I struggle to stay out of a dark place. We’ve been here before. I’ve heard it before. It’s difficult to not go into a dark spiral about humanity, about Americans in general, about corporate ownership, about our religious institutions, and about the oligarchic sabotage of democracy.
Memories are coming back from the 1960s. I was in college in Baltimore when, in April of 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered. Riots broke out. There were National Guard on the streets even where I was. I lived near 29th and Calvert Street and could climb onto the roof of the building where I lived and see smoke rising over downtown.
I don’t know why this is a surprise. American society is reaping the harvest of hundreds of years of human degradation. We have people who have been told for 400 years, first, that they are not persons but property and, when they were freed from literal slavery, they were made second class citizens – if citizens at all. They remain a people largely without representation with their dignity, heritage, and humanity erased by elements of both church and state.
Not only has our generation failed to solve these problems, we now have a lawless president who has been fanning the flames of violence and racism as part of his agenda for seizing power. But it’s not just Republicans who are culpable here: we’ve had both Democratic and Republican governments and here we are again, or still: indisputable police brutality (again) triggering demonstrations demanding justice, hijacked by mobs of thugs and thieves. And now we have indications (videos) of white organized groups destroying property, along with agent provocateurs from out of the city and out of the state. Local information suggests it’s the far right, while the White House says it’s the far left – without any evidence whatsoever. I suspect we may find both extremes out there. And the self-serving political narratives begin.
So, we have the same conditions as before: systemic defects in society, economics, and justice systems, with leaders lacking the political will to solve the problems, but who profit from inequality, blaming, and social discord.
We have the same puerile responses from the smugly privileged to ignore the suffering of a vast swath of human beings on whose backs the economic engine of their country was built – and now they call for “law and order.” Of course we need law and order – but, unless it’s the same law for everyone, and the same safety for everyone that that order should bring, it is nothing more than aristocratic privilege. But, in the American tradition, first supports will go to property owners because they hold power and because addressing human problems is complicated. And we hear the same effete clichés about good coming out of it all – like we heard before – and about pledges to change things – like before. It leaves me heartsick.
The events of these days are not an aberration. It’s all so sadly predictable, and inevitable. These problems are endemic in the fabric of our European religious American society and government; problems in monitoring anyone with power – from police up to the president. Now the inconvenienced are complaining because they stumble over the roots of the trees their people have been planting for decades. The cries of anguish of disenfranchised human beings go unheard by those isolated by wealth, privilege, corporate shields, and legislative positions.
The conditions leading us here and the responses from the White House and many of our legislators speaks poorly of our government, our constitution, our laws, our economy, many of our religious institutions, and our very humanity. I’m pretty well disgusted with many of those who would call themselves “liberals” and only pay lip service to equal rights under the law; and I’m disgusted with so-called “conservatives” who hide their greed, self-aggrandizement, and bigotry behind claims of “states’ rights” and “Southern heritage;” and I’m disgusted with third-party puritans who have been willing to sacrifice movement toward progress so they can keep their ideological “purity.”
I can hope we can take the steps necessary to restore the integrity of our democracy and society, but I hoped for that then, too.
Yes, I am heartsick and on the edge of a dark place. But don’t think for a moment I want sympathy, support, or even agreement. Looters and arsonists aside, we hear a cry for all of those who have suffered at the hands of those in power. Attention should go toward radical change, into reconciliation, toward the establishment of a genuine democracy, and removal from power those who would get in the way to preserve their privilege and position.
I hope Fred Rogers is right: we can look to the helpers to keep out of that dark place. (Coincidentally, just after writing this, a friend from the 3rd precinct let us know there were groups of people coming down his street cleaning up – the helpers.) Helpers are there – not only well-meaning paid law enforcement and firefighters, but volunteers ministering to those hurt by the damage – neighbors helping neighbors. In this caring is the light we need, along with the light that must be used to expose perfidy and create change in those who have been invested of the insufferable status quo.
If we don’t make the changes ourselves, there will be no change. We, the people, have too long looked to others to make the change for us – except for the “activists” and advocates. They are my heroes now. If we can’t be on the streets, we can be on the phone, writing letters, and voting like our future depends on it, because it does.