What Now?

On May 25, 2020 George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis policeman who kneeled on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while others stood by and watched.  On June 13, 2020 Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by an Atlanta policeman as he escaped from being detained and fled through a parking lot after stealing the officer's taser.  There is video of him pointing the taser at the officers before he was shot.  These two events are not related but they sparked widespread protests.

Since then things have deteriorated.  You've seen it.  Rioting and looting have been common.  The Black Lives Matter organization and movement has taken over as a face of the demonstrations.  Unfortunately there are making outrageous demands like defund the police, among others, that tend to drown out any rational thought toward dialog and progress.  There have been "autonomous zones" set up in various cities in which there is no order and police will not venture.  Seattle and New York City seem to be the epicenter of takeovers, defacing and destruction.  Peaceful protest leading to constructive dialog which leads to change seems to have gone away. At least for now.  I keep thinking (hoping) that we will get past this craziness and start talking...but I'm not really sure.

Politicians have become as polarized as I've ever seen them.  Senator Tim Scott, who is black, tried and failed to get some police reform measures implemented.  The Democrats wouldn't even talk about it.  The Democrats also refused to vote for a measure condemning violence and looting.  They are on opposite ends of the spectrum and I'm not sure what reconciles them.  Trump seems to have lost control.  He continues to be his own worst enemy (especially on social media) and his combative, arrogant attitude is not playing well.  The Dems are pulling out all the stops to find and accuse him of everything under the sun.  Because of his personality he takes everything personally and goes high and right.  And that usually only harms him.  I'm not making any predictions because it's impossible to tell, but he better get his shit together or he'll be defeated in November.  And if that happens we'll have the weakest President in history right when, in my opinion, we need steady strength.  But honestly so many people seem just exhausted by the Trump show and may just vote for a change.  Who knows.

Add in the reemergence of Covid 19 at frightening proportions and life can be overwhelming.  We are returning to shutdowns, restrictions, and dramatic impacts on our way of life.  The state and local governments most greatly impacted seem to be a choosing a piecemeal, inconsistent and sometimes incoherent approach.  Closing of bars and beaches makes sense but allowing thousands of protestors in close proximity is okay?  Incoherent.  And I’m not sure what they are doing but the federal government seems to be not very present.  I’ve heard some state officials say that their hospitals are  approaching max capacity and PPE is becoming a problem.  So what have they been doing the last few months?  Wouldn’t it have made sense for state and federal governments to have been working together to ensure they have excess capacity?  Obviously rhetorical questions but pretty relevant.  Don't know where we're going now but in my circle of friends and in my family, it's all about the kids.  How do we ensure that the kids can get back to school and experience school as it's meant to be?  That is our priority.  I hope that the school districts and the teacher's unions are listening...but I'm not sure they are.

But back to the racial issues.  Like so many things I think it comes down to personal action.  You can watch and listen to all the various news accounts, you can be heartened or outraged by the latest actions of those out on the streets, you can write your political representatives til you're blue in the face.  But really it takes each individual taking whatever action they can to really understand the issues and then working to help others and try to impact your little corner of the world.  As I've said before on this blog, I've been inspired and hopeful at times and disgusted and disappointed at times.  But I've decided I can do two things.  I can be open to learning and understanding and I can use that understanding to perhaps work in areas where I can make a difference.  My wife and I are seeking information and are open to broadening our horizons.  We took a class this morning called "Dismantling racism...one insight at a time".   The instructor provided some really thought provoking questions and sprinkled in some history and relevant facts.  He provided some resources for us to explore which might provide more insight and understanding.  And that couldn't hurt.

But I have to say that it's difficult to get past the destruction and radical actions of some of the protestors.  I don't think I'm untypical of many people in society today who want to live in a better country when it comes to race relations, but doing something becomes problematic in the face of violence, wanton destruction, and outrageous demands.  I can't even pay attention when mobs are roaming the streets.  I can't even consider actions when police and governmental leaders are being demonized and even killed.  I can't even pay attention when statues and memorials are being destroyed and defaced with no regard to who or what they memorialize.  So while I will quietly work for more personal understanding, I'm not sure I can get to the next step of action in the face of such anarchy.

I'm not sure where we go from here.  Until things quiet down and we can get to constructive dialog there are two things I'm holding onto.  The first I heard today and the second is timeless.  I heard this quote in the class today.  "Not all are guilty, but all are responsible."  I and so many others aren't guilty of past sins, but we are responsible to fix what we can and do better in the future.  Many, many people want to do that, if we can get to a dialog.  I understand that many don't and we'll just have to live with that and hold people accountable.

The second is a speech I refer to periodically and it actually gives me hope.  It's Lincoln's second inaugural speech and is copied below.  Lincoln is by almost any measure our greatest President.  That is because of two things.  He held the Union together and he freed the slaves, although as I'm learning there are an awful of of flaws in the 13th Amendment that have resulted in terrible unintended consequences.  This speech lays out where we need to go.  He died before he could get a good start.  Maybe it's time we finished the job.

"Fellow countrymen: at this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends is as well known to the public as to myself and it is I trust reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

"On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it ~ all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place devoted altogether to saving the Union without war insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war ~ seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

"One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves not distributed generally over the union but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen perpetuate and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered ~ that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses for it must needs be that offenses come but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which in the providence of God must needs come but which having continued through His appointed time He now wills to remove and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him. Fondly do we hope ~ fervently do we pray ~ that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'

"With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

Monuments and Statues

One of the big things in the news lately is the odd phenomenon of protestors and anarchists desecrating, defacing, and destroying monuments and statues around the country.  I say odd because it's really sort of a new tactic.  I guess maybe we've seen some of this in the past, but it seems to be something that those who feel the need to protest and destroy seem to think is effective.  It's not.

In the scheme of things, a protest is an effort to bring people around to your way of thinking.  In a country as big and diverse as ours, change only comes by changing the way some majority of the people think.  Especially in America change can't be forced.  It can't be forced by the government.  It can't be forced by the mob.  It can't be forced by slogans.  It can only occur when there is some agreement and belief by a significant body of people that change is appropriate.  But in my view the protestors are blowing it.

First we saw the phrase "defund the police".  As I said on other posts this is a huge blunder and maybe the worst marketing/branding mistake I've ever seen.  As soon as that phrase pops up, the vast majority of people turn away.  And even if some of the more rational voices in protest try to explain, try to bring up reasonable reform, try to distance themselves from it...it's too late.  Their only solution is to totally divorce themselves from that ridiculous and emotionally charged phrase.

Now we see the legitimate protestors being jumbled up with the anarchists.  Antifa has smartly taken up the cry from BLM and has distorted that message to be perverted to their own.  The reason for that is that Antifa methods and actions are so outrageous, so offensive, so damaging that they see cover in the BLM movement.  Because here's the deal. After the George Floyd murder and resulting protests, the BLM movement had a lot of potential allies.  A large number of people in the country have recognized the oppression and inequality that our fellow black citizens have faced.  They are sympathetic and they want to "do something".  I've seen more of my friends, colleagues and acquaintances than I can believe voice that very thing.  I've seen people reaching out and wanting to understand, take action and seek change.  Many, many people want to get involved and take some action (which may be undefined today) to positively effect change.  But when things are uncertain, the tendency is to be reluctant in the face of that uncertainty.  Whether they know it or not, the good people who are sincerely protesting racial inequality have been lumped with the anarchists and that will do them damage.  If people sitting at home watching who are sympathetic and want to see change can't tell the people protesting for racial justice from the anarchists, the anarchists are winning.

