The Story We Tell

Updated from Facebook August 17, 2017 - important again as the governor of Virginia has ordered the statue of Robert E Lee to be removed from Richmond (now blocked by a judge) and in light of the removal of the Texas Ranger statue at Love Field (more on that tomorrow)

“Let me tell you what I wish I’d known when I was young and dreamed of glory. You have no control: Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?” – History Has Its Eyes on You, Hamilton, Act 1

“The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice” – Mark Twain

There has been a lot written over the past weeks about the place and removal of Confederate statues from cities across the country. Some good, much very disheartening and often disturbing. It is clear that this issue stirs up passions on both sides of the issue. And for the life of me, I cannot understand why.

Don’t get me wrong, I can understand and sympathize with the passion of the people who want to tear them all down. I understand what the statues represent to them. They represent oppression and hatred. A glorification of an ugly stain on our history. A tool that was used to keep African Americans oppressed and remind them of their place (more on this in a minute).

But I have yet to see a cogent argument as to why they should remain, nor a coherent statement as to what the statues and flags and other memorabilia represent to those in favor of them. The most common responses uttered are “we shouldn’t erase history” and “heritage/history not hate”. But both of these are extremely problematic.

Regarding “erasing history”
First, this isn’t about erasing history, it’s about bringing it to light and remembering it for what it truly was. The Civil War was fought over slavery. Period. It represents one of the ugliest stains in our history in which one side was fighting to perpetuate an institution that should have been eradicated centuries ago.

We have to end this lie of the noble, benign Confederacy. The “lost cause of the Confederacy” is a lie perpetuated by the South after their loss in the war. A “literary expression of the despair of a bitter, defeated people over a lost identity.” Rollin G. Osterweis. It remains an attempt by the South to control its narrative and make the cause of the Confederacy look nobler than it was in actuality. And it has been perpetuated by writers and historians who choose to engage in this false narrative. Fluid prejudice.

Again, the Civil War was fought over slavery. Period. We should repeat it until it sticks.

But, state’s rights? Yes, it was about the right of a state to continue to perpetuate slavery.

But, economics? Yes, it was about the economics of slavery and its impact on the South. To quote Alexander Hamilton, “A civics lesson from a slaver. Hey neighbor, your debts are paid cuz you don’t pay for labor. ‘We plant seeds in the South. We create.’ Yeah, keep ranting. We know who’s really doing the planting.”

But Northern Aggression? Ah, yes, northern aggression, after the Southern states took the highly debated step of secession (to keep slavery) and with the South being the first to open fire.

Yes, there are complex reasons for every war. There are complex reasons why each and every person fights for a particular side. But we cannot lose sight of the fact that the root cause, the apex issue of the Civil War was slavery. Of the 11 states that seceded, 6 of the ordinances of secession or explanation of secession include slavery as a cause of their secession. In four states, the blame for secession is squarely on the abolitionist movement. The Civil War was about slavery.

And when we approach it like, the Confederacy is not something that should be glorified or celebrated. It should be remembered, but it should be something that we are ashamed of and should be something that grieves us. Any remembrance of the Confederacy should be designed to prevent it from ever happening again. And that raises the question, do the monuments as they exist achieve this? How do they present the Confederacy?

Heritage/History Not Hate
Second, we have to stop pretending these monuments are about remembering the war instead of honoring the men that are represented and glorifying an idealized benign Confederacy.

There are ways to erect monuments to the stains of our past that let us remember and contextualize them, without glorifying them. You can look at how Germany has handled their troubled history from World War II. Monuments exist for the victims, not the perpetrators. They are often purposefully off-putting to remind you of the weight of the atrocity. “Lest we forget.”  The spot of Hitler’s death is marked by a simple, small placard, over a small patch of open land in a parking lot. Nazi regalia is prohibited from exhibition in the media, with some exceptions for educational purposes. It is contextualized, it is controlled, but it is not forgotten or deleted from history. It is treated as the stumbling stone or mill stone that it is.

