Sitting down, gathering my thoughts, and staring at my half-empty elitist bottle of overpriced artesian water, which I get delivered by the case, I took a moment to be thankful. With all the deaths, job losses, and general anger and dismay from a public, let down by its government, I am still thankful. Those of you who follow my pieces regularly know I write a lot from my own racial experience. Growing up black in America has its struggles, but occasionally the rewards give me pause to say thanks. I started the year focused on the 2020 election; at times, I was consumed by it. Would my country succumb to its worse instincts, not admit its mistake, and re-elect a white supremacist?
It is still disturbing that nearly 50 percent of the voting public cast a ballot for the man most responsible for the inept handling of a virus that has killed over 330,000 of us. It is disturbing that nearly half of us voted for a known liar and racist sympathizer. It is disturbing that over 70 million of my fellow Americans voted for a man who caged and separated children from their parents to make cruelty the point. For a moment, put yourself in my shoes and realize that when you enter a room filled with colleagues, “friends” or people you know voted, that almost half of them have so little regard for your life, that a tax cut weighted as a higher priority than your humanity, but again I am thankful, half of that same space rejected that idea; not great odds but I am thankful.
Optimistically, my half-drank bottle of artesian water is enough to get me to the end of this column. It is enough to quench my thirst and hydrate my thoughts. Even the backward movement of the past four years, although disappointing, is at least the subject of debate, unlike past racial injustices. I guess like my bottle of water, the glass is half-filled. Unfortunately, we still have Republican members of Congress, still willing to carry polluted water for a failed President, too self-absorbed to respect liberty or the Constitution. Today, 40-year-old Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO.) stated his intention to object to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Setting aside the history of Republicans vowing to make the first black President a one-term office holder, without merit, they are attempting to overturn an election that curiously has the first black and woman VP. Hawley’s specific objection is to the legality of the process in Pennsylvania. This is personal for me as a resident of Philadelphia. Hawley is not some old curmudgeon stuck on avenging the Northern ‘war of aggression’ on Southern states. He is a young man and by all accounts sane, who now says that my city, comprised mainly of people of color no longer has a place in Making his America Great.
Make no mistake, Hawley, and incoming Senator Tommy Tuberville, along with 126 members of Congress including Louis Gohmert who wants to sue if Mike Pence dares to follow his oath of office; have no loyalty to the country but have chosen to follow their obvious prejudices against black and brown people’s participation. No calls have been made to throw out curious election results from white Republican strongholds and where GOP membership expanded. Just the races involving Democratic strongholds comprised mostly of black and brown voters. I just took the last sip of my bottled water, I am thankful, America is not on its last drop.
See you in the New Year!
Georgians, Vote for Change.