  

Over the last several days we've seen a part of Seattle deteriorate into a chaotic, fascist state.  We've seen statues and monuments of Christopher Columbus desecrated and destroyed.  I wrote a post about Columbus last year that still applies and you can read it here.  We've seen statues and monuments of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson pulled down.  Probably most oddly we saw the statue of Ulysses S. Grant, a key opponent of slavery and a President who did a lot of advance the lives of slaves after emancipation, destroyed.  That makes no sense at all, except it fits with the narrative of destroy everything connected with the country.  This weekend we have seen that statues of Francis Scott Key, the author of the Star Spangled Banner and Father Junipero Serra, a Jesuit missionary in early California days were toppled.  And of course we've seen a lot of statues of heroes of the Confederacy desecrated and destroyed.  The Confederate statues and monuments have been controversial for quite a while and we've seen a growing movement to take action to move them out of the public view.  Personally, I'd be in favor in moving them to a place, community by community, that is more appropriate than a public park or venue for all to see.  These things are historical and deserve to be preserved to tell the stories.  But I'm sympathetic to our black citizens who might have to walk by them every day and relive that horrible history.  The city of New Orleans has done a good job with this as they've moved a lot of Confederate statues to more appropriate places.  They didn't destroy them, they moved them.  Big difference.  But I get that there are many who strongly disagree.  So be it.  In time the situation will be resolved.  But most don't believe the resolution comes when violent mobs pull down a statue.

All of this is in addition to the ongoing protests and riots that aren't getting huge coverage in the media, but they are there.  The media is way more focused on how big Trump's rallies are and what is his latest outrageous screwup to indicate what a genuine asshole, traitor and criminal he is...according to them.  But I digress.  The point is that when good people are protesting and urging legitimate change in an area that cries for change and they get lumped with anarchists who want nothing more than to destroy, their cause will become diluted and lose inertia real fast.  Because while many average folks, both white and black, will buy in to helping with legitimate and rationalized change, they will not stand for the destruction of their society and way of life.  They may be patient.  They may not want to get involved when the destruction is far away and lightly covered in the media.  They may even be willing to suffer insults while trying to understand how to help.  But protests and change are one thing, destruction and devastation are another.  

The anarchists (Antifa) deserve to be punished and destroyed.  There is no place in our society for them.  A lot of people look to the Trump and the federal government to "do something".  But this is really a state and local government issue.  And if the state and local government won't do anything, then it will continue.  I hope (and believe) that at some point enough people will be fed up that they will vote in officials who will take decisive action against these assholes.  And by decisive, I mean strong, harsh action that will squash them.  And the BLM protestors, the sincere ones, deserve to have their voices heard and to be allowed to build a movement that will stimulate change for the better.  But as long as they align themselves with things like "defund the police" and the anarchist movement they will be stymied.  Their voices will be drowned out.  And that's too bad.  Because it's a message we all need to hear.

Shocking

I don't watch 60 Minutes every week as some of their stories have lost the legendary balance.  But I'm always drawn to at least the beginning to see what they are covering.  Last night they had a story on the race massacres in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921.  I sat watching this 12 minutes story and was stunned.  Stunned is the only descriptor.  I thought to myself, "how had I never heard of this".  Take a few minutes to watch this.  It is deeply disturbing that something like this could have happened in our country in 1921.

Changes

I saw this little hokey saying the other day somewhere out on the net and thought that it was pretty outlandish.  I mean after all, so far and by almost any estimate 2020 has generally been pretty bad.  I don't have to list or detail them all but its generally been one catastrophe after another.  So I was going to just pass it on by but the more I thought about it the more intrigued I became.  Now, I'm not some person who tries to look at the world through rose colored glasses or discounts troubles along the way, but I began to think what if all of these events and resultant angst could actually result in some changes.  What if all of the deaths, the businesses lost, the economic devastation, the lockdowns, the uncertainty, the curious moves by governments at all levels could actually stimulate some positive action.  What if this time something actually changed?

We've seen it way, way too many times in the last several years and decades.  Something big happens like a controversial death at the hands of police or some other all-to-common injustice, there is initial stunned silence, and then all hell breaks loose.  Riots, looting, protests, larger than life funerals, media frenzy, hopes and prayers offered all around, feel better hashtags...and then life returns to normal.  It's all so predictable and so tiresome.

But this time I thought might be different.  The murder of George Floyd was heinous by any measure.  And it was right there for all the world to see.  I wrote about it soon after it happened here.  There have been moments in our history that have served to come as an awakening.  Sometimes it didn't happen right away, the murder of Emmet Till comes to mind, but this one was so blatant, so over the top, so raw, and so unbelievably seemingly condoned by the officers present, that I thought maybe this event could be a catalyst for change.  As the days go by though, I'm becoming less and less sure and more and more jaded.  And I hate that.

As the events unfolded after the murder there were the predictable riots and looting but that seemed to abate in the wake of so many ordinary citizens coming to some awakening that there are a lot of examples of mistreatment of our black citizens in all areas of the country.  It's not new and it's not okay.  But in the past the event that caused the trauma of riot and protest seemed to be executed by a few and observed by most.  But in this case, there were and are a ton of people of all races standing up to say "no more".  That part has been heartening to see.

But what I think is happening now is that those on each end of the spectrum of the fight for racial justice are overplaying their hand.  First we saw the slogan "defund the police" emerge from many zealots on the left and in the Black Lives Matter movement.  I don't know if they were caught up in the moment or just so pissed that they thought they would press their case, come hell or high water, but it was a bad, bad mistake.  As a friend of mine likes to say, "that dog won't hunt".  If ever I've seen a terrible and tragic blunder in branding and marketing, "defund the police" is it.  It's almost case study bad.  The zealots on either end of the spectrum on any issue don't want to hear it, but that kind of rhetoric will turn off so many people that they won't even see past it.  Those who want to fight for real police reform (and most think that is necessary) have been drowned out by the zealots.  And so even if cooler heads are now trying to calm the storm and argue that "defund the police" never meant what it said, it's too late.  The reformers path now should be to distance themselves from this crazy slogan and anyone who utters it if they are going to have any chance to advocate for the kinds of programs, training, and funding that will be necessary to improve our police departments.  But I fear it's too late.

The second thing that the zealots on the other end did was take up the cry that "all lives matter" or "blue lives matter" to try and blunt what they perceived as a threat from BLM.  I'm a huge supporter of law enforcement and and believe that they should be funded, trained, and deployed properly to serve the community.  But in this moment, the cry is Black Lives Matter.  That doesn't take away from anything.  It's really just a cry for understanding.  So to see it as a threat seems to me to be reading the situation wrong.

There are two other things that have gotten attention that blunt the issue.  The first is dredging up the whole Colin Kaepernick thing about kneeling during the national anthem at an NFL game.  You have to be aware of this emotional issue.  And so a lot of folks now say he was right.  That he was kneeling for justice for black people and he was right.  And a few other folks have been raked over the coals for resisting that narrative.  You've probably seen the dust up with Drew Brees saying he could never support anyone who disrespects the flag.  And he got pilloried in the press and by some players.  Well, I'll just go on record right now as being in Drew's corner.  There are a lot of ways to express your frustration with the criminal justice system and to support racial justice, but disrespecting the flag is not one of them.  At least in my book it's not.

The other thing is this takeover in Seattle by a bunch of anarchists.  That is a whole other story and these guys are assholes who the Seattle government should never have allowed to occupy the area.  But they are clearly using the BLM and George Floyd issue as a cover for the their shenanigans.  They need to be called out, cleared out and put down.  Unfortunately, given the government in Washington, it's not going to happen anytime soon.

So where are we?  My big fear is that we're where we've been before.  The protests are fizzling, the zealots have taken over and demanded unachievable things, the majority is digging in in fear that the status quo will be upset, and we await the next episode which will surely come.

But I have seen a few glimmers of hope.  There have been a lot of companies responding to employe demand to pay way more attention to diversity.  There are a lot more people who have become aware and I don't think are going to leave this alone.  There are a lot more responsible people in government, media (although there aren't too many there), and business who are talking about ways to change the dynamic, which is good.

I've seen a few interesting proposals that I think are the kinds of things we need to see happen.  My good friend and priest who I have sometimes quoted here sent a proposal for the Episcopal Church to sell 50% of their property and invest it in education for black kids.  Now that's out of the box thinking!  His reasoning is that the church is declining and has lost about 50% of its members, so we don't need the property.  The Episcopal Church has a lot of schools.  So why not insist that in the future 50% of the student body comes from poor black families?  Why not indeed?  I would prefer that a blind admissions policy be adopted with a commensurate influx of minorities, but that's a detail.  His point is that this is a 20 year project and it can be done.  That's what we need.  Not something that will be a 2 or 3 or 4 year project but long term solutions with buy in from the population.  All churches should be looking at themselves pretty hard and deciding what is important.

I've seen proposals to vastly change the tasking of police departments to focus more on community policing and get them out of the jack of all trades that they do now.  I'm not an expert, but it makes sense to me.  Once again, I'm not an expert, but I've seen a lot of evidence that the police unions have a big responsibility in protecting cops who are identified with being abusive and having issues.  Like so many things, there aren't any simple answers here.  But somehow, a process that identifies and weeds out bad apples has to be implemented.

What Senator Scott and President Trump have done with economic opportunity zones focused on the black community has been a huge success and needs to be expanded.  Likewise, the prison reform programs that President Trump has implemented is making a difference.  School choice is a win for the black community but the education establishment and the teacher's unions will fight it to the death.  Good...bring it on.  I think they are on the losing side of history here.  Black employment must continue to be a priority because economics is a big part of this problem.

There are so many facets to this complicated issue that has been festering for 250 years that is not going to be solved overnight.  Much of it lies in the hearts and minds of Americans.  I fundamentally believe that most want to do the right thing.  I believe that most want us all to prosper and live the lives guaranteed by the Constitution.  But we've seen that many don't and that has impacted a whole segment of the population.  We've got to root out those people and provide help to the people who have been impacted by generations of neglect.  It's the right thing to do.

The Message We Need

With the unfolding of events over the last several days we've been inundated with analysis, articles, photos, meme's, and 24/7 coverage.  It becomes difficult to sift through all the narratives.

I've previously posted articles on this blog from a Priest who served our church many years ago.   I think this is his best, exactly at the time I (and maybe you) need it.  He is as wise as they come.  His message today is frankly, from my perspective, the best writing I've seen about our current troubles.  He presents a calm, hopeful, fair and ultimately uplifting message that I would expect, but don't always get, from clergy.

Lessons Learned on the Civil Unrest

The first thing I usually do when I awake in the morning is to check the internet for any news updates. For the last several days, the EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review) has sent out announcements that read: “Due to civil unrest, the [city] immigration court will be closed today.” Imagine that, even federal courts have had to shut down because of all the turmoil in the country.

We are going through a horrific period in American history – not the worst by far – but horrific, nonetheless. Cities are war zones, police are being shot and killed, stores, cars and buildings are burned, vandalized and looted, the estimated rebuilding cost is in the billions of dollars, and even churches are not immune to attack – St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City was desecrated and St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square in Washington was set on fire with the “F” word graffitied on church walls. If you are like me, you suffer from a broken heart.

As it happened, in my Morning Prayer on today, Psalm 46 was one of the readings. This was Martin’s Luther’s favorite psalm, and he wrote “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” based upon it. I commend it to you as we pray for our country:

God is our refuge and strength, 

a very present help in trouble. 

Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be moved, 

and though the mountain be toppled into the depths of the sea; 

Though its waters rage and foam, 

and though the mountains tremble at its tumult. 

The Lord of hosts is with us; 

the God of Jacob is our stronghold. 

I want to offer ten lessons that may help us get through these tumultuous times. 

First, there is wide agreement in the country that George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, while three other police officers looked on but did nothing. This is such a clear-cut case of murder that the District Attorney could have filed murder charges almost immediately. The fact that he waited until Friday precipitated the anger, rage and suspicion that has led to civil unrest. How different things might be now if by Tuesday Officer Chauvin was charged with murder, arrested and put in jail without bond.

Moreover, the Murder 3 charge is too low – the officer should be charged with Murder 1 – there was clear intent to kill. I will not go through the details of why Murder I is justified, but as one prosecutor told me recently, you always aim high in the initial charge. In this case, the prosecutor aimed too low – a bare minimum. Sadly, the District Attorney is incompetent. So, it is not surprising that the Attorney General of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, has taken over the case.

Second, the good news for the Floyd family is that they have retained an excellent civil rights attorney, Benjamin Crump, to represent them in collecting damages against the City of Minneapolis. No one can bring back the life of a loved one so cruelly murdered, but at least there will be compensation for a grieving family. I would expect the compensation to be in the millions of dollars. 

Third, racism is a sin. I should not have to remind any Christians that God hates prejudice, discrimination, and any kind of racial superiority. Every human being is made in the image of God, and therefore deserving of equal treatment under law. A question that needs to be asked is, “If George Floyd was white, would the police officer have treated him in the same way?” The answer is definitely not. He might have been handcuffed, but he would not have been forced to the ground with the police office putting his knee on Mr. Floyd’s throat. The officer was treating Mr. Floyd like a wild animal and not as a human being who posed no physical threat. 

Fourth, racism is embedded in the United States – and we have to deal with it. This is very painful to write, because there are many good things about America, and for all our problems, millions still want to come to this country, but few want to leave it. And yet, for all our progress on race, we continue to live with the vestiges of slavery and segregation. 

We need to remind ourselves that slavery came to the American colonies in 1619 and was only abolished after a Civil War that cost up to 750,000 lives. After the war, Reconstruction was an attempt bring about equality between blacks and whites in the southern states, but that was halted after President Grant left office. With the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1892) ruling that “separate but equal” was constitutional, we legalized segregation – separate water fountains, separate schools, separate passenger railway cars, separate sections on buses and in restaurants. Even in northern states, blacks and whites lived in separate neighborhoods and mostly attended separate schools. 

Only in 1954 did Brown v. Board of Education rule “separate but equal” unconstitutional, but it would not go quietly into that good night. The southern states resisted, and Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy had to use federal troops to ensure blacks went to the schools of their choice. In the 1960’s, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, then the Voting Right Act, and then the Fair Housing Act to undo vestiges of discrimination – and still there was resistance. Northern states resisted busing that would have allowed black and white children to attend the same schools. Affirmative action also came under attack that would have ensured black representation in our colleges, universities and workplaces. 

By 2020 we have made considerable progress as a nation. We have had a black President, 13 percent of Congress is non-white, and even South Carolina (the first state to secede from the Union) now has a black United States Senator, Tim Scott, who one day, I hope, will be President. We have black mayors of some of our nation’s most important cities – Chicago and Atlanta, for example. There is still, however, a long way to go – and no where has this become more evident than in our policing of black communities. We need to do better – better recruitment, better training, better oversight of police. 

Finally, I don’t know if reparations for slavery is a viable answer to the race problem in America. The cost for meaningful reparations might be as much as 14 trillion dollars. Then, there is the question of other disadvantaged groups in America, such as Hispanics and poor whites in rural areas – do we include them? Perhaps the answer is a just society for everyone, however we get to that goal.