And we could have done the same. We could have monuments to the victims of slavery that reminded us of the horrible institution that it was and the devastation that it made. We could have limited Confederate display to appropriate settings, like museums and battlefields, where the focus of the memorial is on the history, the sacrifice, and the weight that it carries. We did not.

The majority of these monuments to the Confederacy instead appear to celebrate the particular figures role in the Confederate army. They are often big, bold icons portraying the Confederate leaders in their finest. They are given places of prominence, whether it be in front of courthouses, on entire avenues dedicated to the monuments (Monument Avenue in Richmond, or perhaps more appropriately, the Avenue of Second Place Trophies), and filling the sides of mountains (Stone Mountain, Georgia). If you knew nothing of American history, you might assume the South had won the war.

These men are honored by their memorials, quite literally put up on a pedestal. And we should be clear, these men are not honored for their lives after the Confederacy or for their accomplishments before. They are remembered and honored in their full Confederate regalia. They are remembered for being the celebrated leaders of the Confederacy, instead of the traitors to or enemy agents of the United States that they are.

To argue otherwise is to ignore the history of the erection of the monuments themselves. The majority of these monuments were not even erected in the remaining years of the 1800s. The vast majority of these monuments were erected between 1900 and 1920, in the middle of Jim Crow, and with the resurgence of the KKK. Yes, the monuments were put up to honor Confederate leaders, but the timing of their creation makes it clear that the motivation was to physically symbolize white terror against blacks in the segregated South. This would also explain the motivation of putting them in front of courthouses and in town squares. They were put in places of prominence for a reason. After that peak, the building slowed to a crawl until the middle of the 1960s, coinciding with the Civil Rights movement. Again, this was not coincidental.

The Slippery Slope
And I want to cut off one line of disingenuous thinking before it begins – if you cannot understand the difference or find the line between having the Confederate generals on Stone Mountain and the presidents on Mount Rushmore, between the statues in Monuments Avenue and the memorials on the National Mall, even between a statue of Robert E. Lee and Martin Luther King, then it will do no good for us to continue to discuss. For a slippery slope argument to work, the feared inevitable next step must truly have a logical link between them without as big of an apparent leap. There is a huge difference between memorials to honor a particular person for their notable achievements despite their flawed histories and memorials that honor a deplorable cause that a particular person championed. The two are not synonymous.

This is why the worry over removing statues of George Washington because he once owned slaves is overblown.  The fact that George Washington owned slaves is an unfortunate part of his history, but it is not something that defines his history.  The accomplishments that are celebrated when we erect monuments and statues to George Washington are his leadership in the Revolutionary War, his presidency, his restraint in walking away from the government and not becoming an equivalent king.  We're not celebrating his ownership of slaves or his status as a slave owner.  This isn't erasing the problems in his history, but putting them in the proper perspective. 

With a Confederate Statue, or the Confederate Flag, we are celebrating the insurrection that was wages for the ability to own slaves.  We are celebrating those who fought to continue and further that right to own people.  We are honoring the wrong things.

Context is important in understanding this point.  The statues of Confederates are often placed in locations that do not make sense in context.  Places where the honored does not have a connection.  Places like in front of courthouses, in town squares.  Places where their purpose of intimidation become much more apparent.

Again, think of the differences of placing a statue of Roberet E Lee in his Confederate uniform in front of a courthouse in Alabama and of placing one in civilian dress at Washington and Lee University.  One serves as a reminder of the Confederacy and what it stood for in a place of prominence in the town - a place where African Americans would constantly be reminded of the history of oppression in the South.  A place where it served as a reminder every time the went to vote, to petition the government, to seek justice, etc.  As opposed to a statue remembering his service as the president of the college.

So the question again becomes why? Why is it so important that these memorials stand? Are they truly serving their purposes as a solemn reminder? Do they shame us? And if they do not, what do they stand for?

