Has America really turned a page?

 “MSP (Minneapolis/St.Paul) people, stay safe” was a message that crossed my WhatsApp feed on April 20th. The concern was not for the virus, but because the George Floyd murder trial verdict was imminent.

Many were expecting a verdict that would enrage people enmasse. Minneapolis was boarded up and the police and national guard were on high alert. Cities across the country were bracing for violence.

Derek Chauvin, the policeman who snuffed out George Floyd’s life in full view of the public, was convicted of all charges. The nation breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing burned, and America seemed to have turned another page in it’s complicated history.

When I arrived in the US in the early 90s, another video had gone “viral”, this was probably the first of its kind. There was no social media then, but every television channel showed the grainy images over and over again until it was seared into everyone’s conscience.

The images were of Rodney King brutally being assaulted by a gang of Los Angeles policemen. When the story behind the video eventually emerged and the severely bruised and swollen face of Rodney King with a blood shot red eye was published, the horror of it all, shook America to its core.

Like George Floyd, Rodney King was not docile or compliant to the police, and so began his troubles.

It was March 2, 1991 after a night of watching basketball on TV and heavy drinking, Rodney King and his two friends left home. Around 12:30 AM a couple of Los Angeles policemen spotted them speeding down a highway. The officers pursued the car which turned into a high speed chase.
Rodney King had enough alcohol in his body to get arrested for drunk driving. He was out on parole for a prior theft and an arrest could send him back into prison and he did not want to risk that.

After approximately eight miles, with several police cars and a helicopter on his tail, he gave up. The police asked his two passengers to exit and face down on the ground. They complied. When Rodney King was asked to do the same, he acted strange, giggling and waving at the helicopter above.

King then grabbed his buttocks and the officers thought he was reaching for a gun. At this point one of the officers drew a pistol and King complied by lying face down. Four other officers proceeded to hand cuff him at which point he began to resist causing one of the officers to fall. The officers withdrew and King got back on his feet and an officer deployed a “Taser”.

The electric shock immobilized him but not completely. The officers then proceeded to pummel him with their batons, hitting him hard on his joints.

After 56 blows and 6 kicks and surrounded by seven officers he was subdued, cuffed and dragged on his stomach to the side of the road for an ambulance to arrive.

Unknown to the policemen the whole incident was captured on video by George Holiday from his apartment window. A video camera in a citizen’s hand for the first time had unlocked the doors to what was to come.

The trial that finally got underway had the nation gripped. The color line grew thicker and wider and the justice system was under a microscope to see if the officers would be prosecuted for their brutality. The graphic video to many seemed enough to condemn the white policemen.

A year later an all white jury acquitted the officers of assault and hours later an already simmering city burst into flames. The “LA Riots” as it came to be known ignited the “City of Angels”. It was certainly not the first race triggered incident, but the extent of it was wide.

By the time the US Army, Marines and the national guard controlled the violence it was six days and 53 people were dead and $1 billion dollars worth of property was damaged by looting and arson. Most of the violence took place in poor Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Smaller riots were reported in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Atlanta.

Why a jury convicted Derek Chauvin and not the LA policemen is the sign of the times we find ourselves in today. There has been a shift and the hope is that it is permanent.

Rodney King lived to tell his story. George Floyd’s story was captured in excruciating detail on crystal clear video.

But what makes their story similar are the circumstances in which they found themselves in, by who they were and how they behaved and looked.

What is abundantly clear, is that if a video did not exist of what transpired, then these assaults would have been checked off as routine police encounters with black men who are not considered “model citizens” and therefore deserve the treatment meted.

While the conviction of Derek Chauvin may give some policemen pause, what would not have changed is the basic nature of policing in America and the infestation of guns that plague this nation.

The militarized police will always be quick on the draw, whenever a black man or boy makes the slightest of moves, as it is assumed a gun will be pointing back at them. This equation is not going to change anytime soon.