Fifth, as bad as the present civil unrest is, it has been much worse at other times in our history. Here are some of the worst riots in recent times:

• Watts, Los Angeles, August 11 – 16, 1965 – There were six days of rioting and looting that resulted in 34 deaths and 3,500 arrests.

• Newark, New Jersey, July 12-17, 1967 – The riot was prompted by police beating a black cab driver by the name of John Smith. There was massive property destruction and looting resulting in 26 people dead and hundreds injured. This was the “beginning of the end” of Newark as a great city (its’ school system was one of the best in the country) and a massive exodus of white people to the suburbs. 

• Detroit, July 23 – 27, 1967 – There were 43 deaths, 2,000 buildings destroyed, and 7,300 people arrested. Similar to Newark, this was the beginning of the end of the once great motor city and resulted in a “white flight” to the suburbs.

• Los Angeles, April 29 – May 4 – This was the riot in the aftermath of the Rodney King beating by police officers caught on camera, and the subsequent acquittal of all the police officers at trial. 63 people died in this riot.

What is happening now on the streets of our cities is heartbreaking, but let’s keep our perspective: compared to other incidences of civil unrest, the loss of life in these disturbances has been very low. In fact, as I write this, there are more police deaths than protestors or rioters. 

Sixth, there is enough blame to go around for everyone – no one comes off looking good. The Mayor of Minneapolis ordered police to abandon a precinct rather than defend it, resulting in its complete destruction. This sent a signal to rioters that they could engage in burning and looting with impunity. The Mayor of New York allowed stores and buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan to be vandalized and looted, with police doing little or nothing – almost a thousand stores destroyed – and all the while the Mayor claimed it was “peaceful protest.” Even Governor Cuomo had to take issue with the Mayor. The President meanwhile gave an excellent speech on Saturday at NASA, but too few Americans heard it. Unfortunately, some of his other rhetoric and tweets have been acerbic and not helpful to calming the situation. 

It is easy for us to become highly partisan in this situation. We need to resist that tendency. When the civil unrest ends, there will be time to examine what went right and wrong, and what government can do better to respond to an incendiary situation. For now, I would remind all of us what St. Paul said in Romans, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – we are all sinners, fallible, prone to mistakes, with hearts less than pure. The great Russian Alexandre Solzhenitsyn put it best when he said, “The line between good and evil runs through every human heart.” We all need a little more humility and a willingness to engage in self-examination about our rhetoric.

Seventh, we are living in a post-modern world where very little of cable news reporting – CNN, MSNBC and Fox – reflects the truth. News reporting has become opinion, spin, and commentary under the pretense of being objective. “Truth” is what we say it is and how we understand it or want it be. It is “truth” from a particular perspective to further a particular purpose. Frankly, I believe cable news does more to endanger democracy in America than any other institution.

St. Paul referred to the devil as “the father of lies.” The devil will always try to distort the truth, mislead and misinform, all under the pretense of being fair, objective and reasonable. All of us might do well to read George Orwell’s 1984 or Animal Farm – even back in the late 1940’s Orwell understood the dangers of our modern technological age. You might also read C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man – a somewhat dated titled but the book zeroes in on the modern age and its dangers. We are becoming more divided in America now than perhaps at any time since before the Civil War, and cable news and the internet are largely responsible.

Eight, we can all affirm the right of Americans to protest racial injustice. Most of the protestors are doing just that – protesting racism in America as reflected in the murder of George Floyd. God bless them for their passion for justice. I remember Pope Paul VI saying, “If you want peace, then work for justice.” Without justice, a society will never enjoy peace. 

Unfortunately, in addition to legitimate protestors, there are two other groups – anarchists and looters. I hope we will all agree that breaking windows, setting fires and stealing goods is not acceptable or justifiable under any circumstances. It doesn’t take many people for a legitimate protest to go bad – Lenin said it took only five or ten percent to change the entire thrust of a protest. In the present case, it is more likely 20 or 30 percent. The tragedy is, that a good cause can get subverted by a minority, and the focus is no longer on the original injustice (the murder of George Floyd) but on stopping civil unrest. 

The good news is that the President does have the authority to go after these bad apples – whether they be Antifa or some other groups. While the President cannot legally and unilaterally declare Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, the Department of Justice has many legal tools to prosecute such groups, including use of RICO – Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act. RICO has been used to combat organized crime, and even to go after corrupt labor leaders, but it can be used wherever a group is organized to commit crime. In addition, the President can use the Insurrection Act to call up the military to take charge of uncontrollable situations if state and local officials are unable or unwilling to do so. The Insurrection Act was used by President Eisenhower against Governor Orville Faubus of Arkansas who resisted school desegregation, and President Kennedy used it against Alabama Governor George Wallace. President George H.W. Bush also used it in his time in office.

Ninth, a friend just called me and asked, “Is it possible to be a Republican or a conservative, and be a member of the Episcopal Church?” I was startled by the question and answered, “Of course, it is – we welcome everyone.” She replied, “But when I see the Bishop of Washington attacking my President but not saying a word of criticism against the arsonists who tried to burn down St. John’s Episcopal Church, I am concerned that the bias in our church is making it increasingly difficult for me to remain.” I understood her concern, but I did point out Presiding Bishop Curry’s much more balanced statement about the President standing in front of St. John’s Church. I also said that not all bishops – and certainly not all clergy – think alike. The Diocese of Washington is a very liberal diocese, but that is not the norm everywhere. So, to my dear friend and to any of you upset at the reaction of church officials to the President, hang in there and stay with us. There is room for all in the Episcopal Church, and no one is excluded – left or right or middle.

Tenth, what we all need to do – and I hope you are doing it now – is pray for our country that peace and justice will prevail, and that violence and discord will cease. Pray for our leaders – and yes, pray for President Trump. He needs our prayers at this difficult time. Pray also for the governors and mayors who are trying to balance the right of peaceful protest with maintaining public safety and order. We need to lower our voices, listen to one another, and engage in what the late Reuel Howe called, “The Miracle of Dialogue.” As Americans we can find common ground and act on common values to build a just, prosperous and peaceful America where the dignity of every human being is affirmed and the rights of every American are upheld.

The Rev. Dr. Gary Nicolosi

June 2, 2020

I Can't Breathe!

By now you've seen the horrific photos and videos of the takedown and murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Policemen.  By any measure or analysis, there really isn't any doubt that the police used excessive force that resulted in the death of Mr. Floyd.  I know, I know...let the investigation run it's course.  They deserve due process.  I wasn't there and don't know the circumstances.  Blah, blah, blah.  But bottom line...they killed him.  If you watch the video that has gone viral, you can hear him pleading that he couldn't breath.  And you can see the look on the face of the policeman that screams at me that he really doesn't care.  That is an opinion, but I don't see how you could come to any other conclusion.  Of course after this story exploded in the news, there was outrage and cries for justice.  In these kinds of incidents, action is never swift enough.  The four officers involved were terminated from the police force and an investigation was begun almost immediately to determine facts of the incident and next steps.  But of course, the photos, videos and witnesses meant that the whole thing was going to go viral, and go viral rapidly.  Before they knew it, Minneapolis had a shit storm of rage on their hands and it has spiraled out of control.  There have been riots, looting, businesses trashed, buildings burned and numerous injuries.  It quickly became too much for the police force and the National Guard has been called in today.  The hope is that there will be order and calm restored.  We'll see.  People are outraged to a degree I haven't seen in quite some time and could continue the looting and burning for several days.  Meanwhile the police officer most identified with the murder and the guy with his knee on the neck of Mr Floyd for such a long time (almost 9 minutes), has been arrested and charged with murder among other things.  I've heard that the other  officers involved may face charges also.  Only time will tell.  