In particular, why is it so important that they remain when we know that they offend so many others? Why is the celebration of the white Confederacy so important? Do we truly care so little for each other that we stop listening to other voices when they tell us that they are problematic, oppressive, and offensive? If you are a Christian, do you love your African American brother and sister so little that you would put one of these monuments or the Confederate flag between you?

Tear most of them down and tear them down now. Let the ones that remind us of the gravity of the war stay, such as at Gettysburg, where we would expect memorials to the Blue and the Grey. Where it is impractical to remove them, contextualize them. For example, at Stone Mountain, the Martin Luther King Freedom Bell should be added (“Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia”). But by all means, do not let us continue to idealize a Confederacy that never existed.

The South has so much more that can be celebrated. The food, the music, the natural beauty, the literature and art. We can celebrate this all day and every day. These stone monuments, however, have far outstayed their welcome. 

Let’s tell a better story going forward.

Also, for good context on the problematic way we have presented the history of the South, I highly recommend the Southin' Off video series by Trae Crowder.  He uses language that I would not, but he really knows his history and explains it very well.  I can't recommend the ones labeled Southin' Off enough.

Hope

If you are looking for a ray of hope in all the craziness that is going on in the world right now, may I suggest the following piece of once thought impossible news:

Black Lives Matter held a peaceful protest and march in Vidor, Texas, with virtually no altercations.

Vidor, of all places.

For those unfamiliar, Vidor has a rather infamous reputation in Southeast Texas.  It was dubbed the most hate filled city in Texas by Texas Monthly Magazine.  It was a notorious "sundown town" in which blacks were not allowed in the town after dark.  This status was proclaimed by a prominent sign warning them not to be found in the town after dark.  According to oral history, it stated it's premise in the most direct and offensive terms possible.

The reputation of the town alone made the sign overkill.  The Klan had a visible presence in town.   Up to the mid-1990s.  In 1992, when housing authorities announced a plan to move black families into Vidor, the Klan held a mass demonstration on the county courthouse in Orange, with several marches in surrounding cities including Vidor.  The white supremacist Nationalist Movement held its Victory in Vidor rally after all the last black family had moved out.   Even as recent as 2003, the Klan held a lecture and viewing of Klan memorabilia in the Vidor Community Center, to commemorate the anniversary of their fight against integration.

So, when posters for the Peace March in Vidor in memory of George Floyd started circulating, people were naturally suspicious.

People feared it was a setup.  "Texas people know if you're Black you don't even stop for gas in Vidor."  People doubted whether the organizer was even real.

She is and she accomplished something amazing.  

At an event in which she thought 30 people might show up, 150-200 people braved the Texas heat and humidity to show solidarity.  While predominantly white, there were a good number of African American participants.   They came from Vidor, they came from the nearby communities, they came from Houston.

They held signs, listened to speakers, marched around the circular sidewalk and chanted.  They closed by kneeling for eight minutes and forty-six seconds, the amount of time that Officer Chauvin's knee was on George Floyd's neck.  Black volunteers read the transcript of Floyd's pleas while they knelt in silence.

Sure, there were counter-protestors.  One small group stationed themselves at the entrance to the park's parking lot and displayed a prominent sign proclaiming "Vidor Only Kneels to God!"  Several of these protestors carried rifles and shotguns.  Another group circled the parking lot displaying the Confederate flag.  Only one counter-protestor ever approached the group or engaged them.

Police had a light presence, if nothing else monitoring the situation between the protestors and the agitators.

In all, a very successful peace march was held in the most surprising place.  A minor miracle.  

Maybe the organizer, Maddy Malone is right. "My generation is reaching to break the cycle."  If they can, we all have reason to hope.  Maybe it's time for a lot of people to start re-evaluating their thoughts on the youngest generations.  When it matters, when there is injustice to be fought, when there are powers that need to be held accountable, they are showing up.  They are risking excessive force, pepper spray, rubber bullets, bean bag rounds, and flash grenades to keep protesting to keep pushing for change.

