Misplaced Condemnation

 The criticism of a country’s racist policies is not tantamount to issuing a blanket indictment of its entire population, past or present. The condemnation and widespread mischaracterization of Representative Jayapal recent remarks is yet another example of an effort to marginalize Progressive voices within the Democratic Party. Instead of vilification, perhaps she should be applauded for having the courage to call out America’s leading client state.

A Call To Action and The Arrival of a New Voice

 A dark and shameful day in Tennessee as two black lawmakers were summarily expelled from the state house for their protest against gun violence in the wake of the massacre of six human beings (three of whom were young children) at a Nashville day school last week. As Dylan declared in song: ‘for you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears, take the rag away from your face for now is the time for your tears’.

The desperate (and unconstitutional) attempt to stifle the free speech rights of these two young Afro-American legislators only serves to illustrate that Jim Crow politics are still alive and well and that Critical Race Theory is a very real and necessary antidote to the prevailing ignorance so ubiquitous and loudly announced throughout the land. The immediate and vociferous reaction to this event (largely from our youthful brothers and sisters) is indeed encouraging. It might not seem like it in this moment but implicit in these turbulent times is the echo of MLK’s words regarding the arc of the moral universe bending ever so slowly and painfully toward justice. Bobby Dylan was right by observing that ‘the times they are (indeed) a changing’ while Sam Cooke emphatically reminds us of the truth that ‘a change is goin to come’! My money is on Martin, Bobby, and Sam to prevail over the dinosaurs currently occupying the state house in Tennessee and elsewhere in our rapidly evolving country.

Let the actions of these young, brave patriots signal a clarion call to the American political establishment that a new wave of progressive activism is well under way and that its voice will no longer be silenced marginalized, minimized, or otherwise ignored my the mainstream. As some of us have been saying for years, this progressive movement will assert itself in the immediate future to meet the challenge of global climate change, the institution of clean energy sources, racial reconciliation, serious gun violence reduction measures , women’s bodily autonomy, LBGTQ rights, the elimination of violent means to solve international and domestic disputes, universal health care as human right, and the recognition that we are all bound together by a common humanity under the light of the same sun. The movement has arrived and the time is now to finally answer humankind’s need to first envision a better way forward and then to get busy to do the work necessary to manifest in the world that which heretofore has only been an unrealized dream.

The Need For A National Reckoning

 It should come as no surprise that the United States remained essentially silent when the International Criminal Court recently issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin in the wake of Russia’s invasion  of Ukraine. For the two decades since the ICC’s inception, the US has avoided involvement in the Court’s mission regarding the effort to seek justice for the perpetrators of crimes against humanity throughout the world. Facing probable indictment by the ICC for a variety of misdeeds in Iraq including but not limited to the illegal nature of the US invasion itself, the lies upon which the invasion was based, the torture of detainees in Abu Ghraib, the mass murder of hundreds of civilians (many of whom were women and children) in Fallujah, the revenge inspired massacre of civilians in Haditha, the program of Extraordinary Rendition (resulting in the subsequent torture of civilians suspected of terrorism in ‘black site’ locations around the world), and the construction of the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay wherein suspected bad actors (from Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere) have been detained for decades without recourse to due process.

In light of these transgressions, it is no wonder that the Bush/Chaney/Rumsfeld regime rigorously fought against efforts by the ICC to include the US as a probable target for further scrutiny. What is less understandable is the reluctance of the Obama Administration (aside from agreeing to join the ICC in the limited capacity as an observer) to seek substantive accountability of the previous administration for their actions in the mid-east and beyond. The main justification for this inaction was the declaration that ‘it is now time to look ahead; not behind as we proceed into the future’………words that rang hollow and possibly presaged the subsequent tolerance of staggering levels of mendacity that has followed in recent years. During the Trump years, antipathy for the ICC increased dramatically as typified by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo instituting sanctions against the Court including the banning of passports for its governing members. This marked both the nadir in our relationship vis a vis the ICC as well as a sadly predictable consequence from years of neglect in terms of seeking/achieving accountability and resolution arising from past foreign policy decisions and their accompanying actions.