This whole thing has become all too familiar.  Depressingly familiar.  During the last several years there have been too many instances  of black men and boys killed by the police that have resulted in varying levels of public outrage.  Some have been pretty straightforward and some a bit more murky.  But the thing that has been common as the years go by is that they all contained video and photographic evidence.  As more and more people have a video camera in their pockets, literally everything in life winds up being videoed.  And so this week when Mr Floyd was callously murdered, it was right there in video for all to see.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  As before, there have been expressions of outrage.  But that only goes so far.  I am so over expressions of solidarity through hashtags.  Thoughts and prayers are just that...thoughts and prayers and not much else.  There have been peaceful demonstrations against the treatment and the violence.  But those only go so far.  They should be effective in providing an outlet for the frustration and a chance to express feelings.  But when the signs are put away and everyone goes back to work and school, the frustration is still there and continues to build.  And too often they erupt in violence.  Some of it's spontaneous and some of its planned.

A word about the riots.  They have spread across the country.  There have been riots and looting that have burned and destroyed neighborhoods and lives.  Mostly black neighborhoods and black lives.  And those only serve to set back the efforts of good people trying to come to grips with answers.     They feed the crowd that focuses on any excuse to minimize the event that caused the outrage.     There is widespread reporting that many these riots have been organized and orchestrated by ANTIFA groups and white supremacist groups.  These guys are plainly criminals and there is no place for it.  And the people engaging in it should be dealt with swiftly and severely.

The Mayor of Atlanta has a very powerful statement about riots that are burning her city.  I can't  add anything.

The rioting is difficult to understand or condone for someone who has never been close to being so frustrated, so outraged, so hopeless that they have to do something.  Anything.  That's not to excuse it, but to try and understand it.  The problem with what these protests have evolved to is that they are no longer about Mr Floyd.  This is just destruction and looting.  Here's another person's take on rioting..."And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity."  Martin Luther King, Jr.

So what are we to make of this?  From my perspective it's another sad episode in the sorry tale of race relations in this country.  And frankly, it appears that there isn't much that anyone can do about it.  We have lived with this scourge for hundreds of years.  Slavery was our original sin.  We argued and fought over it for the first 100 years of our country's existence that finally culminated in the Civil War, the bloodiest war in our history.  Neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother, fighting to the end for something that both sides passionately believed in.  But the end state didn't resolve much. Oh, the Emancipation Proclamation was passed and several amendments to the Constitution were passed to guarantee civil rights, but when President Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson ascended to the Presidency, it pretty much sealed the fate of the black population for the next 100 years.  Johnson was a rabid segregationist and torpedoed every effort for the country to heal and for blacks to begin the road to equality.  So for the next 100 years (100 years!!) we had Jim Crow.  If you've read anything about this history you know it's about as shameful, if not more, as the era of slavery.  And then came 1965 and the Civil Rights Act.  That was supposed to bring about equality with the stroke of a pen.  Be we know it doesn't work that way.  So for the last 55 years we've been on a long, slow, tortured path to achieving the dream of equality.  There have been successes, there is general day to day harmony in many communities, and we see increasing integration month by month, year by year.  But we're still not close to where we should be.  

I think there are some truths that must be faced.  Some hard truths.  Some truths that are generally difficult to discuss.  Whites and blacks don't get each other.  We can be friendly, we can marry, we can be neighbors and classmates, we can socialize, but at the end of the day there are social, racial and cultural barriers that are almost impenetrable.  An interesting thing to me is that economic parity between particular whites and blacks can go a long way towards understanding, but there are still barriers.  And they are fundamental.  Now don't get me wrong, on an individual basis, whites and blacks can be as close as brothers and sisters, but generally as a group, there are barriers.  And I have to say that whites will never understand the plight of blacks.  They can't.  They can't relate to sending your kid off on a date and worrying if he's going to come back alive.  They can't relate to being followed in a clothing store and being asked to see the receipt for purchases when they walk out of the door.  They can't relate to sitting in a restaurant waiting for service that will be slow in coming.  They can’t relate to the incomprehensible injustice of asking a woman to leash her dog in a public park and her reaction is to call the police because you’re threatening her.  Or innocently pumping gas at a gas station when police cars show up and start questioning you because a white person called them.  They can't relate to the absolute necessity to educate your kids and especially your boys on the dangers they will face simply because of the color of their skin.  They can't relate to accepting inferior schools in their communities because that's what the system provides.  They can't relate to their male population being unemployed or in prison at alarming rates.    They can't relate to the number of their daughters who are raising their children on their own.  They can't relate to all the tiny little prejudices that blacks experience every single day while just trying to live their lives.  While not recognizing their own blindspots, too many whites believe they are colorblind.  They will say they "don't see color" while not recognizing the vast differences and inequities present in front of them.  And as a result they become part of the problem that they don't see.  If this discussion causes you to scratch your head a bit and wonder if I'm either crazy or maybe have a point, take some time to do some soul searching.  There are a ton of books, articles, movies and other material that address these issues.  And like I said, it's not comfortable.  Here's a couple of recommendations of a movie I've recently watched and a book I've recently read that caused me to ask myself those uncomfortable questions.  Check out a movie called, "The Hate U Give".   It's pretty basic but tells an interesting story.  And the book is by Jody Piccult called "Small Great Things".  Check them out.  There are a lot of other issues but these seem to me to be the biggest.  And these things don't solve themselves overnight.  It's going to take a long time.  A real long time.

I also think there are a lot of people who believe that the answers lie in more government, more legislation, more money, more programs, more bureaucracy.  These things have been proven not to work.  Especially at the federal level, we don't need more of anything.  What we need is better, not more.  When we all get treated equally by the government, then we all have a stake in the outcome.  The experiment called America won't work unless we all buy into it.  And buying into it means having a sense that the playing field is level and anyone can achieve.  It seems to me that when the government provides more of whatever it is to some over others, they are trying to influence outcomes.  I don't think that's America.  We need to work on influencing starting points and playing fields.  And then let the chips fall where they may.  There will be winners and losers.  Always.  That's life.  But that it's so predetermined isn't.  But once again, I'm not sure there's a way to fix where we are today.  The systems, the bureaucracies, the expectations, the limitations, the advantages, and so many other things are institutionally tipped one way or the other.  The other piece of this issue that frequently gets ignored is the issue of personal responsibility.  The more level the playing field becomes, the more important personal responsibility becomes because everyone has an increasing sense of being responsible for their own lives.  Unfortunately, when the government assumes so many functions in our lives, it's easy to minimize the level of personal responsibility required to succeed.  The reason everyone admires a young black kid who strives and overcomes and achieves success in school and his or her life is because everyone knows the playing field isn't level.  That for some kids the climb is steeper and littered with roadblocks.  So when they make it, it's a big deal.   

There is one common thing in all of the incidents we've heard about in which black men and boys are killed.  And that is the police.  Now don't get me wrong, policemen and women are heroes.  99% of them are great people doing a very tough and dangerous job.  They should be honored, applauded, paid well and used as examples for our children.  But that doesn't mean we turn a blind eye to the bad apples.  If I were a local government official in any city, county or state around our country, I'd be asking some pretty tough questions.  A case can be made that every police organization in our country should be conducting very tough audits of their personnel with the intent to weed out anyone who has exhibited behavior that could be deemed prejudicial or racist.  And then there should be some very direct and comprehensive training on what is acceptable and what isn't.

Another aspect of this horrific issue is media involvement and blame.  Like so many things in our society, the media has evolved.  Unfortunately the evolution of he media hasn't been good.  It appears to me that they care about two things.  First is making every story as sensational as possible to generate headlines and revenue.  Second is to cast the story in a light that reflects their prejudices.  So  they've departed from just providing facts.  That doesn't sell.  And it doesn't promote their views.  As they shape and mold their stories, many times it drives people to their respective corners.  And that doesn't promote any sort of dialog that solves issues.  But like so many other things, I'm not sure there is any going back.  

So what do we do?  Throughout my professional career and even in many organizations I volunteer in the most frustrating, routinely non-answered question is...so what do we do?  When asking what we do most think we need to think about big, systemic, earth-shattering change.  But at the personal level, and that's where all of this really is, I think we need to ask what we can do to try and help with needed changes.  First, I think we can run toward the fire.  The natural propensity is to turn away.  To ignore uncomfortable or unjust things. But all things happen fundamentally on a local, personal level.  We have to stand up.  We have to hold people accountable.  What would have happened if one of the police officers in the group detaining Mr Floyd would have said stop?  What if one of them would have raised the alarm of abuse?  Or at the end, what if one of the police officers present would have arrested the policeman with his knee on Mr Floyd's neck?  What would you do if you were there?  Would you have stood passively by or tried to do something?  Think about that.  You never know when it will happen, so be ready.  

How will you change your view of racial injustice where you see it, where you live?  How will you know it?  Who will you hold accountable?  How will you educate your children?  How will your actions allow you to sleep better at night?  Maybe an honest dialog with some friends of a different race is in order.

When you see people of color reacting to injustice in ways you think are outrageous, will you try to understand or scoff that they are only hurting their cause?  And I'm not saying excuse criminal behavior but rather to at least try to understand.  Or when you see them being resigned to injustice maybe because it's happened so many times and will happen again, will you boldly stand with them?  Will you be the one to say...no more?

When you see opportunities to help level the playing field what will you do?  Are there kids in your sphere who you can influence to climb the long, steep mountain?  And will you be there for them when they trip and lose their way?

What other things can you do?  Look around.  Don't shrink from action.  Again, have an honest dialog with friends who don't look like you.

This has been a long and rather painful blog post.  I know many won't agree nor see things the way I do.  And that's okay.  But the tragic death of Mr Floyd seems to me to be somewhat of a tipping point.    There is almost universal agreement that this horrific incident should be condemned.  And that condemnation is not enough.  If this death causes people to look inward and resolve to work for change, then maybe that's all we can expect.

Paddle Boarding

We tried this one time when we were in Hawaii.  There is a definite technique to it.   I remember that it wasn't difficult to get up but it takes some work to stay up.  The stress is in your legs and it's a great  leg workout, especially thighs and butts.  And I thought at the time that paddle boarding would be a great sport to take up if you wanted to work on your legs and tone your butt.  Apparently I was right!

When We Emerge...

When I started this blog, I would routinely quote Peggy Noonan and reprint her columns that I thought were particularly poignant or presient.  Over time and as Trump lived into the Presidency she has become, if hot a "never Trumper" at least a vociferous critic.  And I think most of her criticism has to do with style and cultural impact.  I believe she remains at her heart a conservative and a Republican.  And there have been many, many times over the last three years when I've very much resonated with her dismay at Trump's remarks, tweets, and persona.  But I guess the difference is that as a guy who is just a casual observer and living life in a larger context than the NYC or WDC bubble, I keep my eye steadfastly on the other side.  The damage they would do to the country is, to my mind, just as important to focus on (if not more important) than the shenanigans of the President.  And how Trump acts is so dependent on media that truthfully I give him a pass most of the time because I know it's all a reaction to their shameful behavior.

But I soldier on reading her columns hoping to find a gem once in a while.  Today is that day.  I think her column in the WSJ this week is really good.  It's not earth shattering, it's not breaking news, it's not all things for all people, but the message seems to me to be from her heart and can apply to so many of us.  And for me if on the other side of this pandemic, we emerge a simpler, kinder, more loving people, then we're so much the better for it.  It might be true and it might not.  It's one person's opinion.  But I'll take it.

A Plainer People in a Plainer Time
As the lockdown forces us to turn inward, we rethink what’s important and what we were meant to do.

By  Peggy Noonan
Updated May 22, 2020 2:13 pm ET

We’re easing up. Good, it’s time. Spring is here, summer’s coming. You can pass any well-meaning restriction and do your best to enforce it, but great leaders work with human nature, not against it. People need to be together, out in the air, in the sun, and if you don’t let them they’ll find a way anyhow, and then everybody will have to fight.

All 50 states are to varying degree unlocking. How citizens do this will determine the size and severity of second and third waves. It’s almost all in our hands. A report this week from a scientist who helped discover SARS said that a lab experiment confirms what common sense always suggested: Wearing a mask can substantially reduce disease transmission and viral loads. If we all do that one small thing, chances are we’ll get through OK.

How could we not? Especially after we’ve just done something so big.

What we did—essentially shut down a great, complex, modern nation for two months out of concern that people would become sick—had never been tried before. It’s something new in history. We will look back on it, however it turns out, with a certain wonder.

In those two months we learned a lot. How intertwined and interconnected our economy is, how provisional, how this thing depended on that. And how whisperingly thin were everybody’s profit margins. The well-being of the West Side block depends on human traffic, which depends on restaurants and bars, which depend on the theater being open. It was a George Bailey economy: “Every man on that transport died. Harry wasn’t there to save them, because you weren’t there to save Harry.” Every economy is, in the end, and if you’re interested in economics you knew this, but not the way you know it after the business catastrophe of 2020.

But the biggest things I suspect we learned were internal. No matter what you do for a living, when you weren’t busy introspection knocked on the door and settled in. Two different men, professionals, both blinked with surprise as they reported, unasked, that they can’t believe they have their college-age kids home again and they’re all together and they have dinner every night and play board games. They were so grateful. They had no idea this was possible, that it would make them so happy. That it had been missing.

People have suffered. They’ve been afraid. The ground on which they stand has shifted. Many have been reviewing their lives, thinking not only of “what’s important” or “what makes me happy” but “what was I designed to do?” They’ve been conducting a kind of internal life review, reflecting on the decision that seemed small and turned out to be crucial, wondering about paths not taken, recognizing strokes of luck. They’ve been thinking about their religious faith or lack of it, about their relationships. Phone calls have been longer, love more easily expressed, its lack more admitted.

It has been a dramatic time. We have stopped and thought about our lives, and our society’s arrangements. We have applauded together, for the first time, those whose jobs kept our towns up and operating, from nurses to truckers. We’ve rethought not only what is “essential” but who is important. All this will change you as a nation.

Here is what I am certain of. We will emerge a plainer people in a plainer country, and maybe a deeper one. Something big inside us shifted.

Superficially, the hair is scruffier, the roots grew out, but you can almost hear people thinking eh, our time is finite, our money limited—maybe that’s not gray, it’s silver. Maybe that new fringe is my silver lining. We’ve grown used to soft clothes, gym clothes. I have three outfits in daily rotation and I keep them folded on a window ledge, like a child laying out her clothes for school. I like the simplicity of this. I shared it with a friend. “That’s what I do!” he said. “And I don’t want to stop!” We watch TV news and home studios, light makeup and spectral lighting and think OK, sign of the times.

