If there were ever a great time for Martin Luther King Day, it would be now, this day, just 48 hours before the most vocally, demonstrably racist president we have ever had will be stepping down.
For we need MLK's memory. We need his 'fierce urgency of now.' We need to remember what he stood for, right now.
Above all, and very simply, he stood for people just getting along. But to do that, we'd have to go several steps further. We'd have to admit that living amongst each other wasn't a scary or even an unusual thing.
We'd have to accept each other's humanity without anger. That's getting to be a pretty high reach right now.
No, it's not about accepting those that trashed the Capitol a few days ago. I don't accept their humanity, because their humanity was not on display then. Whatever that was, was something else. That leaned on baser, more animalistic characteristics that most of us concluded we had gotten past after diapers.
And no, it's not about accepting their grievances as valid. Because they aren't. Being white isn't a burden, and it's not sufficient excuse to feel sorry for yourself. In fact, being white is quite the advantage here in America, and still is.
Whatever benefits minorities have received out of government programs weren't placed there so that they can get ahead of whites, but so they could be equal to whites, at least in opportunity, at least for a few moments. Then we can let achievement and talent and skills determine the rest.
That's the part they don't get, but to understand that, they'd have to read a few things and accept a few things, not the least of which is that whatever advantages they were born with are things they never grabbed when they were available. If that time has gone by, well, that's the way things go. Advantages don't stop and wait for people.
They'd have to conclude that, even after three-quarters of a million people gave their lives to settle whether black people would stop being someone's slave a century and a half ago, their economic circumstances, by and large, have still not come near what they should be. If you doubt this, read the book Evicted and get back to me.
But that would take effort, thoughtfulness and a genuine sense of common humanity. Fat chance. Above all, they have to know that they're still superior to people of color, regardless of the facts and regardless of the wreckage they've made of their own lives. Nobody laying waste to the U.S. Capitol on the 6th of January could possibly say that they've been good to the land that gave them birth and whatever opportunities they had.
If they can say so, they weren't there. They appreciated the land of the free. It certainly can't be called the home of the brave.
Some of these people are determined to return on Inauguration Day and finish what they've started. I don't think they're going to succeed. Americans, decent Americans, are slow to respond; democracy is like that. It gives the benefit of the doubt, even if people don't have it coming. But in response, forearmed with righteous anger, it can be quite impressive, as in "island-hopping" in World War II. Osama bin Laden discovered that, too, one day in 2011, when he paid the price for toppling two buildings filled with working people in New York City.
Am I confused? Did I just make an analogy in dealing with enemies of the United States? What else would you call the gangsters who wrecked the Capitol? That they are citizens--if that's what you want to call them--is irrelevant. Anybody who would do that to the Capitol of my government, to people just trying to do their jobs, is an enemy. Some have been arrested. Others await that fate.
And if you sat at home cheering them on, you are just as complicit, just as much an enemy. So you'd better keep your head down and go back to whining at the bar on Friday nights, Covid or not. You may still be stupid, but at least you'll be harmless. I don't like masks, but I'll be wearing one. And I'm not listening.
Instead, I'll be looking for people who are reasonably disagreeable as well as people who agree with me. I'll be looking for people who can work within the system we have, which was the best in the world until its mistakenly elected leader decided that it didn't matter. And I will not be working to keep things the same, especially not for people like you.
Yes, it's a good time for Martin Luther King Day. It's a good time to sit back and reflect on what he tried to do, but hateful forces ended his life. Those forces re-emerged on January 6, just as racist as ever. We thought they had subsided. Guess not. We must work harder than ever, it turns out, so they will not win. We have, briefly, seen what transpires when they do.
Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. One day closer to a vaccine. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
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