Fair play to MSNBC’s  Chris Hayes who devoted an entire segment of his All In program for implicitly stating that the devolution of the American political milieu and discourse as well as the fracturing of a sense of national unity may very well have arisen from our inability/unwillingness to honestly come to terms with the reality of our actions in the decades since the tragic events of 9/11. Authentic healing is a result of genuine and open confrontation with the truth; not from an avoidance or denial of its existence and essential meaning.

Misunderstanding The Woke and Politically Correct

The recent obsession with the term ‘woke’ and its companion ‘wokeness’ is properly seen in the way it is applied and intended in the current cultural/political environment. The best and most literal meaning of the term implies being aware/conscious of and responsive to the need for social, environmental, and personal justice. At worst, wokeness can result in an over sensitivity to micro aggressions as they might occur in the normal course of human interaction (please see Tracy Ullman’s quite brilliant satire on woke mentality run amok). What wokeness clearly does not represent (as a certain segment of the populous would have us believe) is an organized attempt to impose a set of values/ideas in lieu of an organic process of collective agreement. Instead, it merely indicates a state of mind wherein a conscious commitment to positive societal change may yield a more just and equitable human community. 

Like it’s predecessor, ‘political correctness’, ‘wokeness’ is being used to further divide us by labeling and alienating fellow Americans in an attempt to give voice to the narrow interests of a fearful group of citizens, politicians and their corporate enablers seemingly bent upon the goal of preventing the realization of an otherwise cooperative, compassionate, caring, and diverse nation. Political correctness was never more than a buzz word/phrase to elicit a reaction against an effort to make real in our world an awareness of and sensitivity to our fellow travelers. Sadly, wokeness is also being used as a trigger for a resistance to a similar attempt at making whole a world/society at once varied, sometimes confused, and forever seeking unification.

Institutional Violence Must Stop

In the immediate aftermath of the brutally fatal beating of Tyre Nichols at the hands of five Memphis police officers, let us revisit the persecution and vilification of all those who, in good faith, have long stood against police brutality. Colin Kaepernick, for example, has consistently attempted to shed light on the practice of police misconduct by outlaw members of police forces throughout this country. Let it finally be made clear that Colin’s taking of a knee during the national anthem was never about disrespecting the country or its flag, but rather an expression of his constitutional right and patriotic duty to protest against the injustice of targeted and criminal violence against ordinary citizens. His efforts now can be seen for what they always have been: a clarion call to America to end police violence against those whom, instead, should be properly served and protected by those wearing the badge. George Floyd, Tavon Martin, Tyre Nichols, and thousands of other innocent victims in decades past deserved better as do all the honorable police professionals who currently remain dedicated to the task of tirelessly providing fair law enforcement and protection in communities across the nation.

Goose/Gander And Classified Documents

This should be obvious and go without saying but the investigative reporting and official inquiry into the misplaced classified documents by Biden should be treated with same degree of seriousness as the pursuit of Trump’s role in the retention and subsequent reluctance to release the classified materials he rather stupidly claimed to be his own property. Although Biden’s initial cooperation regarding the return of these sensitive documents differs dramatically from Trump’s response, it is nevertheless a matter of vital public interest that information regarding the policies of the Obama/Biden Administration be preserved in the appropriate archival space. Their retention by Biden raises questions about why they were not processed according to longstanding protocols. Materials relating to the drone warfare program, for example, which was expanded during this administration and over which Biden at least partially presided, begs questions as to why he might have wanted to retain them apart from the normal chain of custody procedures. In spite of the obvious differences in each case, both breeches of security need to be addressed fully and with an equal level of gravity. 

The Inspiration of MLK

 Martin Luther King famously observed that ‘love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend’. As we honor his birthday just days away, let us not forget his clarion call to confront the three evils of racism, poverty, and militarism that have plagued our nation for the entirety of its existence.

In spite of what one might observe in the MSM and parts of the popular culture, a spiritual revolution is well under way, it arrival long overdue, and it’s manifestations abundant albeit often just under the surface of things. MLK, not unlike prophets before him, knew that real change arises from the bottom up, from the vitality of grassroots effort, and from the ongoing need of the human spirit for justice, peace, and ultimate liberation.