How To Fix America (By This Time Next Year)

“I have a dream.

 It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

 I have a dream…”

“I have a dream that one day, this nation will rise up…

 live out the true meaning of it’s creed…

We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal.”

I just got back home today. I spent the past few days in Alabama, “Sweet Home Alabama”. I had decided I had to go home again when the Equal Justice Initiative opened the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the Legacy Museum, both in downtown Montgomery.

I flew into Birmingham and checked into a hotel there. My first full day would be spent in Selma. One-hundred-degree weather, Brown Chapel AME Church, the Visitor’s Center, the Interpretive Museum, the Alabama River, and the Bridge. I had to walk across that bridge.

Just like John Lewis, Hosea Williams, and all those other incredibly brave African-American citizens that decided to march 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery in the Spring of 1965, to tell a racist governor and the people of America that the time was now for the country to live up to its creed.

They started their march six blocks away, at Brown Chapel AME Church. I would do the same. When I got to the crest of the bridge and looked down to the other side, I tried to visualize what they saw. In my mind’s eye I could see the militarized force of State Troopers and deputized klansmen waiting in formation at the foot of the bridge. I imagined the weapons they brandished; nightsticks, brass knuckles, guns. I thought about how intimidating the troopers on horseback must have been, waiting menacingly in the rear of the formation as if they were Jeb Stuart’s Cavalry during the glory days of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

When I got to the bottom of the bridge, I tried to imagine what must have gone through the minds of the marchers when the troopers donned their gas masks, the cavalry started to advance, and the troopers began their advance to break up the march.

The African-Americans wanted to vote. The white people did not want them to vote. The result was Bloody Sunday.

On my second day in Alabama I drove from Birmingham to Montgomery. I drove down Dexter Avenue and parked my rental car in front of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. This was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s church, and ironically, perhaps even poetically, it is literally adjacent to the Alabama State Capitol. Jefferson Davis took the oath of office to be the first and only President of the Confederacy on it’s steps. On the building’s portico, George Wallace declared “segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!”. However, less than a block away, within plain view of that building, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and by extension, the Civil Rights Movement was born and nurtured at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

The capitol building is the actual birthplace of the Confederacy.

In the Spring of 1965, the March from Selma to Montgomery would conclude on Dexter Avenue. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would stand on those same Capitol steps and make one of his most memorable speeches to the massive throng of people that stretched the length of the avenue. During that speech King reminded the marchers and the nation that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Because of the blood and courage of the people of Alabama, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965.

But, I didn’t stop there.

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is located high on a hill overlooking the city of Montgomery. That is appropriate. It is the first comprehensive memorial dedicated to the memory of thousands of African Americans that were lynched in the most violent, despicable, ways imaginable. The purpose of this widespread and culturally sanctioned terror was to enforce the proposition that all men were NOT created equal, and that Black people had no rights that whites were bound to respect. This state of mind is what made it suicidal for a Black person to try to vote.

That is the essence of the courage displayed by the people that marched across that bridge. They put their lives on the line. They risked being lynched, to make it possible for everybody to vote.

Every single person memorialized at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice is a martyr for justice. They should be lifted up, high above the city that epitomized the evils of slavery, bigotry, and racism. It seems so right that the thousands of names memorialized there, with the date and places of their victimhood in plain sight, can now look down on the Alabama River and the former slave markets from a higher place.

Once again, I am reassured that unearned suffering, is redemptive.

But, I didn’t stop there.

I drove down the hill to Coosa Street and the Legacy Museum. It’s located on the site of a warehouse where Blacks were imprisoned in preparation of being sold. It’s about half-way between the old slave market and the main dock on the Alabama River. Montgomery was the capital of the slave-trade in Alabama, and Alabama had more slaves than any other state except one.

I was thinking of all these things as I drove back to my hotel in Birmingham. I thought of our current President. I thought of his problems, issues, and inadequacies. I thought of the Republican Party, and their total submission to the madness that has engulfed our nation. During my drive I realized ever so clearly that the answer to all that ails us is simple.

