Acknowledging Where We Are

Writes my friend Phillip Clark . . .

As a tumultuous presidency draws to a close and an uncertain inauguration looms large, let’s acknowledge where we are: Donald Trump has earned the unprecedented infamy of becoming the only US president to be impeached twice. Trump’s words fueled the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol – inciting fascist white supremacists to nullify electoral results by an attempted coup, destroy federal property, and violently riot to subvert the democratic process. Five people unnecessarily lost their lives.

Mitch McConnel and Senate Republicans won’t grow the balls to convict and remove Trump before Joe Biden assumes office. We must continue to explore the possibility of holding an overt white nationalist accountable for such actions. However, impeachment, or even conviction, does precious little to confront America’s pandemic of white supremacy, which has permeated our society long before COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency. Let’s keep it real: the match was lit 400, not 4 years ago.

Black joy and celebration will be mandatory when the Trump administration has entered the history books. Complacency is tempting after enduring four years of unvarnished racism, bigotry, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, and misogyny emanating from the Oval Office. But it is dangerous to hail Joe Biden as a compassionate savior to “restore” American democracy. Such a concept never existed.

The US will continue to perpetuate violence and murder throughout the world during the Biden administration – affirming an imperial and colonial foreign policy as the American way. Trump's insurrection was only a microcosm of the consistent paradigm of regime change the US has conducted, or attempted, against countless states – Libya, Honduras, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cuba, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Haiti, Yugoslavia, Syria, Palestine, and most recently, Venezuela.

It is morally hypocritical to abhor Nancy Pelosi’s office being ransacked, or members of Congress fearfully sequestering for their lives, while lauding Muammar Ghaddafi’s open assassination or anointing Juan Guaido to undermine Nicolas Maduro as a democratically elected president.

Building collective power, through organizing, activism, mutual aid efforts, and political education, are the only lasting means of creating a society that values human rights and transformative justice. The impeachment process underscores how severely limited electoral and political institutions are in confronting racial capitalism and systemic oppression.

We must inevitably prepare for more violent insurgencies in the future. Doing so is disheartening but can never dim the brightness of our vision for a better world. The ongoing pandemic illustrates how deadly and unsustainable the ancient global order is. As we behold this ancien régime crumble before our eyes, we must learn to radically place more hope in ourselves, communities, collective dreams, hopes, talents, joys, abilities, and resilience, than in any elected official or political figure.

The road ahead is long and uncertain but the possibilities for transformation are infinite if we remember who we are and where we are going. We got this, peeps! ✊🏾 🖤

– Phillip Clark
via Facebook
January 19, 2020

NEXT: Inauguration Eve Musings


For more of Phillip Clark’s insights at The Wild Reed, see:
• Heartening
• In the Wake of Trump’s “Catastrophic” Election, Phillip Clark on the Spiritual Truths That Will Carry Us Forward
• Phillip Clark on the “Karmic Wake Up Call” of a Year Ago
• Christmas 2016: Relections and Celebrations
• Saying “No” to War on Iran
• Holy Week, 2020
• Progressive Perspectives on Bernie Sanders’ Suspension of His Presidential Campaign
• “New and Very Dangerous”: The Extreme Right-Wing Infiltration of the George Floyd Protests
• Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol