Opinion: Seven Brief Perspectives In A Difficult Time

Here are some assorted thoughts — from the Presidential election to the Senate runoff elections in Georgia to the insurrection at the Capitol and beyond.

United front
In my mind the biggest story of the last few months is that so many people and groups came together around getting Trump out of the White House and taking back the Senate … and we were successful! We formed a “united front” — people who disagreed with each other about many things, worked together and supported each other in a common goal. A united front may be more difficult to achieve on other issues, but it will be necessary in the future and it is possible.

Our Debt To BIPOC
The country as a whole, climate activists, and white people in particular, owe a great debt to Black people, Indigenous People and other people of color for the roles they played in the presidential election and the Senate runoff elections in Georgia. Their leadership, work, and voting in large numbers made the difference. The most important thing for the climate movement was taking back the White House and the Senate. BIPOC made it happen. If White votes were only ones that counted, we’d be facing four more years of Trump with the Republicans in control of the Senate and likely the House as well.

Inspiring Alliance
I’m cheered by the fact that Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Black man, and Jon Ossoff, a Jew, ran as a team in the Senate run-off elections in Georgia. They backed each other and stood up for each other in the face of racist and anti-Semitic attacks. They, and Georgia, have modeled solidarity and justice for the whole nation.

Anti-democratic
The Republican Party has for some time been showing that it chooses to try to rule as a minority party. Many Republicans leaders have been very open that they don’t want everyone to vote. For years the party has been waging a battle to remove legitimate voters from the rolls, and make it harder for people of color to vote through ID laws, reduced hours and days for voting, longer lines, and intimidation. They have used gerrymandering to successfully elect significantly more representatives than their proportional share of the popular vote. Only a herculean effort by countless organizers, strategists, phone callers, letter writers, donors, and volunteers of all kinds enabled Biden and Harris to overcome the voter suppression of their opponents. Now a significant number of Republican leaders have gone a step further and advocated throwing out the results of legitimate elections. We haven’t heard the last of this.

A Coup — Sedition
The storming of the Capitol was a violent, attempted coup. At least some of the mob were intent on taking major Congressional leaders hostage and perhaps even executing them. It could have turned out much worse than it did. It may not be over. Trump has tried, and may still be trying, to remain in office despite losing the election. The coup attempt has not been successful because the military, the business/finance sectors, and much of the mainstream media have not come out in support of it.

Many Republican leaders refused to accept the results of an election that they knew to be valid and legitimate. That’s a rejection of one of the most basic principles of our democracy. Furthermore, they encouraged their followers to believe that the election was stolen from them. Some, including the President, actively urged their followers to participate in insurrection. In my view they are all guilty of sedition and should be prosecuted and/or removed from office.

White Supremacy
White supremacy was on full display in the attack on the Capitol. The rioters were almost entirely white — with a passionate belief that the country should belong to white people and only to white people. Racism and anti-Semitism were out in the open. It’s hard to know what to say about the police protection of the Capitol, but we do know that if the mob storming the building had been black, the response would have been entirely different. Many Capitol Police officers did their jobs with courage and integrity, some did not. The higher-ups failed utterly to prepare or provide adequate protection for the Capitol. Those who stormed the building had been sharing their plans publicly online for some time. No one should have been surprised that a large, angry, partially armed mob descended on the Capitol. Whether the failure to provide adequate police and National Guard protection was intentional or was the result of horrible lapses in judgment, white supremacy played a prominent role.

Next
If we want a society that works for everyone, and I believe many of us do, we will need to more effectively unravel the threads of White supremacy woven throughout the fabric of our nation. We will need to address people’s needs, prioritize the common good, and rebuild our commitment to democracy. We may be relieved that Trump is going and the Democrats will be in charge of the government, but the transformative changes we need, for racial justice, for the climate crisis, for economic justice will not occur without ongoing organizing, endless political pressure, and ever-expanding human connections and caring. Si, se puede – Yes, we can!

Russ Vernon-Jones was the Principal of Fort River Elementary School from 1990-2008.  He is a co-facilitator of the Coming Together Anti-Racism Project in the Amherst area.  He chairs the Racism, White Supremacy, and Climate Justice working group of Climate Action Now of Western Mass, and blogs regularly on climate justice at www.RussVernonJones.org.