The answer is to vote. That is how the system is designed. That is the power of “we the people”.

The people in Selma knew that in 1965. That is why they risked their lives on that bridge. 

The key is the young people, the millennials, the gen-x’ers, the kids that are just graduating from high school. If they decide that it's cool to vote, if they decide that they're tired of waiting for the world to change, they could turn the government upside down.

Here’s the deal. Imagine that the Democrats win the House of Representatives. Imagine that the Democrats win the Senate. Imagine Pence is indicted, and Trump is impeached after Mueller names him as an un-indicted co-conspirator and lays out a devastating case of money laundering, bank fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy against the United States. Imagine the officers of the NRA and Republican cabinet members and congressmen are indicted as well. 

The Speaker of the house would be a Democrat. With Pence and Trump gone, The Speaker would become President.

 At that point, our current nightmare would be over.

Can’t happen, you say? 

Registered Republicans are only 28% of the American population. The young people in America hate Trump and everything he stands for. But, they don’t vote! If they did, we could elect a Democrat senator in Alabama…. Oh wait! We did that!

Nothing is more important in a democracy than the vote. Young people changed the world in the sixties. Young people can change our world in November.

The Republicans

          Last night the President of the United States said that Black people have been voting for 

Democrats overwhelmingly for one hundred years. That was a lie. It may have been an ignorant lie, it may have been a vicious lie. Chances are, it was both. However, there is no doubt, it was a Damn Lie.

          In theory, Black men were given the right to vote in the aftermath of the Civil War. The 15^th Amendment to the Constitution was required because the original version stated that Blacks were only “three fifths of a person”.

          During the Reconstruction years in the South many Black men did vote, electing former slaves to public offices on local, state, and federal levels. Since the “Great Emancipator”, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, it was unthinkable for Blacks to vote for anyone that was not a Republican. By the same token, no self-respecting white man in the former Confederate states would consider voting for anyone that was not a Democrat, since being a Republican was tantamount to being a Yankee.

          The Civil War ended in 1865. The Reconstruction years lasted from 1865 until 1877. During that time, the Union Army remained in the South. The army protected the former slaves from domestic terrorists like the ku klux klan, protected the schools that the Freedmen’s Bureau provided for Blacks, protected the homes and property of Blacks, and ensured that Blacks were allowed to vote.

          The Presidential election of 1876 was between Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, and Samuel Tilden, a Democrat. The vote totals in four southern states were disputed, and in order to secure the Presidency, Hayes made a deal with those four states that were controlled by Democrats. In exchange for their electoral votes, Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to withdraw all remaining Federal troops from the South.

The ku klux klan would do the rest.

          Immediately, life for Black people in the South returned to antebellum customs. No more voting. Enforced apartheid. Forced labor. Institutionalized debt, incarceration for non-payment, and devalued education. All of these things were savagely enforced by custom, law, lynching, and the ku klux klan.

          Meanwhile, the Democrat party ruled. Southern states were one party states. Republicans need not apply.

          Today, that statement is still true, except for one thing. The labels have switched. Southern States are still one-party states, but today, the Republican party rules. Democrats need not apply.

What the hell happened?

          Just like the Civil War, just like Reconstruction, just like the Compromise of 1877, Southern states supported the Democrats because of racism. If Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, white people in the South were Democrats. It was as simple as that.

 But again, what happened? How did it change? Why did it change?

Harry Truman was a Democrat, but he desegregated the military.

John Kennedy was a Democrat, but he integrated the University of Alabama and supported the Civil Rights Movement.

Lyndon Johnson was a Democrat, but he passed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, the Voting Rights Bill of 1965, and the Fair Housing Bill of 1968.

On the other hand, ….

Richard Nixon was a Republican, and devised “the southern strategy” to get elected President in 1968, demonizing Blacks under a cloak of “law and order”.

Ronald Reagan was a Republican, and he kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the place where three civil rights workers were murdered, touting “state’s rights”. He campaigned against “welfare queens” and Black people buying steaks with food stamps, and vetoed a law that enforced sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid practices against the majority of its citizens.

