American Experiment: Peaceful Transition

In June 2020, the 45th President of the United States felt the need to reassure the country that he would, in fact, leave office if he lost the election. It was an extraordinary statement, an acknowledgment perhaps of the deep distrust many Americans have toward him.

I didn’t believe him.

I didn’t believe that our insecure, inept, impotent “leader,” the one who fawns over North Korea’s “Dear Leader”, who shrinks in the presence of Putin’s perceived power, and who has publicly “joked” multiple times and in multiple ways about his desire to extend his presidency, had suddenly given up his delusions of dictatorship.

Nope…I wasn’t buying it.

So I wasn’t surprised to learn that in a bizarre interview with Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday, the president walked back his previous statement. When pressed about his acceptance of results from the 2020 Presidential election, the current occupant refused to commit, saying it was “too early to make such an ironclad guarantee” that he would uphold our peaceful power transition tradition, a hallmark of the United States’ version of democracy.

It’s not surprising that this president who has never behaved as if he cares about Americans, who has dismantled many government offices (like the National Security office responsible for pandemic preparedness) and who has supported removal of regulations that would protect individuals, would refuse to uphold American traditions like the right to peaceful protest.

I can’t even say I’ve been surprised by the on-the-ground reports from Portland that the secret forces deployed against peaceful demonstrators have instigated the violence.

And I certainly wasn’t surprised when he repeated his unsubstantiated theory of the “danger” of voting by mail as a reason to delay the November election.

He has diminished the leadership of the United States on the global stage and his lack of leadership during the pandemic has resulted in deaths of U.S. citizens, deepened the distrust toward the U.S. government
and led to the destruction of the economy.

Now, even as he acknowledges the deep dislike Americans have for him, and in anticipation of losing his power, he is increasing his rhetoric to sow seeds of doubt about our own election process.

He has to go. And everything this president has done indicates his departure will be disruptive, divisive…even destructive to our democracy. We must be ready.

Renita Alexander, Leadership Unlocked

American Experiment: Pushed Off Center

This week an older, White, male member of the House of Representatives, sought to dehumanize a fellow elected member of Congress, a younger Latino woman, by calling her…well you know what he called her.

Within her earshot.

In front of at least one reporter.

Apparently, Rep. Ted Yoho, a Republican from Florida disagreed so vehemently with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) for linking poverty with crime, he felt he needed to discredit her by calling her “disgusting.” But that wasn’t enough degradation so he added the specific slur used by men in the US especially since the 1920s suffrage movement, to suggest a woman who is straying from her designated place.

In his “apology” Rep. Yoho emotionally and audaciously attributed his slur to his passion and “love of my God, my family and my country.” Then, similar to the way White people invoke proximity to Black people as proof they are not racist, Rep. Yoho implied that his roles of husband and father made him immune to misogyny.

He concluded with a curious comment about being cognizant of his words.

My interpretation is he knew exactly what he was doing when he accosted AOC; he understood the power of the words he chose, and was conscious of the impact he hoped they would make.

It was a failed attempt to marginalize this remarkable young woman, and a public example of the way many husbands, fathers, brothers and sons disrespect, diminish and dismiss wives, daughters, sisters and mothers for daring to exist in what they consider male spaces…male spaces like Congress or even conversations.

It reminded me of the “good men” who willfully refuse to see men in the Black Lives Matter organization’s manifesto “that all Black lives matter” because it “centers those who have been marginalized within Black liberation movements.”

It triggered memories of “stand up guys” who speak over, ignore or interrupt when women are in charge or just speaking, because they can’t seem to imagine not being at the center of every human experience.

It brought to mind “decent men” who use their anger to shut down women when we dare to center ourselves to tell truths that men haven’t experienced or opinions that men don’t share.

It was another exhausting example of how the violent verbal, emotional, mental and physical abuse of women is an accepted part of patriarchy in this country.

Of course, prompted less by Rep. Yoho’s epithet and more by his attempt to refuse responsibility for his actions, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez delivered a calm, thoughtful denouncement of the specific assault, non-apology and general abuse, then proclaimed herself a Bad, Boss…you know.

And I was revived.

Renita Alexander, Leadership Unlocked

“You’re so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You’re so vain (you’re so vain)
I’ll bet you think this song is about you
Don’t you?
Don’t you?” ~ Carly Simon

Broken Trust

It sometimes seems that those who have been the most marginalized in this country seem afraid to trust positive change, afraid to loose the little bit they have, afraid to believe in plans that could improve their housing, their communities, even their way of life.

