Shortly before midnight Friday 17 July 2020, my screens lit up with a Washington Post news alert: John Lewis, front-line civil rights leader and eminence of Capitol Hill, dies at 80.
I was so overwhelmed by the sense of loss to American moral and intellectual leadership that I forgot the reality of the ineptitude and immorality of Donald Trump: now pushing to stop new money for CDC, testing and tracing our Homeland pandemic.
Only almighty universal power decides when to cutoff the tree of life of two such mighty oaks, whose justice for all roots dared to inspire peace in the face of physical brutality, unlawful arrest and a president refusing to preserve, protect and defend We The People.
The branches of such giants will continue to provide inviting shade for those weary of delays and half measures, seeking true democracy in the rejuvenating sanctuary of good trouble.
Walking in the shadow of death, we remember all who lost their fight to live, defeated by anti-American Conservative Senators, Governor clones of an apathetic president and the greed of corporate political handlers willingly risking the lives of school children.
Let's get in the way of those who abuse medical staffs and grieving families targeted by COVID-19, and emulating John Lewis and C. T. Vivian, insist, get thee behind us selfishness, ignorance, and the MAGA arrogance infected Republican Party.
Although, in the midst of the Trump plague - not COVID-19 nor SCARS COVID-2 - but our infectious diseases exposed by Coronavirus.
While we were, the home of the brave, when
- United for independence for all
- Preserving our union
- Sacrificing at home and abroad to save the world from Axis powers far too similar to our current federal leadership
- Peaceful marchers protesting systemic racism, asking only that America keeps its promises
we have never been the land of the free - not completely, not ever - because the problem is not just the symbols but the, house divided against itself champions they celebrate.
Although a repugnant example of our extreme inhumanity to humankind, it was never just Trump.
It's the journey from Dulles & Koch brothers to Karl Rove & Steve Bannon; from Nixon & Trickledown to Bush/Cheney forever wars.
It's a post FDR's 1945 death GOP, free at last, aided and abetted by Mitch McConnell's 1984 election, now looking the other way when, with impunity, Trump's private police kidnaps American citizens off American streets.
Auditioning to replace Netflix's WWII Documentaries, Trump's, Public Affairs Guidance: CBP Support to Protect Federal Facilities and Property - marked, For Official Use Only, enables a special task force created by the Department of Homeland Security in response to President Trump's Executive Order on Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence.
That task force: the Protecting American Communities Task Force (PACT), has been tasked not only to assess civil unrest but also to 'surge' resources to protect against it.
It's time to stop fighting among ourselves, and in ensemble, recognize, the greatest threats to America have been ensconced in our White House by Supreme Dirty Money, whose suppliers are not likely to accept negative returns on their investment.
As goes Advocates for peace and justice for all, so goes America.
Are we there yet, no, but following examples of better heroes, we're closer, as a three-year-old plainly sees.
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