George H.W. Bush was a Republican, and at the behest of his notoriously racist campaign manager Lee Atwater, used a blatantly racist campaign ad featuring “Willie Horton” to win election.

George W. Bush was a Republican, and he allowed thousands of Black people to die in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, many of them begging for help on rooftops and the Superdome, or floating lifelessly in the flooded streets of the city.

          There was a time in American history, when African-Americans were allowed to vote, that vote overwhelmingly went to the Republicans. The reasons were obvious. Republicans freed the slaves from bondage. The Republicans gave them citizenship, property rights, equal protection under the law, educational opportunity, the right to vote, and hope for a better future.

          During that same period, white people in the south voted overwhelmingly for the Democrats, because the Republicans took away their property (slaves) destroyed their homes and cities, killed their sons, husbands, lovers, and brothers, took away their dignity and altered forever their way of life.

          Since July 26, 1948, when Harry Truman desegregated the military, it has been the Democrats that have consistently done what was right for America’s women and minorities. As a result, it has been the Democrats that have slowly but surely earned the allegiance of African-Americans in the voting booth.

          On the other hand, the Republicans decided to make a deal with the devil, trading justice and morality for a dependable block of votes from what was once the Confederate States of America. By using a strategy of division along racial and cultural lines, tactics of overt racism, covert racial dog whistles, fear, intimidation, educational malpractice, and voter suppression, the Republicans have conquered the Southern States as well as many other states in which the defining factor is nothing more than a predominantly white population and education and economic norms below the national average.

          As a reward, they now control a majority of the country’s governorships and state legislatures, as well as the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House.

          I do not care if the President is a Democrat or a Republican. I do care if he is a racist. I don’t want my President to be a racist. I don’t care if the congress is controlled by Democrats or Republicans. I do want a congress that is not an apologist for a racist. I want my congress to be an independent, equal branch of the government, dedicated to doing what is best for the country, not what’s best for a political party.

          Abraham Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. He was right. The Republicans have been dividing us since Richard Nixon.

How much longer can we stand?

The Prayer

           More than twenty years ago a friend of mine asked me to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. It was a meeting that they had been encouraged to bring a friend, and I never considered not going. The meeting was held in the basement of a local church. I was impressed by the sincerity of everyone involved. There was an atmosphere of empathy, humility, and honesty that was more than palpable. The group included males and females, old, young and middle-aged. Blacks, Latino, and whites.

          I listened to stories of strength and weakness, success and failure. I witnessed smiles, hugs, laughter and tears. But, the thing that I noticed above all else… the thing that invaded my consciousness and attached itself to my soul to this very moment, was the prayer. They said it in unison to start the meeting. They said it in unison to end the meeting.

          I have been saying and listening to prayer my entire life, but none had felt as true, relevant, inspirational, and life-changing as this one. I was thinking of the prayer when I left the meeting, and I found myself thinking of it in the days and weeks that followed. Each time I thought of it, regardless of the situation I may have found myself in at the time, the words of the prayer seemed instructive, comforting, and inspirational. As the years went by, the prayer proved to be the prayer for all seasons.

          One day more than ten years ago I was wandering through the local mall when I saw the prayer engraved on a wooden plaque. I snatched it up immediately. I had only recently been named Principal of a notorious high school in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and I knew exactly where I would mount it. The prayer would spend the next nine years mounted directly behind the desk in my office. I could not sit at my desk without seeing it, and no one could face me in my office without seeing it either.

“God, Grant Me the Serenity, to Accept the Things I Cannot Change…”

          I have always had a quiet, calm, demeanor. I don’t normally yell or scream about anything. However, being Principal of a large high school would try the patience of anyone. Nevertheless, the successful Principal must be the eye of the storm, and I eventually began to notice how often students, staff, parents, and community members marveled at how calm I always seemed to be. Serenity is a blessing, but it is impossible to achieve if you cannot accept those things that you have neither the power or influence to change. The prayer on my wall reminded me of that. Every. Single. Day. Every time I sat at my desk, either consciously or subconsciously, I asked God to help me to accept my limitations.