The world has admired and imitated America’s crisp chic, but I see an altering of the national style. For reasons economic and existential a new simplicity is coming, glitz leaving. (All this would be especially true for those over 40, but according to the Census Bureau that’s more than half the country.)

Fashion is a sliver of life. Maybe you approach it as the fun of glamour; maybe you see it as a way of paying tribute to life by making it even more beautiful. Maybe you see it as vanity, chasing youth. But it’s a leading indicator of a nation’s mood, and it will be changed by what we’ve experienced.

We’re getting pared down. We’re paring ourselves down.

I asked Andre Leon Talley, former creative director at Vogue, whose new memoir, “The Chiffon Trenches,” is about more than fashion, if he saw it as I did, knowing he’d disagree. But no. “I think more people will be dressed, when we come out of this pandemic, in almost Amish stoicism—a simple uniform of basic wash and dry. It’s going to be difficult for fashion to exist as a mainstream addiction.”

Vogue, he noted by email, has just published a new issue. “For the first time in ages there is no celebrity cover choice, no high-fashion model in near perfection of dress and grooming. There is a red rose, photographed by the late Irving Penn, which symbolizes more than a mere trend of dress.” He called the cover “iconic.” To him it symbolizes “the larger issues of life”—nature, gardens, fresh flowers.

When he speaks to people in fashion, “they are not even concerned with acquiring the new.” “Women are wearing neat, coordinated exercise gear or track suits as they walk off the extra pounds gained from self-quarantine.”

This, he said, is the mood: “I recently saw a video of Amish men moving a big red barn across a field. Instead of having it raised on a flatbed, 300 men wearing black simply picked up the full-size barn and moved it across a field. That was so moving to me. The idea of how humans can be so resourceful, based on strength and their cultural roots. Amish people are elegant, yet they adhere to traditions that have been passed down generation to generation.”

Women “will always want to look smart, neat and well groomed,” he said. “There’s nothing like a woman who has put on a simple white cotton button-front shirt, a simple skirt, and she has taken a beautiful cotton or linen or silk scarf and neatly knotted it at the chin or the nape of her neck. That is what I mean when I say Amish stoicism. The pioneer genes shall prevail, and women will focus on the essentials: nurturing their children in the arc of safety (homes and schools) providing food (driving to breadlines and food banks) and making do with what is already in the closet. Everything old will be suddenly new again.”

We will lose, for a while, our old patina. We will not much miss it.

America is about to become a plainer place. Maybe a deeper one, too. Maybe that’s good.

Memorial Day 2021

(May 2021). This is an update to my annual Memorial Day message that I've published every year since 2015.  It never gets old and is never not applicable.  The intro just below reminds us of where we were last Memorial Day versus where we are today.  Last year the beaches were closed, the stores were severely limited and restaurants had become a ghost town.  

Today we're seeing a robust recovery in most of the country.  Of course, if you've read at at all you know I live in California so we have to wait until June 15 for a full reopening.  Why?  I have no idea except that the Emperor in Sacramento continues his nonsensical control.  But that's probably the subject of a whole other blog post (or series of posts)!  

I'm confident that the vast majority of people in the U.S. will have a wonderful first weekend of the Summer.  The relief is palpable.  That we've had so many people vaccinated and are seeing numbers of COVID cases plummeting is wonderful.  Despite the selfish, mindless, troglodytes who haven't been vaccinated the success we are seeing as a country in the battle with COVID has been terrific.  But those who have any sense of the country and where we've come from will spend a few moments remembering and thanking those Americans who served so that we can all be free.

(May 2020) I put up the post below in 2015 and have repeated every year since.  In the over 3300 posts that I've done since starting this fun little blog experiment, this is by far the one I'm most proud.  I think it captures the feeling that so many have on this most solemn of American holidays.  This year, it takes on a particularly poignant meaning as the national cemeteries around the country are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  I won't pretend to understand that.  If there is anywhere that we can social distance and pay respects while following the guidance of health professionals, I would think it's a national cemetery.  There are so many this weekend who will be so sad that they aren't able to go pay respects to their loved ones.  But I guess that's another issue for another day.  For this day, stop.  Stop and think.  Stop and think about all the people who have picked up the gauntlet and charged into the fray.  Or think about those who were just doing their job when the unimaginable happened.  Having been there, I can tell you that no matter what you're doing in the service of the country, there will be times when you are tested.  They say that courage is being scared to death, but going anyway.  That's the story of the vast majority that lie in our national cemeteries.  No one believes it will happen to them.  But then it does.  And what is left?  You.  You and me.  We can remember and we can grieve.  And we can tell our children the stories.  And most importantly, we can honor them.  

(May 2015) This never gets old.  The homecoming.  Been there, done that.  And it is so sweet.  After a long or short deployment with separation from your loved ones, coming home has a special meaning.  Whether you are on a routine training mission across the country, or on a combat mission on a remote and lonely battlefield someplace that was unknown to you until you stepped off the plane , or on a ship at sea on the far side of the world, coming home is something every service member has on his or her mind from the moment they get on the plane or cast off the lines.  And the families at home are no different.  They try to go about their daily lives doing all the routine things that consume their time, but the reality of their loved one being far away for some period of time is always there.  And it doesn't matter what the mission is.  If you are separated by deployment, the danger is always there.  No matter if you're driving a truck on a military reservation somewhere in the U.S., humping a pack through dangerous lands, manning a MASH unit behind the lines, doing a routine job on an American warship, flying a routine mission of humanitarian assistance,  or so many other jobs, the danger is always there.  You could make a misstep and your time could be up in a heartbeat.  That's why homecoming is so sweet.  You're back in the fold with your loved ones. You can be a part of their lives again.  And they can be a part of yours.  It's the way we were meant to live.  Together.

But this weekend we don't celebrate homecoming.  For many, many families they won't ever experience that joyous homecoming.  Too many will weep this weekend.  Too many will yearn for their loved ones who will never return. So what can we, the living, do?  We can honor them.  We can think of them.  We can pause and remember.  Oh, we all know that it is also the first weekend of summer.  There will be barbecues, parties, and fun family times.  It will be a time to relax and get ready for summer.  So have a great time and enjoy whatever endeavor that will come your way.  But for a moment, just for a moment, remember those who have fallen to ensure our freedoms and those left behind mourning their loved ones who gave the "last full measure of devotion".  And it doesn't matter what they were doing when they lost their lives.  What matters is their service.  We live in a secure nation.  An island nation.  We have generally not experienced the horror of attack or the threat of invasion on the scale of other countries around the world.  We've had our Pearl Harbor and our 911.  And those we're horrific.  But think of the war-torn countries around the world.  It's not that so many think it can't happen here....it's that so many don't even think about it.  But there are those that have.  And those that do.  Those who recognize service above self.  Those who are willing to give, to go in harm's way, to risk all.  So take a moment on Monday.  A quiet moment.  Look around you.  Hug your family.  And give thanks.

Blame Game

Every single day the blame, the recriminations, the looking for scapegoats, the hope for failure continues.  I really don't think I've ever seen anything like it.  At least I don't remember seeing anything like it. The country has been through hell in the last few months.  The global pandemic is like nothing nobody alive has ever seen.  The virus that was unleashed from China, whether in a lab or a "wet market" has reeked havoc on the world  and our country.  Most people were in denial early on and talked about "getting back to normal".  Most people have followed the recommendations from the experts in our government who have counseled social distancing, wearing masks, washing hands, etc.  The infection numbers and deaths are terrible and I think higher than anyone imagined.  And they are likely to go higher.  The stories of the people who have died are heartbreaking.  And it mostly involves a rapid deterioration and death while alone and isolated from your loved ones.  It's tragic.

