before
I thought that I had lived through an era of momentous historical significance. Anyone born at the half-century that began with the end of a red-hot war and the start of the Cold War has witnessed an America emerging from its provincial past, replete with remarkable achievements and self-imposed setbacks. We were a nation that would emerge from the doldrums and adversity of a depression and war to a position of world dominance. The transformation would not be simple or without its trials and tribulations. There would be political social turmoil that would bring domestic unrest. On the other hand our new standing as leader of the “free world” brought on responsibilities that would test our resolve and our hegemony. Our image of ourselves was always complex. At times, looking in the mirror staring back at us was a visage that instilled pride; at other times the reflection instilled shame. The disparity told us that we were better than this—demonstrably because at times we had proved it.
If I were to look back, our most pressing problems almost always began with our dealings with race and cultural divides. After World War II, the racial issues long simmering in our early history had come to a head. The war had in some ways made us reconsider our relationships with one another. The battle for freedom overseas fostered the realization that at home freedom for some was still wanting. That began the movement for civil rights. Fought in the streets and in the hearts of America, racial justice was, perhaps, the preeminent domestic issue in post-war America. The idea of a “post-racial” America was driven by forces that appeared stronger than those that opposed them. Economic and social progress were inexorably tied to expanding economic and educational opportunities. This, in turn, would dismantle the obstacles to oppression. Progress seemed to be an irreversible force. I know that I felt the groundswell of satisfaction with the election of Barack Obama in 2008. For those in my generation, who had lived through the struggles for racial equality, electing a Black leader to start off the new century seemed to be a sign that America had finally grown up. The future seemed so bright---our national stigma had been lifted. It was a heady time as blacks, as well as whites, celebrated. As Maureen Dowd observed in her latest New York Times column:
“I went to the Lincoln Memorial at dawn the day after Barack Obama’s inauguration. Maybe it was sappy. But after living through the ’68 assassinations and riots, Watergate, Vietnam and the Iraq war, I wanted to celebrate the idea that our sense of possibility was back, that we could be proud, smart and respected again in the world.”
--NYTimes, 9/1/2020
the Obama promise
It may have been sappy, but as a member of the aging baby boomer generation, I remember the feeling as well--- exhilaration. It was the first time in my lifetime that I thought we had reached a point of demarcation in our national development that promised we could never go back to before. The phrase is not mine, of course. They belong to the collaboration of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty who composed the music for the 1998 Broadway musical, Ragtime. Based upon E.L. Doctorow’s bestselling novel about race and class in early 20th century America, The story about aspirational blacks, upper-class whites, and a Jewish immigrant, encaptures the enigma of the American story. “We're all Coalhouse!” was a sound-bite that resonates in my memory. The title of this diary is taken from the powerful feminist ballad “Back to Before” that was sung by Mother played so brilliantly by the late, Marin Mazzie.
The words, however, now ring true even more powerfully as we hopefully end the Trump presidency. On Tuesday, a Biden victory should not portend a return to the time before this president ripped the scab off centuries-old tensions that separated us one from the other. In the past, tensions were managed and massaged only to sometime erupt again to be suppressed by majoritarian muscle and the lack of political will to engage with and solve the problem of race in America. On looking back, the Obama election ended the pretense and placed front and center repressed and unaddressed racism that survived. The words of Ed Rendell, who was sometimes critical of Obama fiscal policy, I think, stated it best in a 2012 interview:
‘I can't ever recall a newly elected president being faced with the leader of the other party's caucus saying “Our No. 1 priority is to make this president a one-term president,”’ says Rendell, citing the remark made by Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, that exemplified the fierce partisanship that has attended Obama's tenure. ‘That McConnell would say that in the first nine months of Barack Obama's tenure is absolutely stunning, disgraceful, disgusting — you name the term.’
--Washington Post
That was “before.”
If we are to overcome the Trump presidency and survive as a nation, we must recognize that the Trump phenomenon was not an aberration---it was what we hope to be the last gasp of a dying internal struggle to overcome our inner demons. “Before” was not necessarily better, it was prologue. A Biden presidency has to be more than a restoration, more than what Biden himself calls a search for the soul of America. It must be a time of transformation. Th\is Ahrens lyric haunts my understanding of where we are after having lived through so much of “where we have been.”
There was a time our happiness seemed neverending,
I was so sure that where we were headed was right.
Life was a road so certain and straight and unbending,
Our little road with never a crossroad in sight.
Back in the days when we spoke in civilised voices.
Women in white and sturdy young men at the oar.
Back in the days when I let you make all my choices.
We can never go back to before.
trump’s America
The theme of the Trump presidency is all about going back to a time when America was uncomplicated, white, smug. His view of our nation of one that is ungenerous, mean, and uncaring. It is an America that many fought hard to make better. Trump’s view is one of an America that never was, that only existed in the minds of and hearts of racists:
“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough...”
--Donald Trump
Trump really believes that America was his idea, that it was his industry, and that of those like him, that built a great nation. Yet, his contribution has been to prosper off the labor and contributions of others. Not a drop of his blood was shed in defense of the America he grifts. Yet, he demands that others who represent the true greatness of this nation---one built on inclusion and opportunity---go back to where they had come from. Tomorrow we get to return the favor.
Going back is not an option. In truth, those days were never better ones, just better for some. Continuing the evolution of American democracy from a time before Trump is no longer morally satisfying. It will not abate the knowledge that, like him, some were advantaged at the expense of others. For minorities, women, and the LGBTQ communities, opportunity came at a price few were able to pay, and even fewer were allowed to pass on. Even before Trump, I, like Mother in Ragtime came to realize, was not so sure that where we were heading was right. We need a new start. Biden and Harris may be our best chance for true transformative social change. The pairing breaks convention in so many ways. The president will be the oldest among the “whitest” of his generation. His running mate, adds diversity of gender and race, The combination exquisitely represents the promise that was made yet never kept in our nation’s Constitution.
vote
Since I began with the Ahrens and Flaherty lyric, I will end with the bridge from their Ragtime anthem that today seems even more relevant:
There are people out there
Unafraid of revealing
That they might have a feeling
Or they might have been wrong
There are people out there
Unafraid to feel sorrow,
unafraid of tomorrow,
unafraid to be weak...
unafraid to be strong!
On Tuesday, it is my fondest hope that I had lived to see a generation of Americans who stood up and refused to be bullied and cowed by history and convention. Who are unafraid to challenge the forces that circumvent liberty and justice for all. Who abhor children in cages, who agree that Black Lives Matter, who support doctors and scientists. There are people who refuse to be weak and powerless, venal, and cruel. This is our time to stand up and vote.
America cannot go back to before.