The Two Americas: And The Question of Who We Really Are?
January 8, 2021
For me, the hordes of riotous “Make America Great Again” Trump political acolytes were reminiscent of the lynch mobs of yesterday – predominantly violent white men, with “law enforcement” officers often functioning as cheerleaders, sometimes frontline lynch mob participants, in the “land of liberty and justice for all.”
What happened in the nation’s capitol on January 6, 2021, goes beyond “unprecedented in modern history” to something far more consequential. Yes, it was the second time in American history the US Capitol was violently breached. However, the significance of what happened on that fateful day runs far deeper for me, both as a black man and student of history.
A wise man once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Indeed, the Trump inspired insurrection in the nation’s capitol caused echoes of Amerikkka’s past to come crashing into the present…for me. [Case in point: the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 – see end note.]
It wasn’t just the chickens coming home to roost syndrome (some might call it karma) resulting from decades upon decades of America destabilizing other “democratic governments” in Asia and Africa, Central and South America, the Middle East and other zones of influence. It goes much deeper than that!
For me, the hordes of riotous “Make America Great Again” Trump political acolytes were reminiscent of the lynch mobs of yesterday – predominantly violent white men, with “law enforcement” officers often functioning as cheerleaders, sometimes frontline lynch mob participants, in the “land of liberty and justice for all.”
What would have happened if the mob had come across Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio Cortez or Ilhan Omar? Would they still be with us today?
Something to think about; as we, as a country, take stock of who we really, really are.
El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan
1/8/21
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End Note: Check out the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_insurrection_of_1898