Post 85 - June 4, 2020
Day 85…
The night of the Presidential election on November 8, 2016, was a gut-wrenching shock for many of us. It didn’t seem possible that what was happening in front of our eyes was actually happening. We were glued to our TVs watching with sinking hearts as the returns came in.
The following Saturday, Kate McKinnon, as Hillary Clinton, sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, simply, at a piano for the SNL cold open.
It caught what we were all feeling, perfectly - a profound sadness that left a pit of dread at the core of all of us who were hoping that the election would swing the other way.
In January, the day after the inauguration, we all headed to Washington for the Women’s March. It was the largest single-day protest in the history of the country. It was peaceful.Nobody was arrested.
Not only had a woman not just been elected President, but a man with a well-detailed history of misogyny had just assumed the office. The goal of the March was to send the clear message to the incoming administration that women’s rights are human rights.
Once we got home, there were several additional Marches in New York City. We had our signs - colorful, clever and eye catching. As we marched, we joked that we were going to be marching a lot in the coming months. Well, we didn’t.
We went back to our lives and tried to ignore what the new administration in Washington was doing. They, in turn, systematically started dismantling all of the legislation of the previous President. The signs that I had made for the marches sat idle in the entranceway of our apartment until they were finally moved down to our storage space in the basement.
They are still there behind a shelf unit.
According to the US Census Bureau, only 59.6 percent of the African American population in the United States voted in the 2016 election. Only 65.3 percent of the white population voted.
Those absurdly low turnout numbers have a further component - the white number reflects an increase in turnout from the previous election, while the black number indicates a decrease. The number of younger white voters (18-44) rose slightly from the previous election, while the number of young black voters also decreased.
Only about 10 percent of the people demonstrating during the Women’s March were under 18. The average age of the adults marching was 49.
The group that I marched with in Washington and I spent a lot of time talking about how disengaged we thought the youth of America was. That one of the people in our group was a completely engaged woman graduating from High School seemed to be an anomaly. As a group, we were mainly somewhat aging lefties. And we all dreaded what we thought was coming.
What actually came turned out to be far worse than anything we truly believed would happen. In 2016, while we thought the new administration would be terrible, we never imagined that they would not uphold and support the basic rule of law. We joked that the country under the new President would end up like Biff’s version of the future in the Back to the Future films. We joked about that but never REALLY believed that that would actually happen. If we actually thought that that was what was going to happen, we wouldn’t have joked.
We are suffering from a mis-managed global pandemic that has completely shut down our economy. 42.6 Americans have filed unemployment claims - that is a number more than the combined populations of the 22 smallest states. Our cities have been boarded up to try and protect our buildings from looting and arson. We are in our 9th straight day of nation-wide demonstrations against the racism that the new Administration has supported and encouraged. We seem to be actually living in Biff’s future.
But…
The remarkable thing about all of these demonstrations that are happening, is who actually is demonstrating. I have now participated in about six or seven different marches in New York. I can probably count on one hand the number of people I have seen with any grey in their hair at all.
These marches are almost purely made up of young people. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian - the younger members of our community are out there marching. That 18-44 demographic is energized and engaged in a way that my generation feared they never would be.
Older Americans are under far more risk to contract the coronavirus, that is still very much with us, than younger Americans are. That may be one of the reasons why the older folk seem to be staying away from the crowds. A lot of older Americans have also had the means to shelter during the pandemic outside of the city. To be fair, there are SOME older Americans participating, but the millions of older people who drew together for the Women’s March seem to be largely absent from these current demonstrations.
Our fears that the younger generation are too stuck in their phones to engage in society seem to be unfounded. On the contrary, the ready availability of online information seems to be helping them gather together.
I take enormous comfort in this. These protests are not Parades. The signs being carried are not beautiful in their execution. Nobody seems to be spending a lot of time at home making them - they are scrawled on anything at hand - cardboard boxes, container lids, discarded paper.
Last night, like the night before, the protests in New York City were largely peaceful. The awareness that much of the looting and vandalizing was being instigated by outside sources seems to have spread. And the demonstrators are sticking with it.
Today is the 10th day since the death of George Floyd. The day’s demonstrations have already begun.
I feel like we, the older generation, somewhat dropped the ball and I am moved beyond belief so see that the younger generation seem to be picking it up and are running with it. You want to be inspired? Listen to Tamika Mallory, a 39-year-old activist who also helped organize the Women’s March three years ago. Listen to Brittany Packett Cunningham, a 35-year-old activist.
There are countless others. Articulate, passionate and driven. Do I always agree with what they are saying and what they are doing? No, not necessarily. But did the generation before mine always agree with what me and my contemporaries said and thought? Yes, this generation is going to be reckless at times and yes, they are going to make mistakes, but so did we when we had our turn.
People are now starting to speak up. Sports figures are apologizing for insensitive remarks they once made. With each passing day, members of the President’s own party are starting to separate from him and criticize some of his actions.
These demonstrations were triggered by a single event that was merely one in a long line of similar occurrences. Since they started, however, they have initiated a national dialogue about an even larger issue that is uncomfortable, rancorous at times and long overdue.
I still have a sense of dread when I think about the future, but from what I’ve seen over these last few days, I also have a new-found sense of hope. There is a path forward to the future and I am seeing the younger generation of this country starting to step up to begin to forge it. I hope and pray that this new-found passion extends to the upcoming elections in November. This country needs new leadership badly.
As dire as recent events have been, I truly feel better about our future now than I did two weeks ago. I don’t know where we are heading, but we are getting some new drivers, so we will see. I have seen those drivers out on the streets, and they are figuring it out.
Onward.