We Are Not A More Perfect Union...
/“To heal, we must remember.”
These were the words spoken by Joseph R. Biden on the eve of his inauguration.
With his wife, Dr. Jill Biden; then, vice president-elect Kamala Harris; and her husband, Doug Emhoff, at his side, he gave these remarks during the national COVID-19 memorial at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The next morning, he was officially sworn in as the 46th president of these United States at the U.S. Capitol.
Since obtaining the democratic nomination for the presidency, Biden has been described as the only candidate equipped to lead us in this time of loss and tragedy. Due to the loss of his first wife and daughter in a tragic car accident 40-plus years ago, as well as the loss of his beloved son, Beau, to cancer in 2015, Biden’s career, writers have suggested, has been defined by tragedy.
“To heal, we must remember.”
Hearing President-elect Biden utter these words, I was captured. I, along with many across this globe, have been impacted closely by the coronavirus. For nearly a month, one of my beloved aunts fought for her life in a Detroit hospital after contracting the virus. She eventually died on Palm Sunday. To witness the soon-to-be leader of the free world, take a moment to remember those we have loss – at that point just a little over 400,000 people – I felt seen. The moment felt like a long-awaited acknowledgment of the pain this virus has enacted on us and others that make up the number of loved ones in mourning.
Those words were also calculated.
Two weeks prior, a group of Trump supporters and so-called American patriots stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, to stop the certification of Biden and Harris’ election. They were attempting to “take their country back.” As many of us watched from our phones, computers, and flat screens, some were astonished, amazed, dumbfounded even, by what was happening. “This is not America,” some pundits uttered sincerely as they verbally reprimanded the Capitol attackers. They described the moment as unreal. How could this be happening in our country at this time.
But as Cori Bush, the newly elected democratic representative from Missouri in the House of Representatives wrote in the Washington Post, beloveds, this is America; especially the America that many of us know.
Now, I won’t waste your time reiterating what so many others, especially the likes of poet laureate Amanda Gorman, have already eloquently said and written about the current state of our democracy.
But I will say something about this concept of healing, what we should take away from the practice of reflecting and/or remembering, and how important truth telling is in the process. Because, let’s be honest, words have meaning – words matter. And, far too often, we misuse words and their intent, which gets us all in a lot of trouble – or in situations that were never intended in the first place.
“To heal, we must remember.”
Last summer I applied and enrolled in Columbia Theological Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry program. Weeks earlier, my dear brother and pastor, Pierre D. Cox, shared with me his desire for me to carry on his ministry following his death. He had been in a three-year battle with colorectal cancer. His desire was that when he died, House of Mercy Everlasting would continue on after him. Immediately, I searched for resources to help me in the process of leading a ministry in mourning. Realizing the lack of extensive research, I decided to focus my DMin on developing a such a resource future leaders.
In my quest, I have spent a lot of time with Joshua, the successor of Moses. In the Biblical text, we are informed that Moses, under the guidance of the Lord, selected Joshua as his successor well before he died. When Moses eventually died, the people wept for 30 days. Before they were led out of the wilderness and into their next, they took some time to pause.
This idea that the people took time to mourn is intriguing to me. Not because the concept of pausing while mourning is foreign to me. No. I am intrigued because the people actually did it and because the text actually records that it happened. The fact that the people took time to weep before moving on speaks to how important it is to pause, while also sheds a light on, to me, how bad we as a society are in the practice.
I mean, we have heard so much about it being time to unite, to get beyond our differences, to come together, and heal. What if that is the wrong narrative; the wrong strategy? What would happen if in our remembering, we actively and intentionally paused a moment before moving on? What if what we need to do first, in order to unify, is to pause and actually reflect? And while we are reflecting, maybe it is time to really start telling the truth about, well, everything?!
Healing is defined as the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again.
Considering this definition, and how the word has been used the past few weeks at least, it is safe to say there is a desire to obtain what once was – to get back. But to suggest we need to heal, or get back healthy again, that would mean that we are getting back to something we had already achieved.
When have we ever been healthy?
For nearly the past 15 or so years, we have heard the political rhetoric, “We are now more divided than ever.” I especially remember hearing such being declared on the night Barack Obama became the 44th president. Back then, I must admit, I believed it. I, along with countless others, believed the rhetoric. While we were electing our first ever Black president, I knew everyone wasn’t excited. But we were progressing, right? It was such a momentous occasion that I allowed myself to overlook some of the tactics used to discredit then Senator Obama and his affiliations. (Some of those same tactics we saw resurface during the runoff election between Raphael Warnock and Kelley Loeffler). But, the writer in me should have known better. Those who control the narrative control history.
America has never been healthy. It’s very founding is rooted in oppression and exploitation. And the systems that govern us today are still rooted in the practice of moving the goal post to benefit those who have access over those who do not.
What do we do with any and all of that? How are we to heal? What does healing even look like if, what we claim we are seeking to gain is more ideological than practical and never truly existed in the first place? How do we become a more perfect union? What was even the intent or goal of a more perfect union in the first place?
In her book, “Occupied with Nonviolence: A Palestinian Woman Speaks,” Jean Zaru states that we are to find our strength in our storytelling. We are to tell our stories. While there are those out there declaring that the events of January 6 is not America, it is our responsibility to declare courageously, like Cori Bush and Amanda Gorman, that indeed, “This is America,” to borrow a phrase from Childish Gambino (thanks Sarah). I agree with Zaru. It is necessary; it is important, for those of us who have been omitted publicly to tell our stories. I am a storyteller, of course I want our stories to be told. And I want us to tell them. If we do not, then what we have experienced, as those perceived to be in the minority, will be omitted in the same way President Lyndon Johnson attempted to silence Fannie Lou Hamer during her 1964 DNC speech.
And while we are telling our omitted stories, it is also time that the American majority, those that have controlled the narrative for generations, stop telling false narratives of how great this nation is and has been. In addition to President Biden’s declaration on the eve of his inauguration, I also appreciate his efforts to counter some of these false narratives since taking office. President Biden, so far, is setting a good example. Some of his actions and efforts are a good start. Some of his language, on the other hand, could use some work. But I choose to believe his life and career has taught him a few things. As a result, he is trying – no one is perfect.
We can’t just move on. We can’t just call for unity and unification. When has this country ever truly been unified? From the very beginning, this country was founded with a have and have nots mentality. We, like the people of Israel after Moses’ death, need to pause. In order to heal, there is a need for weeping. There is a need for evaluation. There is a need for truth telling -- pure and authentic. Things cannot continue as they were. Things cannot “go back to normal.” Too many wounds have become scars; scars that are reminders of the abuse, pain, and trauma that has been caused in this country in the name of democracy; under the guise of religious authority even.
To heal, we must remember. And sometimes, remembering means looking at Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, as your man in the mirror moment.
We are not a more perfect union. We can be. But if Barack Obama’s presidency has taught me anything, there is going to be a lot of kicking and screaming along the way. America, are you ready?