Look what has been accomplished in 10 days of sustained protests:

• Minneapolis has banned the use of choke holds, with momentum for a nationwide ban on this technique as well
• Officer Chauvin was arrested, had his charges upgraded, and his accomplices were arrested and charged
• Dallas adopted a "duty to intervene" rule requiring officers to stop other cops who are engaging in in appropriate uses of force
• New Jersey's attorney general has stated that the state will update its use-of-force guidelines for the first time in two decades
• Maryland has seen a bipartisan work group of state lawmakers announcing a police reform work group
• Los Angeles' City Council introduced a motion to reduce the LAPD's $1.8 million operating budget
• MBTA Boston agreed to stop using public buses to transport police officers to protests
• Police brutality captured on cameras has lead to near immediate suspensions and firings of officers in several cities.
• Monuments celebrating confederates in several cities are being taken down finally

We're having real conversations about race, about police power and accountability, about difficult issues.

There's reason for hope for lasting change through all this and that would be wonderful.  Change is not always pretty, it can be ugly and it can be scarring.  But it is necessary.  In many ways, this change is more like finally addressing a scab that has never fully healed.  We as a nation cannot move forward unless we truly address our past for what it was.  Not smoothing over it with lies like the "Lost Cause" of the South.  Not pretending like we've already moved past it.  But actively owning up for it.

And if a BLM rally can be successful in Vidor, Texas, we might just be really starting that process.

A Little Light Blogkeeping

Yesterday's post marked the 650th entry in this blog.  While the past year has been a little more sporadic than I would have liked, I seem to be finding a new rhythm to slip into.  Plus, 2020 has provided ample material to write about.

To that end, I wanted to take a little time to provide some reminders, and to give a glimpse into what topics will be hit over the coming days.  For one, I've been challenged by Jamie to do the 10 albums that have influenced me on Facebook and I'll eventually be doing my spin on that here through the blog over a period of 11 days or so.  I'm looking for a good time to start that series, but so much of current events and issues are requiring attention at the moment, that it keeps getting pushed back.  It will happen, but it may be a week or so out at least.

In the interim, there's a lot to talk about.  About kneeling, and what all that encompasses now.  About shopping small as things reopen.  About de-escalation.  About statues.  About the Texas Rangers.

About reasons for hope in all of this.

About upcoming celebrations and milestones.

And just about life.

A lot to discuss and the events of the day keep increasing that list.

To that end, I am going to include an updated reminder list with this blog entry.  A few points on why I post on the topics that I do and why I post in the manner that I do.

As always, thank you for reading.  For those that read regularly, I am humbled and amazed.

There will be blogs that will either make you mad or will upset you or challenge your position on a particular topic.  The blog is my personal writing exercise and soap box, so it will reflect my biases and my contrarian streak, but I am open to civil discourse on almost any topic.

Finally, I wanted to pass along a reminder that I have an email subscription option on the page.  With that, you'll receive an email link each time a new post is added.  There is also an RSS feed option, in case anyone prefers that method.

With that, an update of the reminders previously posted:

1. This blog represents largely a writing exercise and an outlet for me to get thoughts out of my head.  It contains my opinion on variety of issues from serious to silly and is filtered through my experiences, biases, etc.
2. I promise, I will post on topics that are so niche-focused, so utterly nerdy that anyone but me is going to be bored to tears.  I try to keep those to only once or twice a week and to rotate through a variety of topics throughout the week to keep it interesting.  I use the labels so that you can screen out certain topics if you want to.
3. I will post things that you will disagree with and that will potentially make you upset.  I know I am more liberal than the majority of my audience.  Probably regarding doctrine and politics both.  These are both topics I'm going to write on from time to time.  I personally favor moderation and lean center-left, but will post on a variety of viewpoints from center-right to hard left (maybe even hard right in a few instances).
4. I am going to be harder on Republicans than I am on Democrats.  While I am not a fan of many politicians of many different political parties, I am growing to despise what the Republican party is becoming.  And I reserve the sharpest criticism for them due to one fact above all: the perverse mixture of politics and religion that Republicans promote. Because they purport to hold themselves out as the Christian party, I'm going to hold them to that impossible standard.  I also hold them more accountable partly because they are in power, and I'm going to criticize whoever has power more than those in the minority.
5. I am likewise harder on churches and Christians than I am on non-believers.  Those who profess to believe have identified themselves as recognizing a higher standard.  To put it simply, "we should know and act better."  And do so based on a reading of the entire Bible.  Sadly, we all to often fall far short of this.  While I do want to extend grace to those that slip, when errors occur as abuses of power in the church  or in ways that belittle the faith they claim to hold, I will be discussing it. 
6. To drive a point made above home, I'm going to be harder on those in power than those that are not.  For example, in the current environment, I'm going to be harder on cops than I will be on the protestors and looters.  While there may be bad actors on both sides, one involves an abuse of power and one is a symptom of a larger disease.  The two cannot be discussed with the same fervor and volume.
7. I am completely open to disagreement and debate. Honest and open dialogue is the only way we can move forward in any civilized society.  However, I have a few ground rules for debate:

• I will not tolerate name calling or muckraking.  When the thread resorts to calling each other racists, "liberal snowflakes," "libtards," or four-letter words, I will shut it down.  Likewise, I'm not going to let stereotypes and sweeping generalities go unchallenged.  All liberals do not want the destruction of our country, all conservatives are not bigots, etc.
• I hope for discussion that will foster conversation, not end it.  So I expect more than "guns don't kill people, people kill people" in a discussion on gun control, for example.  I will not let those conversation-enders stand unchallenged.
• Compromise is not a dirty word.  And likewise, I do hope people change their mind from time to time based on what they learn. Including me.
• I follow this hierarchy for the value of information: facts then informed opinions then general opinions.  Saying "that's just my opinion" is going to get nowhere with me if it is not supported by the facts.

Again, thank you for reading.  Please let me know if there are topics that you particularly enjoy or there is changes you could envision.  Here's to the many more posts to come.

D-Day 75

“It was unknowable then, but so much of the progress that would define the 20th century, on both sides of the Atlantic, came down to the battle for a slice of beach only 6 miles long and 2 miles wide.”

President Barack Obama, on the 65th Anniversary of D-Day

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Allied Invasion of Normandy, France.  The largest seaborne invasion in history, with a force of over 350,000 troops and naval personnel. It began the liberation of France and laid the foundation for Allied victory in the Western Front. 

It remains a defining battle in U.S. military history and has been a part of the public consciousness for these past seventy-six years. Rightly so, as the fight those troops engaged in is still raging. 

Though World War II is long over, we’re still fighting fascism. We’re fighting actual Nazis and Neo- Nazis.  We’re fighting against the truth that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Fighting those that would use might to define what is right and to exclude those they disagree with, disapprove of, and simply dislike from equality, justice, and fraternity. 

We honor the sacrifice of those who paid the ultimate price those seventy-six years ago. We will not forget them. And we will continue their fight. 

The Step Too Far

In Union There Is Strength

“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.

When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.

We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.

James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that “America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.

Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.

We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another. The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country. We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Park. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s “better angels,” and listen to them, as we work to unite.

Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.”

James Mattis, Former Secretary of Defense under Donald J. Trump

Mattis is not the first member of the Trump Administration that has spoken out against him. Nor will he be the last. 

When will we listen? 

Props of Virtue

LORD MAYOR
See where his Grace stands, 'tween two clergymen.

BUCKINGHAM

Two props of virtue for a Christian prince,

To stay him from the fall of vanity;

And, see, a book of prayer in his hand,

True ornaments to know a holy man.