Since George Floyd’s murder, there have been many police encounters where black men have ended up dead. Donald Trump has been relegated to the trash bin of history for the time being and the new president is trying to make some changes on the edges. He is speaking of “systemic racism” in speeches and has a bill in congress named after Gorge Floyd which promises to bring some change to policing in America. Whether the bill will pass in a divided government and in a climate that has significantly changed, is anyone’s guess.

While there is still some energy left in people to protest, the Covid induced pressure cooker is releasing and with it is the momentum and passion we saw last year when people poured into the streets.

Rodney King and George Floyd are no heroes. They were never meant to be. They were flawed like any of us. They had prior run ins with the law. They did not have Ivy League educated parents or grand parents to look up to. They were products of their circumstances.

But they did not deserve to be treated the way they were, especially by men in uniform. Even in their state of indignity they deserved dignity just for being citizens of this land.

The HBO documentary series “Exterminate all the Brutes” by Raoul Peck, is a powerful sweeping work that examines the origins of white supremacy and the horrific historic destructive nature of racism, colonialism and imperialism, whose impact is felt to this day.

In the series Peck re-enacts the slave trade by flipping it. A gang of chained white children are whipped and dragged through the African jungles by black slave masters. By asking the viewer to entertain an alternate history, he challenges our sense of morality.

Unless we are able to examine the narratives we have been conditioned to believe and sustain, change will only occur at the edges. To bring about systemic change the truth must first be confronted and acknowledged.

Many in power, find the truth threatening.

It is what it is.

Travels in a New Reality

February 2020, I was at the Dubai airport transiting. I was returning from India after visiting my aging parents. We were corralled like cattle down a corridor for a security check. Everyone was literally breathing into each other’s faces. A handful of people were wearing masks. A virus shutting down a city in China was headline news. But everyone seemed confident it was a crisis, taking place in a far off place, much like an earthquake or a violent storm. 

Four weeks later the whole human world came to a grinding halt. 

A year later it was time for me to make a trip back.

Having been vaccinated and hearing from friends who had made the journey, and infection rates reporting low in the region, it felt safe to travel. I had not heard of a single outbreak on an airplane since the pandemic began, which was encouraging. The air-filtration systems supposedly were doing the trick.

As I began to research Covid travel protocols and other restrictions, it seemed like a daunting and unpleasant undertaking. Only two airlines guaranteed arrival and departure of which one was the national airline, AirIndia. An airline I had vowed never to board after a prior miserable experience.

Only Indian citizens and non-citizens with OCI cards (Indian equivalent of a Greencard) were being allowed entry into the country.

 A negative PCR Covid test 72 hours before boarding was a requisite. Rapid tests were not acceptable. Copies of one’s passport and negative test result had to be uploaded to a government website which generated a form that had to be printed and presented at the airport.

Out of abundant caution I got my Covid test done early, so I would have my results in time to follow through with the procedures.

We arrived at JFK all prepared and confident, with paperwork neatly arranged in a folder for prompt retrieval. Terminal 4, which handles most international travel was practically empty, except for a long winding line of every shade of brown.

After an hour of inching along, we arrived at a checkpoint. A man in a suit and a badge asked me to show my Covid test report. I pulled out my folder with confidence and handed him a paper, which said in bold letters “Negative”. He said, “Sorry you cannot board. Your Covid sample was collected 80 hours ago. The rule says 72 hours.”

And so began an arduous and exasperating journey to the motherland.

My vaccination cards did not offer any relaxation to the rule. A small minority of passengers was in the same predicament as we were in. I was told if I had arrived early enough I could have taken a shuttle to Terminal 1, got a rapid PCR test for $370 and would have been allowed to board. I was beside myself.

The plane ascended without us. AirIndia’s agents did their job as mandated by the Indian government. There was no room for discretion. I thought to myself, if only Indian bureaucrats and law enforcement were so honest and diligent as these AirIndia agents, the nation would be far more orderly in so many ways.

