Hope

To see the beauty of the tree limps dressed in ice and sparkling in sunlight, the glow from my little whimsical oil lamp, Kroger lilies in full bloom after days in my frigid bedroom - all while suffering - and I did suffer - through Fern, the ice storm, while this federal regime attacks physically with lawless thugs who act with impunity. Plus, I’m in Mississippi.

If I don’t believe we will come out better on the other side of this hell - I can’t imagine getting out of bed. And before you declare me an unrealistic Loon, let’s consider that I may be the more realistic one.

We undermine ourselves with mythology of previous efforts to include more people among “We the People” who should be running this democracy for the public good. Some of us believe “Everybody” north of the Mason-Dixon Line supported the Civil War. Some of us believe “Everybody” except hardcore white racists applauded the Supreme Court school desegregation 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Some of us believe “Everybody” applauded the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King, Jr.. And because “Everybody” was on board, we experienced the Second Reconstruction that both produced and implemented federal laws advancing racial justice such as the Voting Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act and establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Truth be told, “Evereybody” never showed up. Not only that, but among the folks who did show up were disagreements about specific goals, strategies, timing, sometimes didn’t know what to do, and lots of times arrogance got in the way.

To bring it into the right now, go back and read some of those headlines about Mamdani BEFORE the election. You didn’t think he’d win either. Tell the truth.

So. Your choice. They’ll count on your giving up/being “realistic”. Or we can live as if we have the DNA of those folks who were , as the poet Carolyn Rogers reminds us, “the bridge I crossed over on.” May we be a bridge that folks cross over on.