Richard III

"Friends, I am ok, but I am frankly shaken.  I was at St. John's, Lafayette Square most of the afternoon, with fellow clergy and laypeople - and clergy from some other denominations too.  We were passing out water and snacks, and helping the patio area at St. John's, Lafayette square to be a place of respite and peace.  All was well - with a few little tense moments - until about 6:15 or so.  By then, I had connected with the Black Lives Matter medic team, which was headed by an EMT.  Those people were AMAZING.  They had been on the patio all day, and thankfully had not had to use much of the eyewash they had made.  Around 6:15 or 6:30, the police started really pushing protestors off of H street (the street between the church and Lafayette Park, and ultimately, the White House.  They started using tear gas and folks were running at us for eyewashes or water or wet paper towels.  At this point, Julia, one of our seminarians for next year (who is a trauma nurse) and I looked at each other in disbelief.  I was coughing, her eyes were watering, and we were trying to help people as the police - in full riot gear - drove people toward us.  Julia and her classmates left and I stayed with the BLM folks trying to help people.  Suddenly, around 6:30, and I think I saw someone hit by a rubber bullet - he was grasping his stomach and there was a mark on his shirt.  The police in their riot gear were literally walking onto the St. John's, Lafayette Square patio with these metal shields, pushing people off the patio and driving them back.  People were running at us as the police advanced toward us from the other side of the patio.  We had to try to pick up what we could.  The BLM medic folks were obviously well practiced.  They picked up boxes and ran.  I was so stunned I only got a few water bottles and my spray bottle of eyewash.  We were literally DRIVEN OFF of the St. John's Lafayette Square patio with tear gas and concussion grenades and police in full riot gear.  We were pushed back 20 feet, and then eventually - with SO MANY concussion grenades - back to K street.  By the time I got back to my car, around 7, I was getting texts from people saying that Trump was outside of St. John's, Lafayette Square.  I literally COULD NOT believe it.  WE WERE DRIVEN OFF OF THE PATIO AT ST. JOHN'S - a place of peace and respite and medical care throughout the day - SO THAT MAN COULD HAVE A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH!!! PEOPLE WERE HURT SO THAT HE COULD POSE IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH WITH A BIBLE!  HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO STEP OVER THE MEDICAL SUPPLIES WE LEFT BEHIND BECAUSE WE WERE BEING TEAR GASSED!!!!

I am deeply shaken.  I did not see any protestors throw anything until the tear gas and concussion grenades started, and then it was mostly water bottles.  I am shaken, not so much by the taste of tear gas and the bit of cough I still have, but by the fact that that show of force was for a PHOTO OPPORTUNITY.  The patio of St. John's, Lafayette square had been HOLY GROUND today.  A place of respite and laughter and water and granola bars and fruit snacks.  But that man turned it into a BATTLE GROUND first, and a cheap political stunt second.  I am DEEPLY OFFENDED on behalf of every protestor, every Christian, the people of St. John's, Lafayette square, every decent person there, and the BLM medics who stayed with just a single box of supplies and a backpack, even when I got too scared and had to leave.  I am ok.  But I am now a force to be reckoned with."

Gini Gerbasi, former minister at St. John's

------------------------------

He heard all of the teasing about him being forced into a bunker.  He couldn't take it any more, so he decided on a show of force.

He had the police clear the streets all along the way, so he could walk out from the Rose Garden press conference, walk the approximately 1,000 feet to the church, to pose in front of the church.  Of course, the whole thing would be documented all along the way.  Pictures of him and his staff leaving from Lafayette Park, out of the North Entrance of the White House, flanked by staff and Secret Service.  Pictures of him backdropped by the graffiti and damage.  The picture of him in front of the damaged church.

He picked the church because it had been damaged and it was close.

It was not a church he attended.

It was not a place he prayed at.

He asked no permission.

He discussed with no one at the church.

He would be alone in the photo, at least the first photo.  He would also include his staff in a later one.

He would hold a Bible in the photo in front of the church.  Rather awkwardly fiddling with it before the shot.  Holding it in the air in the photo, as if the object were foreign to him.

"Is that your bible?" a reporter would ask.

"It's a Bible,"  he would reply.

He didn't pray.  He didn't quote a verse.  He didn't open the book he held.  

He held the book.  Had photos taken.  Made a comment.  And left as quickly as he came.

Satisfied, with his picture taken, he would start his walk again, back to the White House.  Police in riot gear would line each side of his walk.  

