Book for the times

At the urging of my daughter and thanks to a birthday gift from one of my closest friends, I began reading,”How to be an Anti-Racist,” authored by Ibram X Kendi, last night. So far my daughter is right: Great book! And is there a better time to read it than now?

Both objectives achieved

One objective of protest action is to speak truth to power, but another is to win the sympathy and support of people who aren’t yet actively engaged and may never become activists. In the unprecedented protest actions over the last two weeks (they were on a scale most of us didn’t imagine), demanding justice and accountability for the police murder of George Floyd, both objectives were achieved. If you have any doubt about the latter one, check out new public opinion polls.

A poor excuse for a human being

Barr would like us to believe that the problem of policing can be explained away by a “few bad apples” in police ranks. It’s not “systemic,” he says. This poor excuse for a human being is an ideologue and enforcer of right wing , white nationalist, democracy breaking, constitution breaking authoritarian rule. Like Trump, he still hopes, even if his hopes are fading some, that the November elections give them an opportunity to consolidate this form of rule for the long term.

Taking a knee

“Kneeling is both an act of defiance and resistance, but also of reverence, of mourning, but also honoring lives lost,” said Chad Williams, the chairman of the Department of African and Afro-American Studies at Brandeis University. “It is also simple and clear. Its simplicity gave it symbolic power, and as we see now, its power persists.”

More people catching on

In the face of two overlapping crises that are defining his presidency, Trump has not only demonstrated an astonishing degree of incompetence and narcissism. He has also — and for all eyes to see here and around the world — displayed a profound moral emptiness and indifference to the loss of life, especially Black lives, as well as a manic and reckless compulsion to polarize the country, blame “enemies within” for the crises that we are passing through, and, with no discernible reluctance, smash constitutional norms, unleash the military against young protesters, and assume dictatorial powers.

But here’s the thing. More and more people are catching on. Recent polling shows a president sinking in popularity. Even former military leaders, in what is unprecedented, are speaking out against Trump and their successors in the Pentagon who would turn cities into a “battlespace.” And most tellingly, the sustained protest actions of young people and others across the country protesting the gruesome murder of George Floyd at the hand of 4 policemen are gaining the sympathy of other Americans.

And yet, as encouraging as this is, vigilance and sustained action are imperative . A weaker Trump could easily become a more dangerous and reckless Trump.

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