“I have a dream that one day,
Right there in Alabama!
Little Black boys and little Black girls
Will be able to join hands with
Little White boys and White girls
As sisters and brothers.”
–Dr. Martin Luther King
Today, I think I’ll write about the general turmoil in the United States following the general election. By now, we know that the rancor of the campaigns has continued on through the election. More people voted for the losing candidate than for the winning one. For that reason alone, protests ought to be expected in a country that yearns to be free and truly democratic.
We have a great opportunity in America today, to look at the Electoral College, its origins, and its purpose. Does it still serve us well, considering that the people would certainly be more accepting of victories and defeats by popular votes? And this is but the beginning of what should be a great period of reflection and inventory of our values as Americans. One of the most disturbing facts about our nation today is that, despite its proper name, it is not United.
It is divided, and those who would see to the ULTIMATE destruction of this great country will eventually see an opportunity to conquer it. If only for the existential danger our division puts us in, we must seek to be united again. But there are many other reasons which fall under the category of living up to the promises of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
Nowhere in those two documents of freedom is it suggested we live on American soil in separate tribes virtually at war with one another. Yet, the results of an in-depth study by University of Wisconsin professor, on American identity politics and tribalism, found the most important factor in distrust of “insider” candidates was that the rural people felt they had nothing in common with city people.
This perceived rift, examined by Aesop in “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse” approximately 2,600 years ago, should come as news to nobody! Yet, its unmitigated aggravation, by American apathy toward the problem of segregation, has caused many of our worst societal problems to come home to roost.
Americans went to the polls and narrowly elected a controversial candidate, because voters in mostly rural areas want change. Brave protesters then took to the streets, and I think I understand why. They seem to say, “Real change, important change will not come down from Washington as new laws and new enforcements. Real change will come from finding our town mouse faults and our country mouse faults. We can no longer afford to act from points of fear, distrust, and suspicion of the perceived other.”
How will the beautiful, visionary dream of little Black boys and Black girls playing together hand-in-hand with little White boys and White girls EVER come true, when each lives many miles away from the other and when each attends completely, or nearly completely, segregated schools?
My upcoming novel is called ULTIMATE ERROR. Only human beings, as we have seen, can threaten the very existence of life on Earth. Only we can commit the ULTIMATE ERROR.