It seems to me that our governments, both federal and state, have done the best they can.  There have been horror stories of missed opportunities, wrong decisions, and callous disregard of personal needs.  But there have also been heroic stories of people coming together, helping each other, and going the extra mile to save lives.  Our first responders and medical professionals have been nothing but heroic.  And it hasn't all been fun and games.

But as I said at the beginning, the searching for failure is getting really, really old.  I have come to hold the media in contempt but this crises has only heightened that opinion.  They do absolutely everything they can to find fault and blame when it comes
 to Trump.  They only want to find ways in which he has failed and plant blame squarely on him.  I won't list them all but you've seen them.  Just today he told the Governors that he wanted to see the churches open.  He declared them essential.  So the media immediately sprung to the question of how he could make this mandate.  They were only looking for ways to accuse him of being a dictator.  With literally any other President, they would see this as the President using the considerable power and prestige of his office to persuade the Governors to come around to his way of thinking.  But in this case it was all about how they could get Trump.  Disgusting.

When there is a crises or a tragedy, most people believe that the focus should be on solving the immediate problem and bringing people together to attack issues.  But in this case it's been nothing but blame Trump.  No credit for reacting early and stopping travel from China and then Europe.  No credit for creating a task force that has had great success in so many areas, no credit for trying to rally the people with various ideas to defeat and at the same time live with the virus, no credit for projecting an optimistic attitude that people can rally behind.  Once again the media as a whole has failed us.  Failed badly.

One of the Priests at my church told us all that, "Everything is messy and difficult and everyone is doing the best that they can".  I think that is true and we all should give the benefit of the doubt to people who are trying to do the right thing.  Everyone that is except the vaunted press who only are in the gotcha business.  I guess we'll just have to get used to this bullshit.  Not only is Covid-19 bringing us a "new normal" but the cowardly, prejudiced, smarmy, smart assed press have brought us a new normal in listening to them.  

California...Failing

It's been 6 days.  6 stinking days!  6 days since I decided to "social distance" from the blog and just be a watcher of events instead of a commentator.  My caveat was returning to put up a post if something pissed me off enough or there was a compelling issue to comment on.  Well...suffice to say that the actions of the state leadership of my beloved California has my blood boiling.

California is my birthplace and home for most of my life.  It is a diverse state that is almost a country in itself.  To many for a lot of years, it's been a place that has defined tomorrow.  A place with optimistic people who are on the cutting edge of society.  For a lot of years it had an education system second to none, high technology firms had centered their operations here, a rich cultural heritage related to the Mexican culture, almost every tourist and recreation attraction imaginable, and an agricultural industry that was second to none.  The state government routinely had a surplus and focused their priorities on growth and quality of life.  People flocked to California.  The population swelled and life was good.  To be sure there were problems along the way, but I've been proud to be a Californian my whole life.  I could extoll it's virtues and minimize it's failings with the best of them.  When we lived on the East coast a few times, I always yearned to return.  My family is from here and the draw remains.

But it's getting more and more difficult.  In fact, it's extremely difficult.  California has become the butt of so many jokes around the country and I must say deservedly so.  When the pandemic first hit I was a bit optimistic that Gov Newsome was exhibiting some pretty sound leadership.  He seemed to be spouting all the correct things and provided some reasonable direction given that we really didn't know what we were facing.  But in the weeks and months since taking the spotlight, it has become increasingly obvious that he is a grandstanding ego maniac.  His dictatorial edicts from Sacramento have hurt more than they help and now we see cities and counties around the state either begging him for dispensation to open or ignoring them as much as possible.  He is not only misguided but he comes from a very powerful, elite, racist family lineage that has been in power a long time and unless something drastic happens will remain in power a long time.  Check out this family tree.

But the latest idiocy and the straw that broke the camel's back is his edict to provide hard earned taxpayer money to illegal aliens.  I mean, that is just beyond the pale.  Like many, I am outraged.  This is just blatantly an attempt to influence voting blocks and nothing more.  He doesn't give a shit about illegal immigrants.  To him they are nothing but an entity.  But at the same time I know there isn't anything I can do about it but fume.  The state has a solid majority of liberal Democrats and they will go along with it. But to most clear thinking Americans, this makes no sense.  It's just another step down the steep slope to disaster.  President Trump has threatened to withhold Federal relief money if this decision isn't reversed and I really hope he will do it.  And so what did Newsome do?  He doubled down of course.  Now he is saying that unless California receives a massive bailout from the federal government, the first to face cuts will be first responders.  Think about that.  He's giving taxpayer money to illegal aliens and will cut funding for first responders.  What a royal asshole!

But this latest idiocy shouldn't be a surprise.  After all, we're the home of the sanctuary cities and a drive to create open borders.  We have arguably the worst homeless problem in the country that has driven Los Angeles and San Francisco to become cess pools of disgusting tent encampments.  And the local governments don't seem to be able to do anything about it.  Or more accurately I don't think they care.  We're the place where the state government is championing "vote by mail" which is an obvious corruption of the process and designed to favor one side over the other.  We're the place that used to have the premier university system in the world that is now a laughing stock.  Just this week they took another step toward mediocrity by getting rid of the SAT and ACT system.  We're the place where local schools used to be the pride of the community and now don't have enough of anything except very nice salaries for teachers and administrators.  We're the place that had a world class, thriving agricultural industry and killed it by shutting off the water and diverting it to sea to save the snail darter.  We're the place where the coastal elites are doing just fine and in fact thriving, while their fellow Californians 100 miles inland are starving to death.  I've come to believe that these elites are the worst kind of racists.  We're the place where the state government is famously owned by the Unions.  Nothing can change or get done unless the Unions agree because they own all the politicians.  We're the place that is actively debating a state healthcare system for all, including illegal aliens, that will cost over $400 Billion.  We're the place where illegal aliens can get a drivers license.  We're the place that has adopted it's own climate change policies that are devastating to the poor and even the middle class but don't impact the elite coastal racists.  Think about this...California has the worlds most comprehensive climate change laws.  The worlds!  We're the place that is recognized as the most regulated state in the country, if not the world.  It literally takes years to get any project approved.  We're the place that has the highest income tax in the country and a high sales tax.  And only 150,000 people of the 40 million who live here pay more than half of the tax collected.    We're the place where our Attorney General has filed dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration as a form of "resistence".   When he's not doing that he's protecting criminals.  We're the place that has water infrastructure to serve 25 million people at most with a population of 40 million.  And nothing has been done about it since the 1960's because of idiotic and onerous environmental regulations.  We're the place that people are fleeing from more than any other state in the Union.  And I could go on.

And so you might say just leave.  Easier said than done.  When I balance the reasons to stay versus the reasons to leave, staying still wins.  But it's by an increasingly thin margin.  Things have gone so very wrong in California and I fear it is a generational issue that won't improve until devastation rains down on us.  I probably won't live to see it but I hope somebody comes along to save the State.  

Socially Distancing

With almost 3300 posts covering almost 8 years, it's time to...socially distance.  There is just so much vitriol in the public discourse, that I find myself not wanting to contribute to it.  It's just so tiresome.  So I'll be here, watching to see if there is something that either (1) pisses me off to such a degree that commenting is irresistible or (2) is a compelling issue that I have some strong feelings about.  Don't know when or how that might happen, but for now I'm in the watch and wait mode.  For anyone reading or who has read these meandering thoughts, thanks for being part of the tribe.

Update:  So it turns out I was wrong.  There is just too much going on and I have too much time on my hands to retreat.  So disregard this post.  I'm still here.

Motivation Monday

Friday Funnies