          Today, that has not changed. As my country struggles to deal with unprecedented challenges, as children are slaughtered in their classrooms with weapons designed for the battlefield, as our public officials allow themselves to be stained by the bigotry, racism, xenophobia, and misogyny emanating from the White House, the prayer is more necessary than ever. 

          If I could remove every military-style weapon from every civilian, If I could outlaw their future sales and impose debilitating fines and lifetime jail sentences for violating that law, I would. If I could remove Donald Trump from the presidency, if I could imprison every person involved in anyway with selling our democracy to the Russians, I would do that.

          It pisses me off that I can’t do those things. Some might yell, scream, or break something. I don’t do that. The prayer gives me Serenity.

“Courage to Change the Things I Can…”

          How much courage does it take to integrate a high school in Alabama in 1967? To join the Marine Corps during the Viet Nam War? How about integrating a major University in Alabama in 1973? I really don’t know, but I did it. A lot of the people I knew at the time thought I was showing more stupidity than courage. I do not know if my life has been what one would call a profile in courage, but I can say with great confidence that I have consistently been different.

          It takes courage to be different. I told my students this all the time. It takes courage to make great grades when your friends don’t care. It takes courage to go to college when your friends go to prison. I told my teachers this all the time. It takes courage to show up everyday when your co-workers stay home at will and still gets paid. It takes courage to be prepared with exciting, relevant, and innovative lesson plans when other teachers wing it… getting paid the same or more than you.

          I did many things as a Principal that other Principals did not do. I did some things I was not instructed to do. I did not do some of the things I was instructed to do.

          No one doubted that I was willing to change those things I could change. Every time anyone sat down in my office they saw it in writing, right behind my desk. Today, I search for those things that I can do to make my country a better place. As I discover those things, I will continue to use the prayer, to find the courage to act.

“And the Wisdom to Know the Difference…”

          I never knew my biological father, but I was told that he was an alcoholic. He died at the age of 53. I have never been a heavy drinker. I have never been a smoker. I have never used drugs. My stepfather was a minister. I grew up in the church, hearing countless sermons, countless prayers. I remember none of them.

          Fortunately, a friend invited me to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Fortunately, I went. I heard a prayer that moved me, inspired me, and became my guiding light.

          Thank God, and my friend.

“Amen…”

Just Say No

The President of the United States is a racist. There, I said it. Wrote it down for the record. Published it for posterity. I’ve said it before, but today, I feel the need to say it again. Loudly. Maya Angelo once told Oprah Winfrey that “when someone shows you who they are… believe them.” Oprah has said it was the best advice she ever got. Donald Trump has been showing us who he is for decades. I believed him then. I believe him now.

Now you probably think that I am about to go off on Donald Trump and his rant about all the “shithole countries” in Africa. Actually, I’m not. Sure, it pissed me off, but it didn’t surprise me. Remember, he showed me who he was decades ago, and I believed him. Besides, Trump says something or does something everyday that pisses me off. That’s what he does. That’s how we roll.

What I really want to do is talk to the democrat lawmakers in congress. I want to talk about morality, humanity, DACA, CHIP, hostages, backbone, and dreams.

In June of 2012, President Barack Obama, after congress refused to do so with legislation, established by executive action the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” immigration policy. It allowed certain individuals to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and be eligible for work permits. Eligible individuals are referred to as “Dreamers” after the “Dream Act”, the ill-fated bill that failed to pass in congress and precipitated President Obama’s action. There are strict requirements to be eligible for the program. “Dreamers” must be able to check each of these boxes;

• No felony convictions or serious misdemeanors. Not convicted of three or more misdemeanors.

• Arrived in the United States before their 16th birthday.

• Were under the age of 31 on June 15, 2012.

• Completed high school or a GED, or honorably discharged from the armed forces, or enrolled in         school.

• Born on June 16, 1981 or after.

• Was physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012, and at the time of making their               request for protected status.

• Had no lawful status on June 15, 2012.