"That'll show them," he thought.

------------------------------

If you are a Christian, if you claim the Christian faith, and you are not sickened to your core by these actions of our president, I don't know where to begin.

He decided on a photo op and had police remove peaceful protestors to accomplish it.  Despite the White House's instance, protestors on the ground have repeated that they were given no warning, nor were they given instruction to leave.  Instead the police opened fire on them with tear gas, concussion grenades, and rubber bullets.

This included the ministers outside of the church.  As the police came closer and closer to the church, they opened fire on the ministers out on the patio at St. John's, Lafayette Square.  

THEY REMOVED MINISTERS FROM THEIR OWN CHURCH SO HE COULD TAKE A PICTURE.

St. John's Church is "the Church of the Presidents," and has hosted every U.S. president since James Madison. On this occasion, however, the president's visit was unannounced, and church authorities were furious that the White House did not bother to alert them.

“There was no reaching out, no sense that it would require some sort of authorization before using the church as a backdrop in that way.”
“It almost looked like a prop. That is the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition. It speaks messages of love, of God, love of neighbor. I was outraged that he felt that he had the license to do that, and that he would abuse our sacred symbols and our sacred space in that way.”

Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal bishop of Washington

“This evening, the President of the United States stood in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, lifted up a bible, and had pictures of himself taken. In doing so, he used a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes. This was done in a time of deep hurt and pain in our country, and his action did nothing to help us or heal us."

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

This should be the bridge too far for the Evangelical support.  While it should have come much earlier, this should shock the conscience of even the most ardent supporter.

But it won't.

There aren't many things that make my blood boil, but coopting my faith to fan the flames of the violence that is spreading across this country as a result of and in protest of police brutality that is held unaccountable is one.

What's next?  We know he is threatening the Insurrection Act of 1807?  When's the Reichstag?

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."

#BlackoutTuesday

Mirror, Mirror

On October 6, 1967, Star Trek broadcast its fourth episode of the second season.  Written by Jerome Bixby and directed by Marc Daniels, the episode focused on a transporter malfunction that swapped Captain Kirk and his companions with their counterparts from a parallel universe.  The episode was entitled Mirror, Mirror, and it introduced the idea of a Mirror Universe to Star Trek.  The episode remains one of the top rated episodes of the initial Star Trek series and a high point in Science Fiction.

I mention that as backdrop, because it seems we have discovered a potential mirror universe intersecting with our own.  NASA has observed the phenomena in Antarctica over a period of years.  Using a weather balloon sent up in the atmosphere to measure high energy particles arriving downward from space, the scientists instead began observing high energy particles exploding up from the ground.  To the scientists, explaining this signal requires the existence of an alternate universe created in the same big bang as our own and existing in parallel with it.  In this mirror world, positive is negative, left is right and time runs backwards.

Up is down.

We've had our transporter accident. 

Now, in the Mirror Universe of Star Trek, it also follows that Evil is Good.  So of course, the crew of the Mirror Universe Enterprise is evil.  You can tell by their goatees.

So if you run into a copy of yourself with a goatee (assuming you don't have one), be wary.  The Mirror Universe is here.

In all seriousness, this is a fascinating discovery that reveals how little we understand about the universe around us.  From dark matter and dark energy to this potential mirror universe intersecting our own, there will always be mysteries of the universe around us.  Additional avenues for us to explore and additional fodder for our science fiction.

To boldly go where no man has gone before...

The Ghost Light

The ghost light is a theater tradition.  Leaving an electric light on, usually on center stage, when the theater is unoccupied and would otherwise be dark.  Ostensibly it's for safety, to keep someone working in the theater from falling into the orchestra pit or tripping over wires and set pieces.  Superstition would like you to believe it is to appease the theater ghosts, hence the name.  To allow the ghosts to perform on stage to appease them or to scare them away.  

I prefer the symbolism of the ghost light.  It serves as a symbol that the stage is not forgotten.  It has not been abandoned.  It is not the end.  It's only a brief interruption between performances.  It's an interlude, an intermission, not a finale.

