It is hard to know what to write, the day after witnessing an attempted coup on our nation’s capital. It is hard to know what to write, the day after witnessing one of the most historic victories in a fiercely fought battle for control of the Senate. Yesterday was a day of extremes, an extraordinary statement to make after all that’s happened over the past 4 years. It was a day that reflected all of the beauty and hope and inspiration, and ugliness, and hate, and destructiveness that is America.

America (not the United States of America- who can say that now with a straight face?), has always been (underneath, just below the surface) what is on display now for the whole world to see. Few statements cause me to grind my teeth in frustration more than “This is not who America is. This is not who we are. These are not the values on which this country was founded”. We literally laid claim to land that wasn’t ours, slaughtered and erased the people who had what we wanted, enslaved others to build the infrastructure and economy, and then systematically wrote laws and designed the government to uphold the new white status quo. That is the legacy of America. There would not be an America without the bones of Indians and the blood of slaves to prop up this disgrace of a “shining city on a hill”. And all the so-called glory of being on the right side of history during the World Wars is not enough to hide our shame from the eyes of the rest of the world.

America is not the greatest country in the world. America is not even the greatest country in North America. Yes, the elections of Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the Senate are notable achievements- the first Black Senator elected from the state of Georgia, along with the millennial son of Jewish immigrants. That this is exciting, ground-breaking, inspiring, and unprecedented in the year 2021, in a country that prides itself on being a beacon of freedom and democracy says a great deal about the Doublespeak that is this country’s second mother tongue. 

There are still reasons to hope. My children’s generation is filled with purpose, armed with the magic of technological instinct, and have the ability to mobilize others across the globe with a fingertap in support of social, racial, environmental, and political justice. And the last bastion of a free society has not fallen yet, the protection afforded to me by my birth, the freedom to say or write anything I damn well feel about this government and this country. And that still counts for something.

America- Very Disappointed- Recommend with Reservations