As of December 2017, approximately 800,000 people were enrolled and protected from deportation by DACA. In September 2017, Donald Trump rescinded the program, making all of them subject to deportation. Many to countries they had never known, countries that had cultures they had no knowledge of, countries that spoke languages they did not speak.

The Children’s Health Insurance Program, or “CHIP” provides health insurance to families with children. The program covers uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid. The program has been in place since 1997. As of December 2017, approximately nine million lower-income children were covered by the program. As of January 2018, the republican congress has refused to provide long-term funding for the program.

On January 19, 2018 the federal government will run out of money. A spending bill to fund the government and prevent a shutdown of non-essential government functions must be passed by that date. Many government functions that are considered “essential” will become more chaotic than they already are. Fortunately, this time the republicans can’t do whatever they want and ignore the democrats in congress. The democrats in the senate must contribute precious votes to get a spending bill done.

Predictably, the President has decided to create a hostage situation. Trump is telling the democrats “if you want the government to continue to function, if you want your 800,000 Dreamers to stay here, if you want your precious nine million children to keep their insurance, fine. I will give you that. But, in return, I want 18 BILLION dollars, so I can START building my big beautiful wall to keep all those Mexicans out of the country”.

I am often amazed at how often throughout my life I am guided by the words and advice of just a few indispensable individuals. My grandmother often reminded me that “you cannot reason with a fool.” Donald Trump is a fool. If the democrats pay the ransom he demands today, there will be more ransoms to pay later.

Ironically, this is the weekend that America celebrates the birth and life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I am reminded of something he said that became a guiding principle of my life. On October 22, 1964 Dr. King gave a speech at Oberlin College in which he said, “the time is always right to do what’s right”. That is what I hope every member of the senate will remember.

Humanity and Morality demands that men and women of character say “No” to blackmail, “No” to hostage taking, “No” to racism. “No” to Trump. If Trump and the Republicans insist on shutting down the government, if they insist on deporting the “Dreamers” and every other immigrant of color from America, if they insist on removing nine million children from their insurance coverage, then we have an entirely different kind of problem.

Incredibly, Nancy Reagan said it best.

Just Say No. 

Dear Alabama

          A fourteen-year-old girl… A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL… A thirty-two-year-old man. Disgusting.

 There will be a special election in Alabama on December 12, 2017 to elect a United States Senator. The incumbent, Luther Strange, had been appointed to the post by the governor of the state to replace Jeff Sessions, who had been selected Attorney General of the United States by the republican president, Donald Trump. Strange lost the republican primary election to Roy Moore, a former district attorney and Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

          Roy Moore has been accused of sexually molesting a fourteen-year-old girl. He denied it. He was accused of sexually assaulting a sixteen-year-old girl. He denied that too. He was accused by three additional women of pursuing, dating, and/or kissing them when they were teen-agers and he was a thirty-something District Attorney. Mr. Moore denied it all. When asked by Sean Hannity if he dated ANY teen age girls during his thirties, Mr. Moore’s denial was not absolute, saying he didn’t remember, but stating that if he did such a thing, it was always with “their parent’s permission.”

          The republican party controls the United States Senate by two votes. Normally, the safest Republican seats in the Senate are the two seats allotted to the state of Alabama. It would be a true sign of the apocalypse for one of Alabama’s seats to go to a democrat. The republican party is caught between a rock and the gates of Hell. The majority leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell has decided that he “believes the women”, and has encouraged Moore to terminate his candidacy. By doing so he signaled to every other republican senator his expectation that they do the same thing, which they did. So officially, the republican party has said no to a child molester, even if it opens the doors of the Senate to a democrat.

          Ironically, McConnell is too wily a politician not to have a plan “B”. It is quite probable that he believes the voters of Alabama will elect the alleged pedophile anyway. If that happens, McConnell is laying the groundwork to immediately expel Moore from the Senate. Once that happens, Donald Trump can fire Jeff Sessions from his position as Attorney General, with the understanding that the Governor, Kay Ivey, would promptly give him his old senate seat back. Meanwhile, Trump could nominate a new attorney general that would not be recused from “the Russia thing”, and do his bidding to shut all that unpleasantness down.