The only option left was to take the pricey rapid PCR test at Terminal 1, and catch the next AirIndia flight out of Newark Airport. So that’s what we did paying a high price.

The barebones service one is accustomed to on AirIndia was even more stripped down. The flight attendants, in literal Hazmat suits seemed on edge and not very courteous. Passengers sitting in middle seats were asked to wear white lab coats and plastic face shields, for reasons I could not comprehend.

I put on the white synthetic coat, but refused to put on the face shield. There were some passengers who were paranoid enough to comply and some didn't. A 14 hour flight with a mask was about the discomfort I was willing to tolerate.

There was no beverage service. There were two meal breaks. Airline food which is most often an excuse for a meal, was even more watered down with two options, veg or non-veg with water, soda or wine. We were allowed to unmask for nourishment.

As the plane made its final descent into New Delhi, it felt like a “mission accomplished.” After three days, the sight of Indian soil from my window brought much needed relief.

As we exited the plane, there were men in uniform flanking the corridor. We were asked to show our boarding passes again and again, for reasons I still cannot fathom. A police officer rubber-stamped it. Passengers were guided to bins to discard the white coats and plastic shields. The plane littered with plastic water bottles now had face shields added, waiting to be added to a landfill somewhere on our ever-expanding plastic planet.

The Delhi airport was a ghost town. An army of airport employees was lounging with nothing to do, probably that’s why they were asked to repeatedly check boarding passes of exiting passengers. The floor salesmen at the Duty Free were advertising enticing discounts on perfumes and whiskey. The food court was sparse.

After a day’s layover at Delhi we arrived in Hyderabad. An hour and a half was spent filling out forms in triplicate and showing negative Covid reports again, and at the final window a man rubber stamped my hand, “Home Quarantine” and sent me along into the city of my birth.

As our taxi climbed the highway, from my window I noticed a wedding taking place at an opulent venue in the distance. The palatial structure was dressed in bright lights and fancy cars were dropping off guests in their flashy finery. A large crowd was partying with very little social distancing or masks. And here I was being asked to home quarantine after vaccinations and negative Covid tests. I had arrived in India.

Hyderabad seemed open for business. Restaurants and tea stalls were crowded, traffic was at its maximum and people were going about their life as though things were back to normal. A few people wore masks, and news continued to report of sporadic outbreaks around the country.

India’s astonishing low death rate was international news, with very little evidence to explain why. So theories were being floated that maybe the population is resilient having been exposed to countless viruses and vaccinations, the Indian demographic is largely young and probably inaccurate data was being collected as many Covid deaths were not being reported.

These were theories, but a clear sense of complacency and fatigue had definitely set in.

For a nation as dense and economically and socially diverse, physical distancing is a luxury afforded only to the rich. There is also a sense of fatalism that most Indians carry, prompting many to not be paranoid about yet another disease added to a long list of endemic viral killers.

I was concerned for my parents as they were in the high risk category by age. My 89 year old father was doing all he could to stay distanced. My mother on the other hand was far less concerned. Some of my relatives were extremely paranoid.

As I arrived, India was also beginning to roll out an impressive nation wide vaccine campaign. The Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine producer, with the help of the Gates Foundation had scaled up its capacity and was not only meeting India’s demand but was also exporting world wide. India is only a handful of nations manufacturing and exporting vaccines. At the same time there was widespread vaccine hesitancy fueled by rumors and misinformation spread on social media.

While developed nations like Canada and the EU are struggling to get vaccinations to their people, India is ahead of the curve. Within a day, I was able to get my mother vaccinated by filling out a quick form on the Internet. As soon as she was jabbed, a personalized PDF landed in her phone from Prime Minister Modi, thanking her for being a participant in the fight against Covid.

A day before I was to leave, I took my PCR Covid test. Unlike New York my result was delivered within 24 hours.