But is it fair to expect those who have been intentionally prevented access to the wealth of one of the richest countries in the world, to suddenly trust people offering help without asking what is needed, people making promises when previous promises have been perverted, or people making plans for a community without including the community in the planning process?

“The Obama Foundation’s plans to build the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park have sparked a complicated, and at times emotional, conversation about race, class, segregation, privilege and power on the South Side.

The conversation has raised delicate and fragile issues: who gets a voice in the discussion, who gets heard, who gets action, and how the history of racial and class segregation shapes expectations.” ~ Lolly Bowean, Contact Reporter, Chicago Tribune

Inhale Agreement, Exhale Alienation…
Inhale Inclusion, Exhale Isolation…
Inhale Negotiation, Exhale Segregation…
Just Breathe…

#JustBreathe

American Complicity

I suspect the one third of Americans who still approve of #45 is the same one third who frequently invite the one third they’ve identified as the “others” to just leave America. Or if they stay, to be denied full access to citizenship, preferably while serving time or detained in an ICE center….and servicing the government for free. OR be exterminated.

And if the remaining one third is disengaged, that could happen.

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” ~ Haile Selassie

Inhale Engagement, Exhale Indifference…
Inhale Speaking, Exhale Silence…
Inhale Action, Exhale Complicity…
Just Breathe

#JustBreathe

American Terror

Apparently, white male supremacists caught up in the fog of a fictitious American history…fearful of their impending replacement as the majority, are willing to burn it all down or blow it all up…

God help us all.

Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law.” ~ James Baldwin

Inhale Humanity, Exhale Brutality…
Inhale Humanity, Exhale Hatred…
Inhale Humanity, Exhale Fear…
Just Breathe…

#JustBreathe
Reflections With Renita

American Experiment: Relentless Racism

Before the 17th century, the concept of race did not exist in what would become America. According to Professor Audrey Smedley, the first time the term “White,” (rather than “Christian” or an ethnic name to indicate origin i.e., English, Irish, Scots, Portuguese, German, Spanish, Swede, etc.) “appeared in the public record was seen in a law passed in 1691 that prohibited the marriage of Europeans with Negroes, Indians, and mulattoes”.*

Race was created in America to separate poor whites and poor peoples of color. Outnumbered landowners sought to divide their labor force by encouraging and incentivizing poor whites to identify on the basis of color versus socio economic status. And it worked.

Slavery was not the result of race, but the other way around. And the uniquely, brutal American version of slavery didn’t really end but morphed into other forms of oppression, all undergirded by the racism created during slavery to control and economically exploit people of color.

“…the notion of racial difference…proved far more durable than the institution that gave birth to it.” ~ Michelle Alexander

Me and my soror Vicky at the NMAAHC.

The durability and relentless nature of racism was my key takeaway from two days of exploring the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. The pattern of gains by black people, followed by backlash from those who would oppress and control was on full display at the museum.

A Civil War fought over slavery and the all too brief Reconstruction period after emancipation was followed by the terror of terrorists groups like the Klan and the implementation of black codes and Jim Crow laws which sought to control and restrict every aspect of black life.

The legislative gains of the 50s and 60s were negated by the seeds of mass incarceration of people of color sown during the Regan era War on Drugs.

The election of Barack Obama led to the overturn of key Civil rights legislation to include the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act because, according to Chief Justice John Roberts, it “had done its job, and it was time to move on”. The ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, which removed the requirement for states with histories of voting discrimination to approve their voting changes with the federal government, resulted in the almost immediate passage of restrictive, discriminatory voting laws by Republican state legislators under the guise of voter fraud.

Of course, the real voter fraud is being committed by those states with a history of discrimination. Another kind of voter fraud is being committed by those who would try to convince you that your vote doesn’t matter. The truth is your vote does matter…unless you don’t use it.

The forces of racism are relentless and determined to undermine every hard fought gain, negate every success, overturn every piece of legislation enacted to protect and empower those who have been exploited and abused.

The voices of equality and freedom must be vigilant and just as determined to use all the tools are our disposal, to include our vote.

In other words…stay woke, go vote!

Renita Alexander, Leadership Unlocked

*The History of the Idea of Race… And Why It Matters by Audrey Smedley