ONE WEEK….

One nation under God….indivisible….

Really?

Are we?

We are not living up to our pledge.

We are not living up to a lot of what we’re supposed to be as Americans. It’s not like we haven’t missed the mark before… but the ways some of us chose to abandon who we’re supposed to be on January 6th…is stunning, saddening and sickening.

As a journalist… I’m pretty professional at not sharing my opinion. My job is to share what those involved in any given story have to say, what their feelings are…. but here…. in a space that’s supposed to be for me and my friends…. I have to say…. something. This…. is about PRINCIPLE – not any party.

For four years….there has been a campaign to obliterate objective fact in this country, to obliterate objective fact in the American experience. This is a slippery slope no matter who might create it. It’s a place we all should be unwilling to go.

In the case of our most recent past, it started with doctored descriptions of inauguration crowds and gave birth to “alternative facts.”

Alternative facts were then, will always be, and have always been….INCORRECT ASSERTIONS.

People laughed at the tossing around of a phrase like ‘alternative facts,’ said the words don’t matter. It’s just talk… it doesn’t mean anything. The words always matter….they always mean something. They’re a window and a warning.

The domestic terrorists who breached our nation’s Capitol believe in a set of ‘alternative facts’ about the 2020 Presidential election.

It’s a set of ‘alternative facts’ that’s been laundered through courts all across this country… to no avail. It’s a set of ‘alternative facts’ that has been repeated at the highest levels of our government… but while repetition can give something the feel of truth… it never gives it the substance of it. We have all seen the deadly, destructive evidence of those who fervently believe those ‘alternative facts’ anyway.

We’ve largely shrugged it all off as a people – but again – the words have always mattered.

Last week…the leader of the free world told his supporters to march on the Capitol. Other speakers at a rally protesting the results of an election repeatedly verified as legitimate… told the crowds to do whatever was necessary to fight for ‘freedom’ and ‘integrity’ in order to back the leader they believe in. How could anyone be surprised about the horror that later unfolded?

For four years a cadre of electeds and appointeds have let situations with similar origins go unchecked.

The Capitol attack was the foul blossom of that ugly seed.

For four years…. behavior destructive to the democracy, a lack of true patriotism, and a crisis of conscience have pervaded.

And I, unlike some, would NOT have suborned all this out of a party I ‘liked.’

No matter WHO might be about such ill-conceived actions… I would want them stopped – this is about our COUNTRY!

I’ve heard so many people commenting about how unprepared the Capitol police were.

If you’re legit asking that question… you to have to legitimately ask why.

2019 provided many stark and devastating examples of white privilege and disregard for black and brown lives.

I can see no other reason for the limited, delayed and seemingly deficient police response to protestors transforming into violent rioters than that.

Per the top picture I’ve posted here… it’s easy to see it was no trouble to assemble a hybrid force of national guard, city police and federal troops in riot gear to line up near the the Capitol and stand at the ready for an advertised peaceful protest by Black Lives Matter on June 2nd. For many in control of organizing response to such situations… there is an assumed complexion of culpability. On January 6th… they either didn’t believe anyone who looks like them could do something all that awful…or they were bullied into inaction by the fact that these were friends of the person in charge. Neither stance made for a good result.

It is the same principle so sadly at work in so much unnecessary loss of life and so many protests over the last year.

It’s the same pathetic principal heartbroken family after heartbroken family, activist after activist, has tried to stress to legions who willingly refuse to see.

There is so much work to do to heal our America within our borders and how it functions beyond, so much work to do to truly honor the laws we have and peacefully change them if we want something else.

This country’s greatness comes in being able to stop looking at the tally board and come together in compassionate compromise.

The task is gargantuan at this moment…but we’re up to it… don’t you think?