As I was leaving headlines were reporting about an alarming rise in cases around the country. A new mutated Covid variant was being blamed. Some experts were saying a third wave maybe sweeping the country. Mumbai was coming close to a lock down and the general trend seemed worrisome. The Serum Institute was asked to stop exports in order to make more vaccines available to Indians.

Meanwhile large election rallies were being held and Tweeted about by the Prime Minister and other politicians around the country, exposing the utter hypocrisy on how the pandemic was being confronted.

I touched down at JFK, collected my bags, filled out a single form stating I was tested before boarding and was home, with only the Brooklyn traffic irking my tired body along the way.

I fear this way of traveling is going to become the norm for sometime to come. It is going to take years to vaccinate the planet and until then there will be peaks and troughs and Covid will become endemic. There will be those who will not take the vaccine, putting forth the usual baseless selfish arguments and vaccine passports and tests will become the norm for travel.

After 9/11 we got accustomed to an invasive and uneasy security regimen. Going forward an additional layer of probing will be added to make everyone feel “safe”.

It is what it is.

 

America - OUT OF ORDER

If January 6th left me with PTSD, February 13th pretty much gutted me.

An insurrection didn’t do it. So what would it have taken for those in power to hold a president accountable?

Maybe the president explicitly calling his supporters to capture and burn down the House? Or the death of Senators instead of policemen and rioters? Mike Pence literally being hung at the gallows erected by the domestic terrorists? Probably even that would not have been enough. The president was no longer president, so as Mitch McConnell and his cohorts determined, a conviction was beyond the Senate’s jurisdiction and power.

So they made it clear that patriotism did not mean putting country first. It meant serving those who they think give them the best chance to hold on to power, when election time comes around.

Then they must forfeit the right to drape the flag, utter words such as “god bless America” and should be forbidden from visiting cemeteries where dead soldiers lie, as they would be desecrating all those they often frame as defenders of our nation, constitution and freedom.

It is not that the outcome of this impeachment was not pre-ordained. Like almost everything that goes on in congress votes are bought and sold in advance, so even before all the theatrics and exhibition of oratory powers, one always knows which way the chips are going to fall.

This one though, I thought was different. There was hope that we had entered uncharted territory and therefore spineless politicians would probably exhibit character and show courage. Watching on television the very benches on which they sit being defiled, one would expect them to vote with their conscience. But alas, this was wishful thinking.

What remains indisputable, unless you are delusional and refuse to take off your blinders — an insurrection would not have occurred if it was not called for. The day was chosen by the president with a very deliberate purpose in mind. The speech was spewed with a calculated agenda. The goal was to push buttons to achieve a desired outcome. To stop the ratification of a free and fair election was the mission.

This did not matter in the least bit to a large section of the very people, whose lives were endangered.

The failure to convict Donald Trump is probably the greatest atrocity committed by those elected to safeguard our democracy.

The oldest constitutional democracy showed to the world how emaciated and dysfunctional it actually is. The genius of the founders and framers that we are constantly reminded of, is not all that it is made out to be. This much now is abundantly clear.

Democracy in America is officially on shaky ground. The “big lie” has gotten even bigger and will continue to grow as long as it feeds on the divisions that have been sown.

During the impeachment the lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin quoted the famous French thinker Voltaire twice. The first quote was about free speech, where Voltaire famously said “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” But the second one is what defines the times we live in and sums up this moment.

“Anyone who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”

From Q-Anon, Fox News, Social Media to the president, the range of absurdities and conspiracy theories spoken and spread have successfully warped the minds of millions. A small percentage of them were called upon on January 6th to commit atrocities. An even smaller percentage who claim to represent voters/constituents, committed an even bigger abomination.

This I am afraid is the new normal. Not holding the inciter-in-chief accountable has sent a clear message, that the cancer of absurdities is only going to spread. Blocking Twitter feeds and suspending Facebook accounts is not going to stem this fire.

