This Is America
Photo by Andy Feliciotti @someguy, Upsplash
Donald Trump must be removed from office now, as he remains a threat to our democracy.
The threat we witnessed at the United States Capitol today is not unprecedented. We will hear political figures indicate the disorder does not reflect American practice and values. We cannot afford to be apologetic in this moment or romanticize American history. This is racist white supremacist patriarchy on full display, unchecked and shielded by white privilege and power. Let us be very clear, Black and Brown citizens would not reach beyond the secured entrances of the capitol, let alone reach the heart of its sacred dome, unscreened with backpacks and large flags and banners. We would not have the benefit of the doubt to hold up our cell phones to record an insurgence. Instead, our cell phones would be misidentified as guns or weaponry and used as justification for excessive or fatal use of force. Black and Brown people would be disarmed by any means necessary.
In this moment, our prophetic witness and truth telling will serve us well in order to dismantle white privilege, bigotry and trumpism. The clear disparities in how a violent mob of largely white nationalists are treated compared to the abuse and fatalities inflicted upon Black and Brown demonstrators peacefully assembling should not be ignored as it reflects the systemic culture of racism in America. This behavior must not only be decried and rejected, but there must be accountability for those that breached the Capitol and the ones that incited them.
This type of incitement resulted in 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse murdering innocent protestors in Kenosha, WI who were demonstrating on behalf of Jacob Blake. This type of incitement resulted in Dylan Roof murdering innocent worshippers in a basement of a church during bible study in Charleston, SC. To have such incitement perpetuated by the Office of the President exposes the pandemic of racism in America. It is disheartening to imagine just a few days ago, that the police officers that shot and paralyzed Jacob Blake of Kenosha, WI were not indicted or held accountable. It is outrageous to consider Breonna Taylor of Louisville, KY who was murdered at the hands of police wrongly raiding her home without accountability or indictment. The dehumanizing mistreatment of Anjanette Young of Chicago is also egregious, forced to stand bare naked while pleading for decency in her own home.
Juxtapose these woeful American narratives against what we witnessed in our nation's Capitol today and we must bear witness to the humiliating truth of America’s indecency and crimes against humanity – against her own citizens. Black and Brown people are murdered for insisting Black Lives Matter and are told to wait on justice while others are afforded the privilege to desecrate the Capitol with modest and delayed intervention. Washington D.C.’s Mayor, Muriel Bowser, called for the National Guard and security in advance of today’s violent and illegal acts. Where was the National Guard that met protestors in Ferguson while Michael Brown’s body was left exposed in the street for four hours in Missouri’s summer’s sun? Where was the police force that met Movement for Black Lives demonstrators with tear gas, rubber bullets and militarized weaponry in cities across America?
It is not lost on me that we sit upon the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King’s holiday and birthday, just under two weeks away. It is not lost on me that more than four decades after Dr. King’s assassination, we as a nation still wrestle with the inconvenience of truth. As Raphael Warnock, a son of Atlanta and successor to Dr. King’s pulpit, has ascended to the U.S. Senate as the first Black elected Senator from Georgia, America must come face to face with these truths of America’s sins. In order for us to realize Dr. King’s dream and declare earnestly, “This is not America,” we must insist there is zero tolerance for state sanctioned domestic terrorism and tyranny glorified by the White House. As long as Donald Trump is allowed to remain in office and party loyalists protect his mutinous behavior as president, we must reconcile this America. In the words of James Baldwin, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Our prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives amidst the raid on the U.S. capitol.
In Solidarity,
Rev. Dr. Waltrina N. Middleton
Executive Director