Month: December 2020

I live in a nation wounded by insults cheered as entertainment turned toxic yet amplified by media as newsworthy

A place where truth itself is pierced by a barrage of lying arrows reaching the targeted ears of the vulnerable ripe for distortion

My country where many exchange a mythical America for reality, a noose around the neck of the strength of who we are together

A place where justice lies bleeding internally from repeated blows to the body of laws that once guided right and wrong and where wrongdoers now go unpunished

I mourn the 300,000 American deaths from a poisoned freedom that interprets freedom as a right to expose others to a deadly virus that knows no party and thrives on mythical thinking

This nation where a thousand cuts from the sharpened knives of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, and homophobia cover the bodies of the unemployed, environmentally poisoned, and food insecure everyday

My country where democracy itself remains on the chopping block with its spinal cord severed and a court of law blocking its final end.  For now.

I live in a nation where leaders cower in silent fear of the ruthless Trump Twitter pistol firing lethal rhetorical bullets at any righteous voice that dares to oppose him

So, who will rescue my nation in this final hour?  Who will bind our collective wounds with music, art, healing words, truth, kindness, and love for ourselves and others? Who will defend our nation by all means necessary?

The answer must be we ourselves

Both this election and this pandemic have revealed areas of systemic weakness in our society that are fixable if we put our collective voices and votes to work for us. At the top of my list is the prevalence of deadly misinformation campaigns, voter suppression tactics, and bigotry, all propagated by heterosexual white male supremacists.

I value the First Amendment that guarantees the freedom of the press. From the start, this freedom has allowed journalists to investigate and reveal what is happening in our country without government censorship. As citizens, we rely on this information to decide who is and who isn’t worthy of leading our city, county, state, and country. Until now, journalists have enjoyed the public trust because they were largely independent of political and profit motives. That has changed as white male corporate leaders and political leaders joined together with an agenda to preserve a nation whose actions and systems once greatly benefit white heterosexual males to the detriment of everyone else.

When listening closely to the information and misinformation that is pushed by conservative press outlets, it is evident that they are willing to lie and distort the truth in a way that injures people of color, non-white immigrants, outspoken women, LGBTQ people, and non-Christians. At first they work to damage the reputations of black and brown men and women by characterizing them as lazy, violent, absent of values, over-sexed, and dangerous. Non-white immigrants are characterized as job-stealing, law-breaking, welfare leeches who are a strain on our economy. Outspoken women are unattractive, subversive, emasculating, and shrill. LGBTQ people are a threat to children’s welfare and threaten the sanctity of heterosexual marriage. Non-Christians are a threat to Christianity and to national security with their un-American values. Under the guise of just reporting the news, these outlets poison white Americans and some members from these minority groups, into believing that America must be saved from its growing diversity. They are even willing to lie about the pandemic, knowing that COVID-19 will kill many more black and brown people than white people. This “make America great again” slogan is code for make white heterosexual male Americans unequivocally dominate again. And Donald Trump epitomizes this effort.

So it really matters who we listen to for our news. We have got to find a way to remind our fellow Americans about how news works, how science works, and how a democracy is supposed to work. We must remind our friends that opinions and commentary is not news. We have to gently point out to our family and friends that allocations and accusations without evidence are not news stories even if they are widely repeated by people on news channels. We have to shut these news organizations down by educating their viewers.

The epidemic of fake news is precisely why Trump and his supporters can’t accept defeat, even after doing all they could to suppress the vote and then after court after court rejected their calls to discard the will of the people. The only rigging of this election was done by Trump and his administration! The only one trying to steal this election is Trump and his band of supremacists. Thankfully, it hasn’t work. Trump and those in his camp are still scheming while also looking to 2024 to try again and they will try to suppress the vote even further if we do nothing.

This is why we absolutely need a new voter’s right act that will effectively end the Republican playbook of suppressing the vote of people of color. It is no coincidence that there are fewer polling places in areas where minorities reside. We need a House and Senate majority while Biden is president to push through a new voter’s right act that will make it illegal to enact laws that disenfranchise voters. They could make election day a national holiday. At the state level, we need to insist that our legislators make voting by mail open to every citizen who desires it. Early voting should be the norm to eliminate long lines and there should be polling places and drop boxes in proportion to population size. These are things we as citizens can and must demand of our legislators, starting now.

And finally, the most difficult weakness to deal with is the bigotry that has been illuminated since President Obama took office. The only solution I can offer for bigotry is what the studies by psychologist Gordon Allport revealed many years ago. People from different backgrounds who get to know each other personally while on equal footing experience a reduction in prejudice against people from the differing background. Mega studies of his theory have shown that the effect is especially strong among college age people, but it is true for all ages. Unfortunately, because America is so segregated in our neighborhoods and churches, it is largely up to workplaces and schools to make this happen. Our work to overcome bigotry has to be intentional and ongoing if we are ever going to overcome the dangerous force of white male supremacy that threatens our democracy through misinformation using freedom of the press and through voter suppression.

I understand that it is human nature to want to preserve the prestige, power, and privileged place one has enjoyed in a society. So, who can blame this small band of white males for resisting removal from the top of the American food chain? They are afraid. They are afraid they will have to compete with people of color, women, immigrants, LGBTQ and non-Christians for opportunities, resources, power, and wealth that was once guaranteed to them based entirely on the luck of their birth. America must continue to move toward a more perfect union. The alternative is to abandon democracy in favor of authoritarian rule by white heterosexual males who prove to not be the brightest nor the most competent among us. Exhibit A of the worst that can happen again is Donald J. Trump. Let’s learn from our mistake and not repeat it. It’s going to take the prudent among us to save our society.

Here we are again. In 2020 it is hard to believe that we were once a nation divided over the morality of one human being owning another human being for financial gain. It took the blood of over 400,000 Americans to decide that issue. In reality, the core issue was human decency versus human depravity. White Americans had not only convinced themselves that God made them superior beings but southern whites were also convinced that God sanctioned their right to subjugate, humiliate, torture, and exploit the labor of black skinned people. To do this, southern society and slave owners had to first ignore and then outright deny the humanity of slaves. I can’t imagine waking up every morning feeling superior to others and knowing that I was going to exploit and harm others for money. Southerners were able to reject the inherent intelligence, emotions, ambitions, talents, pain and suffering that was visibly evident in the people they enslaved. I am reminded that the human psyche is capable of deep levels of depravity when motivated by self-interest. And we are seeing it again. And once again, God is being utilized to sanction the depravity.

It isn’t enough for me to just shake my head when 74,000 Americans vote for a man to lead our nation who has proven himself to be corrupt, incompetent, unpatriotic, and morally bankrupt. It isn’t enough for me to scream at the television when Trump falsely claims election fraud and his supporters, including lawmakers and right wing media encourage his bullshit lawsuits and bullying. It isn’t enough for me to throw up my hands when white women echo how the election was stolen without one shred of actual evidence other than Trump said it, so it must be true because God put Trump in the White House. It isn’t enough for me to sigh when Trump supporters protest shouting “Stop the Steal” and stupidly contribute $200 million to his war chest. It isn’t enough for me to be disgusted by Trump supporters who issue death threats to election officials who protected the election process and then publicly validate its outcome. But what is enough?

I really wish I had an answer for defenders of human freedom. For now, all I can think to do is write about it and lend financial support to Democrats to fight for control of the Senate through the Georgia senate races. For now, I can like and share the voices on social media like Tic Tok of articulate and passionate individuals who are calling out Trump and Trump supporter bullshit. I especially like DJPJ, M.D, Breakfastrant, and Jeremycradio. For now, I can financially support and highlight political action groups like the Lincoln Project, Black Lives Matter, and Indivisible . I can use my pen, my voice, and my pocketbook. Others have different weapons at their disposal.

The 2020 Civil War is at our doorstep and this time decent freedom-loving humanists (and the courts) are fighting against the depraved reprobate thinking of cowardly Republican leaders, bigoted human beings, uneducated gullible Americans, religious zealots, and greedy media corporations. These people are blatantly craving dictatorial power over our society. They want to return to the oppression of women, people of color, and LGBTQ. At their core is America’s original sin, white supremacy and religious bigotry. And they are willing to do make “America great again” through dictatorship rather than democracy if that is what it takes.

I hope this conflict doesn’t come to more violence than at yesterday’s protest in D.C. where several people were stabbed, but Trump supporters own guns and intimidation and death threats are their normal mode of operation. There are more of us, but how far are we willing to go to preserve our freedoms? I am hopeful that perhaps we can utilize the power of persuasion, the courts, and the vote to bring enough of our fellow Americans back to their senses before it is too late. It didn’t work in 1861 and I’m not entirely certain it will work today. But we’d better do something quick because our democracy and ultimately our freedom depend on it.

About twice each day, I have to remind myself that 2020 is almost over. For some reason I feel a bit confused and perhaps stuck in March 2020 when the world stopped. What was normal everyday life changed overnight by COVID-19. Perhaps some of my confusion stems from my neglect. I’m still carrying my green spring purse. I left the Easter pillows in the living room until last week when I decorated for Christmas. Perhaps it is because I never put away my spring clothes in favor of summer, then fall, and now winter. I didn’t bother with my 4th of July decorations nor my fall decorations. I literally ignored these self-imposed rituals that followed each season to signal a mental progression throughout the year. in truth, I’ve never experienced anything like 2020 and didn’t know how to respond.

A few days ago, I caught myself mid-sentence about to proclaim 2020 as the worse year ever when I realized a few bright spots. First and foremost, I realized that in the midst of this pandemic that turned life upside down, none of my immediate family members caught COVID-19 and that each family member retained a livable income. We all had toilet paper and plenty to eat. I realized that my husband would survive his lung cancer. I realized that my first biological grandson was conceived and is genetically healthy. Another huge highlight is that my 38 year old daughter finally found her calling and her platform to help others who struggle with mental health issues like she has struggled with since college. I also discovered BTS in February 2020 and took refuge in their extensive musical offerings and delightfully real personalities pretty much every evening. I experienced the love and concern of my sorority sisters who, like my family, prayed for us and checked in on me regularly. And perhaps one of the greatest positive highlights was that Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by some 8 million votes and most importantly won the electoral college.

So, I can’t say that 2020 was the worse year of my life, but I can say that it was the most challenging both physically and mentally. Worrying and caring for a sick loved one takes a toll and that has been true. The transition to working from home has been a major adjustment along with many workplace changes. Even moving our family reunion from an in-person event to a virtual one in July was stressful, doable, but not ideal. And of course, this high stakes presidential election was an unintended and unavoidable stressor for me as a patriot who couldn’t divorce herself from the process.

In the course of all this mayhem, my ulcer flared up and my blood pressure has shot through the roof. I put off going to any of my medical appointments because of COVID-19 and because I was busy with my husband’s illness until I couldn’t avoid it any longer. And of course, my health has taken a hit. So, I’ll take my new medications and try to do better with stress reduction, drink more water, get more sleep, eat better and exercise a bit more.

With 2021 just weeks away, I am hopeful. My husband is recovering. A vaccine will be available soon. My grandson is due to arrive in mid-April. We’ll have a new president and hopefully, a new senate leader. And I’m thinking about how I can make 2021 a better, less stressful year.