The singular chance America had to redeem itself in the eyes of the world was lost forever on February 13th. This nation can no longer call out other world leaders when they falter on their promise of democracy and trample over their people.

Henceforth, this nation foregoes its right to sit in judgement of other nations.

America is "Out of order". 

It is what it is.

American Carnage - Trump's Final Assault

The most jarring image that crossed my screen last week, was of a man holding a confederate flag inside the United States Capitol Hill building. While everything I saw this day left me with PTSD, this image sent a chill down my spine. It sent a clear message that the forces Abraham Lincoln fought all those years ago to keep the union from breaking - were alive and well and felt emboldened to rear their ugly head, to be heard and seen as starkly as possible.

What we witnessed on Jan 6th, 2021, was in the making for many years. The signs were always present, flourishing on the internet and right wing media, and I and others have been writing and warning about it, since America elected the most unsuitable candidate to the highest office in the land.

The greatest threat America faced I said on the day he was elected was the “Normalization of Donald Trump”. The normalization that ensued and continues, has brought us to this moment in time.

On January 6th everything that is ugly and abhorrent about this nation was on display. Racism, bigotry, white supremacy, violence, hatred, anti-semitism, guns, bombs, rage, misinformation and anger against the establishment were all visible in the faces and props of the domestic terrorists. All aspects Donald Trump had been stoking over the years, in the pursuit of support, adulation and intoxication.

Donald Trump has been assaulting American democracy and its norms in plain sight, since even before he walked into The White House. This was his final assault.

When he called Mexicans rapists, proclaimed he could shoot anyone on fifth avenue and have no consequences, paid off a porn star, built a wall, called racists and arsonists fine special people, withdrew from the climate accords, dismantled environment protections, threatened a foreign government to extort dirt on a rival, caged children, pardoned loyal criminals and more, he was engaging in a steady consistent assault, all the while being applauded, aided and abetted.

His assault escalated when he lost the election despite all his efforts to undermine it even before it began. He openly said many times he would honor the result of the election only if he won and a peaceful transfer of power was not a given.

When millions voted to replace him, he could not come to terms with it. So he decided to do what he knows best, become authoritarian.

First he got his enablers to go along, by dangling 74 million of his supporters as bait, so they would join him in calling a free and fair election fraudulent. He then sent his most loyal servants across the nation to file bogus lawsuits hoping his appointees in the judiciary would favor him as payback. When that didn’t work, he made phone calls and sent Tweets intimidating election officials, who had voted for him, asking them to openly engage in criminality. When all else failed he incited an insurrection and attempted a coup.

This is the story of Donald Trump. Those who had any intelligence and an iota of foresight, could have seen this coming all along. The one constant and consistent thing about him, is that he never minces words or tries to veil his thoughts. He always doubles down when exposed and never apologizes for anything, as in his mind he could never do or say anything wrong.

People call it sociopathic narcissistic behavior. It is just power giving someone a god complex. And those who attacked the Capitol, were his most sincere followers, who believed and swallowed whatever was fed to them without hesitation and doubt. They were willing to give up their freedom all the while chanting USA!, USA!, as in their mind they were patriots saving the nation from tyranny.

Those who did not see this attack coming were either complicit, delusional or appreciated Donald Trump’s behavior in the hope of some selfish gain in the form of tax cuts or having not to wear masks in a pandemic. Or yearned to a see a nation turn its back on all progress, and become an insular inward looking global pariah.

When this part of American history is recorded, all those who were responsible in creating a climate for this raid to happen, will have to reckon with what transpired. They will have to look in the mirror and ask themselves that introspective question, “what was I really thinking?”

Like the Germans of the 1930s and 40s and their descendants who struggle to find words to express how they could have gone so wrong, it is my hope that Americans engage in some soul searching, as that is the only way to seek the truth and reach reconciliation, to explain to future generations how they got it wrong.

What history and legend teaches us, is that feeding the beast has consequences. When you do not see or refuse to recognize “the beast”, even when it is in plain sight, it will eventually devour you.