          Mr. Moore has indicated that he will not step aside. I will not be the only one shocked if he changes his mind about that. That leaves the decision in the hands of the people of Alabama, my friends, my family, the people I grew up with. I left Alabama for good when I was thirty-one years old. I was old enough to understand the culture of the state. I knew Black people and white people. I knew poor people, rich people and middle-class people. I had seen bigotry and charity, equality and discrimination. I was old enough, mature enough, and intelligent enough to know that dating teen-agers at my age was not just wrong, but immoral as well. The people of Alabama will decide if they would rather have a child molester or a democrat represent them in the United States Senate.

          Many of the people I know today are unaware of my Alabama origins. My accent is gone. I don’t discuss the state unless I’m talking about Auburn football. Nevertheless, I still care. Thanks to the internet, I still read the local newspapers. Thanks to Facebook, I stay in touch with my high school friends. Most of them are good people, kind and loving people. We don’t always agree, but not once have I felt disrespected by any of them.

          There are times when local events in Alabama will have national impact. This is one of those times. The republican party has had a difficult time passing any legislation with their two-vote majority in the Senate. This election could reduce that advantage to a single vote. Fox News and the rest of the conservative media has been incredibly successful in demonizing democrats. Their success has reduced any democrat to the equivalent of a first cousin to the anti-Christ. For the vast majority of my home-state voters, voting for a democrat will be a very difficult thing to do. It will require the most difficult kind of courage, the courage to be different from your tribe, friends, family, and neighbors. It will require many to vote for a non-republican for the first time in their life.

          Most of the people watching this unfold outside of the state don’t believe that Alabamians will have that kind of courage. They have a condescending attitude towards everything and everybody in Alabama and a grudging respect only for the Auburn and Alabama football teams. They believe that Alabamians are so dense and bigoted that they will believe Roy Moore’s denials, or decide that it doesn’t matter as long as he is a republican.

          I think the rest of the country is wrong. I believe that my friends, family, and high school friends do believe that their children are more important than politics. The nation will be watching.

More will probably be watching the Iron Bowl…

But this election is more important.   

Who You Callin' a BITCH??!!??

         

It’s not about the flag. It’s not about disrespecting anything. That is the insidious power of ignorance. I often tell myself that ignorance is everywhere. Stupidity is everywhere. Racism and bigotry can be found in every country, every state, and every city. It pisses me off that the President of the United States would go to the state of my birth, Alabama, to one of its most beautiful cities, Huntsville, to vomit all over what this nation is supposed to be.

On July 6, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Alton B. Sterling, a 37-year-old African American man was arrested by two white police officers. They wrestled him to the ground. While he was pinned to the ground at least one of the officers pulled his service weapon and shot him several times. Mr. Sterling died. The event was captured on cell phone video and broadcast to the world on social media.

The following day, Philando Castile, a 32-year-old African American man was driving his car in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. Riding with him was his girlfriend. Her 4-year-old daughter was riding in the back seat. Police officers pulled him over. According to his girlfriend, Mr. Castile informed the officer that he had a license to carry a firearm and that it was in the car. The officer shot him as he sat in the car. Mr. Castile died. His girlfriend used her cell phone to record the scene, including the haunting image of the officer’s weapon pointed menacingly inside the car. The video was broadcast around the world on social media.

On July 19, 2015, a Cincinnati police officer shot and killed Samuel Dubose in the head while he was sitting in his car. Mr. Dubose was not obstinate or belligerent, he was not threatening. He was stopped for not having a license tag on the front of his car. America and the world saw and heard it all.

On July 10, 2015, a Texas State Trooper stopped Sandra Bland. Her mistake was changing lanes without turning on her turn signal. The trooper got angry when she refused to put out a cigarette, threatened her with a stun gun, ordered her out of the car, wrestled her to the ground, handcuffed her and took her to jail. A few days later she was found dead in her jail cell. The officer’s dash-cam and a bystander’s cell phone recorded it all.

