Eight years ago I was shocked when an acquaintance told me she wrote a note excusing her daughter from watching Trump’s inauguration with her class. We had an election, I thought, one side won and the other lost. I didn’t vote for Trump, but I trusted the process and accepted that not everyone thought as I did. Disappointed or thrilled, I believed our elections celebrated democracy.
Eight years later I won’t be watching trumps inauguration.
Today a convicted felon enters the White House with his criminal crew. There is no need to watch or listen. Already we know what awaits us: more lies. More manipulation. While I risk sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I continue to doubt that Trump’s win was entirely fair. When has he ever done anything fairly? When has he ever done anything honestly?
It is really quite laughable that Trump should raise his hand and take an oath to defend and protect the constitution. Was he defending the constitution when he incited an insurrection? Was he protecting the constitution when he called Georgia’s Secretary of State to find enough votes to declare trump the winner? Was he honoring our democracy when he refused to attend Biden’s inauguration and continued grifting with his blatant lies for four long years?
The sadness of this day is balanced by its coincidental celebration of Martin Luther King Day. Martin Luther King. A man with a dream of truth, justice and dignity for all people. A man who believed in the promise of our country. It’s a promise I pledged my allegiance to from childhood and one which I sincerely believed was in our grasp. We boomers fell short but I took heart in open hearts of Gen Z’s. They are welcoming and willing to fight for true justice and true equality.
Far too many American’s have been fooled by the criminal-loving coterie who will now inhabit the White House. I won’t be watching or listening but choose instead to share the encouragement found in the life and words of Martin Luther King.
In 1964, in Oslo Norway, in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize King said, I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.
Today, truth, joy and hope have been temporarily defeated. Deceit and greed are triumphant and our democracy is endangered. But with integrity and truth on our side, I believe, like King, that we can and will triumph over evil.