It is what it is.

 

2020 A.D. - What a year !

The Triboro Bridge was thick with traffic. In the distance the Manhattan skyline was sparkling. The spire on the Empire State building was red and green. Things seemed like they are supposed to, this time of the year.

Then to my right a driver pulled in with a mask on. He made sure I didn’t forget that things were far from the way they used to be.

The adjustment we have had to make to a virus, has forced us to take stock of who we are as a species and how we live with the planet.

Now with a vaccine, there is hope of a reset to the past as soon as possible - which is already celebrated as a distant blissful memory.

Many are looking forward to vacations in exotic places, the exhilaration of being in sports arenas and music concerts, the din of restaurants and for the less fortunate a return to a lost job. Whether we will resume those heady days, in a manner reminiscent of the past, is not very certain. Even though the end of 2020 is being seen as a first step towards that.

After 9/11 the world did not reset once Afghanistan was invaded, Iraq destroyed and Osama Bin Laden assassinated. The way we move about the planet intrinsically changed forever, and the human world fell in line with some irritation. Probably a similar fate awaits us once this virus is conquered and we get ready (or not) for the next one to come.

There are many ways one can approach the end of 2020. For many it is already being advertised as an end to a year from hell.

One’s calibration is based on one’s individual experience no doubt. For those who lost a loved one it is the darkest of times. For someone who recovered after a long fight, gratitude to those who helped along the way is in order. To those who have managed to stay clear despite the scare of the virus lurching on surfaces, in air and in the room next door, good fortune is to be thankful for. And to those who continue to be in denial, it is important to keep in mind fortune favors only those who are prepared.

No matter how you see it, the inconvenience faced by many, pales in comparison to those who went through far worse in history, even without the virus.

The generations before us that lived through wars, famine and deadlier plagues when medicine was primitive, saw and experienced dire unfathomable circumstances.

Even today there are millions of refugees who are displaced by war and conflict who have had to contend with more hardship than they would have with a virus running amuck.

 So when we say “to hell with 2020” or see it as a cursed year, one has to measure one’s level of inconvenience with those who have lost everything or are on the verge of destitution, and then have some perspective.

As I count myself among the lucky, 2020 has mainly been a massive adjustment. I have had enough food on my table, a roof over my head, a family to give me comfort, restricted freedom of movement and health to stay confident about the future that is to come. I am aware this could all change in a blink of an eye with or without a virus in our midst.

So I am grateful for 2020 for teaching me the true meaning of contentment and to help focus further on what is essential and valuable in the hardest of times.

As the planet spins and turns in the eternal churning of time, a year is but a speck in its trajectory. For us 2020 may feel like an eternity, but for the blue ball, it is just a blip. To see things in retrospect with perspective is the way to move forward, as there is no instant “reset switch” for the predicament we find ourselves in.

It is what it is.

Reset to Decency & Democracy

At 11:47 am on Saturday, November the 7th, I was clearing leaves in my front yard. It was an unusually warm day. I began to hear isolated howls and screams coming from down the street. My neighbor stepped on to his front porch with a frying pan and spoon and started banging and my wife came out running, jumping for joy.

It was over. The excruciating fives days had come to an end — for now. The knot in my stomach reseeded. The city that made Donald Trump, spontaneously erupted in celebration signaling an end to his divisive brand of politics and the corruption his family had come to stand for.

As I walked up the block the honking cars and people shouting at the top of their voices “F*** Donald Trump”, said it all.

An under-cover police car let off a throbbing siren. A city bus driver was all smiles as he honked. At the intersection there was drumming, clapping, howling, screaming and tears of joy. If there was no pandemic strangers would be embracing all day, like they did on 9/11.

On the next intersection a sea of people had gathered in jubilation. The collective relief that was being exhibited felt like a revolution had unseated a tyrant. The psychological tyranny inflicted had come to an end. A woman walked past me and said “ finally I can breathe.” A weight had been lifted that could only be expressed through ecstatic joy. I felt I was standing at a significant moment in time.