On June 5, 2015, McKinney, Texas police were called to a pool party attended by Black teenagers in a gated community. Cell phone video captured one of the police officers pointing a gun at several of the teenagers before grabbing a Black girl in a bathing suit, tackling her, and shoving her face into the ground.

On April 12, 2015, cell phone video allowed the world to see Freddie Gray being arrested and dragged into a Baltimore police van. He was in obvious pain. His legs were not moving. He would die of a spinal injury a week later after being tossed around without a seat belt in that van before arriving at the police station.

On April 4, 2015, in North Charleston, South Carolina, a bystander with a cell phone recorded video of a white police officer shooting Walter L. Scott eight times in the back as he ran away. Scott was not a suspect in any crime. He was unarmed. He had been pulled over for a traffic violation. He died on the scene.

On November 22, 2014, In Cleveland, Ohio, 12 year old Tamir Rice was playing with a toy gun in a public park. A white police officer arrived, got out of his cruiser and immediately shot the Black boy twice from point blank range, killing him. Surveillance video captured it all.

On August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, cell phone video shows Michael Brown, an 18 year old Black teenager lying in the middle of the street for hours after he was shot and killed by a white police officer. He was unarmed.

On July 17, 2014, in Staten Island, New York, several police officers tried to arrest Eric Garner for selling illegal cigarettes. Mr. Garner was wrestled to the ground, placed in a chokehold, and strangled to death. A friend’s cell phone recorded it all.

According to the Washington Post, Black people are seven times more likely to be killed by police than white people. In 2015, 259 were killed. In 2016, 233 were killed. So far in 2017, 165 have been killed.

        

Colin Kaepernick was once the starting quarterback for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers. He is the only player in NCAA Division 1 history to amass 10,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards during his college career. During the 2012 NFL season he led his team to the Super Bowl. In 2013 he led the 49ers to the NFC Championship game. During the NFL’s preseason games in August of 2016, Kaepernick decided to sit during the national anthem to protest the killings of Blacks by American police. He would later start to kneel on one knee during the playing of the anthem for the same reason.

          My father was a minister. Since I was old enough to remember anything, I have been taught to kneel to pray. I kneel as a sign of reverence and respect for the God that I pray to. I was taught that Jesus Christ took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee to the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion, fell to his knees, and prayed. If kneeling before God or even a pagan king is a sign of reverence and respect, how in the hell is kneeling during the playing of the national anthem a sign of disrespect?

          There are several definitions of the word “bitch”. They include; “The female of a dog”, “a lewd or immoral woman”, “a malicious, spiteful or overbearing woman”, etc. On Friday, September 22, 2017 in Huntsville, Alabama the President of the United States referred to any National Football League Player that kneels during the playing of the national anthem as a “son of a bitch”. He also said they should be fired, repeating the “fired” for emphasis. The crowd roared, and America sank even lower into the cesspool of bigotry.

          As an educator, I have spent most of my life trying to help young people understand that the foundation of our country is the right to peacefully protest. Freedom itself is the right to disagree. The very first amendment to the Constitution, the first thing enumerated in the Bill of Rights guarantees the American people freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, and the right to petition the government to address our grievances.

        

Professional athletes and all the rest of us have a constitutional and unalienable right to protest the indiscriminate and racially motivated killing of Black people by the police. We will continue to do that.

That son of a bi….got in the White House won’t stop us.  

2018

          Since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States nothing he has said or done has surprised me. I have been angered, I have been disgusted, I have been embarrassed, but I have not been surprised. I am reminded of the late football coach Dennis Green, who was so disgusted after his NFL Arizona Cardinals team lost a game they had no business losing that he screamed something during the post-game interview that he will forever be remembered for; “THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!!!!”

Donald Trump is who I thought he was. Bigoted, narcissistic, ignorant, xenophobic, dishonest, petty, criminal, misogynistic, racist…

          For the past ten months, I did not want to think about it, read about it, write about it or talk about it. I have been struggling with the “why” question? I wanted to understand why good, caring people would vote for such a monumentally flawed human to be President of the United States. My conclusion? It’s complicated. Possibly, the answer is as simple as “Americans just screwed up”. Sometimes that happens. People make mistakes. Nations make mistakes. There is no question that buyer’s remorse is rampant in the body politic. Donald Trump’s approval rating is at a historic low, during a time that would normally be considered a honeymoon period for an incoming President.

