not much different. Hitler wasn’t taken seriously until it was too late. The opposition within his own party were silenced through intimidation and later through death. Sound familiar? And our consequences will be just as dire if we are not careful.

We are already seeing that those who get caught up in his lies are at risk of damaging themselves and others. I think about the 28 year old man, Edgar Maddison Welch, who fired on a pizza parlor with an assault rifle, believing that he was disrupting a Hillary Clinton child sex ring. Or Trump supporters who attended his political rally without social distancing and masks and got infected with Coronavirus. Herman Cain was at that rally and is now dead from COVID-19. For Trump, there is no attention getting, self-promotion, self-aggrandizing lie he won’t tell.

If we allow it, the lies will take over like they did in Nazi Germany. The truth will be snuffed out and decent people pushed aside in favor of the murderous few. At this moment, our fate is in our hands. Will we allow our friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors to be enamored by outlandish lies every day until the truth is completely buried and more innocent lives are loss? The choice is ours. The vote in November has never been more consequential.