Even though the shock of realizing that the needle had barely moved and millions more had decided to support an abhorrent agenda than last time will never be completely overcome, watching my fellow city dwellers joyous helped lift my spirits.

This day was not the day to dwell on the past or the future. It was a day to be in the moment. To feel hopeful. To feel that there is a vast humanity out there that respects character and rewards all that is good and vital in a time of catastrophe.

Standing in Brooklyn I knew I was a part of a global sigh of relief. It felt as though a planetary hostage crisis had come to an end.

While a majority of America was relieved by the historic turn of events, there was a sizable number that was feeling the opposite.

Some quickly bought into the fast moving allegations that the election was stolen, rigged and fraudulent.

Conspiracy theories spread by the usual coterie of characters from the president down, began to gather steam in an already primed audience. Boorish men with guns and loud protesters with garish flags were quickly summoned to disturb the peace and scare the honest poll workers hard at work.

While I write this, those beliefs are still running strong fueled by a leader who refuses to accept the truth and is in denial. He will probably continue on this path to defile our sacred democratic process, that put him in a place of such immense power. As long as there are people enabling and applauding him to do so, Donald Trump will have no problem trampling over all that is considered sacrosanct.

If the Democrats would have lost, the mood would be grim and probably there would be some disdain for the system and anger in the streets. Especially after the kind of divisiveness and poison that has been sown into our psyche for years.

If the process would have been as transparent as it has been, Joe Biden in his decency would have been the first to concede and make the same speech he made in victory. Calling for unity, civility, reconciliation, humility and peace.

There lies the irrefutable difference between the one who should be leading and the one leaving.

Bill Maher in his wisdom, played on the phrase “civil war”, as the thought of one ensuing is still real, judging by the president’s rhetoric and behavior. He said Republicans do not know how to be “civil” and Democrats do not know how to go to “war” and therefore Americans need to resign to living with each other despite the rifts and divisions exploited by politicians hungry for power.

Despite all the olive branch offerings there will always be those who will call this a “stolen election” until the next one comes around. As they have nothing else left to go on. All the narratives they so deftly engineered to brainwash America, in the end did not bare fruit. They only left a deep and wide gash and galvanized the beholden to bring more to the tent.

The Republican campaign’s singular achievement will be the record crowd they were able to mine to the polls without a platform, policy manifesto or a menu of accomplishments for an incumbent leader.

“Make America Great Again” a rebranded hollow slogan from 2016, with little merit to back it, was enough for people to be energized. This is how populism works.

In desperation the enablers have signed on to go along with the president in his shameless behavior. The attorney general, his most loyal “man-Friday”, has announced investigations. The sycophant senators have refused to congratulate the winner. And the baseless legal battles are bound to go on putting the nation in peril.

The word “grace” does not exist in the mind of Donald Trump. Humility is a concept he does not grasp. He made it very apparent more than once and continues to by his conduct, that democracy is an idea he can endorse only if it favors him.

History will decide the fate of Donald Trump. It will determine whether he was an anomaly or an aberration. It will also cast a verdict on his voters and ardent supporters for this moment in time.

Joe Biden proclaimed often during the campaign that this election was a battle for America’s soul. It was clear on election night, that that battle was far from over. That battle will never be won as long as cancer permeates through the media distorting and destroying the truth.

In the meantime, for the moment a path to the restoration of America may have opened. At least that is the hope.

If not anything, civility will certainly return in 2021 to the highest office in the land. And if this election was just about a “reset” to empathy and decency, it was a battle worth fought and won.

It is what it is.

America at a Crossroads

Walking through my neighborhood in Brooklyn, I came upon a Halloween decoration which loudly proclaimed, END THIS NIGHTMARE, VOTE!

While I was taking a photo of the installation a black man walked by me and said

“Huh!! Vote to end this nightmare! I thought reparations would end this nightmare.”