          So, what do you do when you screw something up? First, you admit it. Only when you can accept that a problem exists can you develop a solution for it.

          The American constitution provides three remedies for a Presidency that presents a clear and present danger to the nation itself. The 25^th Amendment to the constitution states that the Vice President and a majority of the cabinet secretaries may notify the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate that the President of the United States is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. In other words, Mike Pence and more than half of Trump’s hand-picked cabinet would have to declare that Trump is so mentally ill that he can’t do the job. However, if Trump says, “there is nothing wrong with me!”, (he’d probably do it with a tweet) the dispute would be decided by congress, a congress that currently is controlled by republicans in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It would take a two-thirds vote in BOTH houses to send Trump back to Trump Tower in New York.

          Don’t hold your breath on the 25^th Amendment.

          The second remedy provided by the constitution is impeachment. There are currently FIVE official government investigations into Donald Trump, his presidential campaign, and his business transactions. All of them have the potential for discovering activities that could be impeachable offenses. They are being conducted by the Senate Intelligence Committee, the House Intelligence Committee, the Special Counsel via the Justice Department, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. According to the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, the issues being investigated include;

·         Russian meddling in the 2016 election

·         Michael Flynn’s connections to Russian officials

·         Trump disclosing classified information to Russian officials

·         The firing of FBI Director James Comey

·         Collusion between Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Russian Officials

·         Ties between Trump associates and Russian officials

·         Possible obstruction of justice by Trump and financial crimes among Trump Associates

·         How to prevent and deter foreign interference in U.S. elections

·         Russian media’s attempts to spread fake news during the 2016 election

All of these investigations might conclude that all of the allegations are true, that Trump is guilty as sin, but Article II of the constitution grants the power to impeach the President only to the House of Representatives. If the House of Representatives approves articles of impeachment, it is the same as an indictment. A trial for the President would occur in the Senate. Two-thirds of the Senators must vote for conviction in order to remove the President. It has never happened in the history of our country. Chances are, it won’t happen with Trump either.

          The third option available to the American people for a Presidency gone off the rails is a simple one, an election. Every two years America elects the entire House of Representatives, all 435 of them. We also elect one-third of the Senate, 33 or 34 seats, depending on the year. The reason why the first two options are unlikely to happen is because republicans control both houses of congress. They currently have 247 of the 435 seats in the House, a majority of 29 seats. The republicans also hold 52 of the 100 seats in the Senate. The vice-president has the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, which gives them a majority of three in the Senate.

          American politics are currently poisoned by blatant tribalism. We focus on those things that make us different, instead of what makes us whole. This sickness is fed by the influx of unlimited money into our political system, allowing local and state elections to be unduly influenced by corporate interests with no interest in what is truly beneficial for the people that actually live in the place where that election is held. The election of Barack Obama ignited an unprecedented obstructionism in the nation’s governing bodies, a vicious backlash in conservative media outlets, and a racial polarization unseen in this country since the dawn of the modern civil rights movement. Then came Donald Trump, who capitalized on all of this madness and rode the wave all the way to the White House.

 

          There will be an American election in 14 months. It will be the most important election in our lifetimes, and one of the most important elections in the history of our country. In November of 2018, America will get a do-over, a mulligan. America screwed up in 2016. We will get a chance to fix it in 2018. If the democrats can pick up 15 seats in the House of Representatives, Donald Trump will be impeached. Even if the republicans in the Senate refuse to convict him, his legislative agenda will have no chance of passage.

          2018 will be a referendum on Trump. If the American people leave the republicans in charge of the House and the Senate, then we deserve whatever fate has in store for us.

          As for me, I choose to believe that the American people have seen enough, and will do the right thing in 2018. If I’m wrong, may God help us… and the rest of the world.