For a moment I found what he said amusing. He did not wait to engage but kept walking.

What he said certainly raised questions, especially in the times we find ourselves in, and more so, at a juncture where America’s future hangs in the balance.

“Reparation” means to make amend for a wrong that was done. Often by monetary compensation or helping and apologizing to those who have been wronged.

In America, “Reparations” is often associated with slavery as providing legal compensation to the victims and/or their descendants.

Slavery officially ended in 1865 and reparations are a long time coming. They have been talked about since then and some attempts were made to act on them. But nothing substantial thus far. Many in America see slavery as an injustice that has never been fully acknowledged and addressed as a crime against humanity.

Making a case for reparations, well-known writer and thinker Ta-Nehisi Coates says, hundred fifty years of slavery, ninety years of Jim Crow, sixty years of separate but equal, thirty-five years of racist housing policy until America reckons with its compounding moral debts, it will never be whole.

Reparations became a major issue in 2020 when the Black Lives Matters movement named it as one of their policy goals.

This election almost all democratic presidential hopefuls pledged to look into the matter if elected president.

Andrew Yang said that he supported HR40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson.

Elizabeth Warren, Corey Booker, and Kamala Harris expressed support. Tulsi Gabbard and Berney Sanders co-sponsored the bill and were committed and vocal to its implementation.

The Republicans, the party of Lincoln as they proudly proclaim, have never been supportive of the idea of reparations. Coming from an argument, why should a nation pay for the sins of it’s forefathers? And that reparations would be another handout like food stamps and would not address race relations in this country in any meaningful way.

The current Republican party and it’s overlords do not even acknowledge that there might be systemic racism in America and hope to hold on to power by spreading and stoking white fear.

Many in America celebrate and consider Christopher Columbus to be the man who discovered “The New World”. What people seldom disregard, is that there were people living here for centuries before he ended up here searching for India. There was nothing really Columbus discovered other than a sea route for the conquering and pillaging of this land.

The genocide that followed of the native American people is still a contentious issue and their land is still desecrated on a regular basis.

In 1851, Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act which created the Indian reservation system and provided funds to move tribes onto farming reservations and hopefully keep them under control. They were not allowed to leave the reservations without permission. Many were forced onto “reservations” with catastrophic results.

In 1934 it was replaced with the Indian Reorganization Act with the goals of restoring Indian culture and returning surplus land to tribes. It also encouraged them to self-govern and write their own constitutions and provided financial aid for infrastructure.

Indian reservations these days are knows for their casinos. But no native American would consider this as reparations rendered.

The question arises then, can and should the injustices of the past be rectified in the present? The reality is, injustices of the past cast a long shadow and influence the present and are ever present. The fact that race still forms an important part of American political and social discourse, is an indication that there is much needed work to be done.

Some nations around the world have symbolically apologized for the carnage they have ensued in pursuit of wealth, religious and civilizational expansion.

Some colonialists have apologized for their crimes without returning the loot. Some have tried to return it with varying success. The Germans feel extreme guilt for the Holocaust and make every effort possible to stamp out antisemitism and rising Nazi propaganda. Then there are others like Turkey who refuse to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. The Chinese continue to oppress native cultures in their land.

In a few days America will decide which way to turn. With the hope that they take a turn towards progress, I have been calling voters in North Carolina to make sure they vote early.

One such call was to a person who was not interested in voting, as he had no faith in the system. His reason was the same as those of a sizable number of voters in this country, who firmly believe that no matter who comes to power their plight never changes.

When I asked what was the one current issue bothering him, he said it was the pandemic. I responded, given that we have only two to choose from, should we not give the other team a chance to tackle the situation? He seemed to agree with me.

From his grievances and angst I was more than sure he was a black man. I am not sure if reparations would have improved his plight, but I am sure it would have instilled in him some credibility for the system.

A hope that his life actually matters.

It is what it is