That's where we are right now.  As things reopen, we remember that this experience has been an intermission.  It was never intended to be forever, though it might be something we face again.  We were not forgotten, we were not abandoned.  The show will go on, even if it will be a while before it fully does so.

Right now, we take solace in the fact that the ghost light still burns.

To The Graduating Class of 2020

In Wills Point, tonight represented the end of the school year.  The last day of class, with graduation tomorrow morning.  My thoughts go to the wisdom that many will try to impart through commencement speeches, while the newly free minds will be focused on one thing and one thing only: walking across that stage so that everything is finally finished.

Like last year, I know of no reason why I would ever be asked to give a commencement speech, but were such an occasion ever to present itself, this is what I was say.  (I should note that, again, the speech itself probably gives good reason why I'll never be asked to do so.)

--------------------------------------------------

Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, administration and faculty, graduating class of 2020, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight.  It is truly an honor and a privilege to be here and to join in this celebration and transition in your lives.

Though I realize it was [mumbled under breath] years ago when I was in your position, that time seems to have galloped by.  From my graduation night, I've forgotten a lot of things.  I can't remember the speaker that was present.  I can't remember what was going through my head at the time.  I can't even remember the speech I gave.  It's lost in a fog of memories.  I do remember being ready to move quickly through the ceremony.  To get to the party at home, to get to Project Graduation.  To get on with this new beginning.  In that spirit, I will try to keep these comments brief, and hopefully a little entertaining, so that we can get to the part of the ceremony that everyone is truly here for.

I suspect, though, many of you will never forget this graduation.  It's probably not happening in the way you imagined it, if it's happening it all.  It may not be in person, and you may be hearing me via live stream or recorded message.  It may be happening at a much later time than you would have liked.  It may be happening with far fewer people in the audience, sitting much farther apart than they normally would.

And yet, life still goes on.

You more than most have learned how to adapt.  These last two and a half months have proved that.  You've been forced into new learning environments, new technologies, new social norms, new world wide situations.  And yet, you are here.  You have adapted, you have learned, you have grown.

That's the secret to life.  

To grow, to learn, to adapt and change.

To roll with it.

For while I do not claim to have it all figured out, I do know this, life has a way of humbling us.  Even if we can perfect all the things in our control, something can always intervene.  Hurricanes, death, disease.  Quarantine.

What matters is how you respond to it?

Will you learn and grow from your situation?  Or will you try, foolishly, to remain unchanged?

Louise Erdich said, "Things that do not grow and change are dead things."  Are you alive or dead?

Have you learned something from this quarantine?  This interruption of life?  Or are you focused on restoring the status quo?

I pray you do better than the status quo.  I pray you have learned that this season has revealed systemic issues that will fall to your generation to address.  Issues like:

• The need for better healthcare for all of us, healthcare that does not disproportionately affect specific communities.
• The need for better access to voting.  It shouldn't take a pandemic for us to plan for more accessible ways to vote than standing in lines.
• The need for broadband internet as a public utility, accessible by all.  Education success should not depend on your ability to find and pay for high-speed internet.
• The need for better education funding and solutions.
• The need for a living minimum wage.  Our lowest paid workers were essential in this crisis. Many of our highest paid were not.  Think on that.
• The recognition of the impact we can have on our planet.  Look how quickly the planet started to heal itself when we were slowed down.
• The need to address our racial bias.  To address the sin that we have ignored for so long in this country.  The need to heal the wounds of slavery once and for all.

That's a big list.  It is daunting.  It contains a laundry list of things the generations before me and my generation have so far failed to accomplish.

The great thing is, I think you are all up for the challenge.  The last two and a half months have proven you are ready for whatever life throws at you.  That you can adapt.  That you can learn.  That you can change. 

That you can do better than us.

Keep it up.

Minneapolis is Burning

"I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air.  Certain conditions continue to exist in society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots.  But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard.  And what is it that America has failed to hear?  It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years.  It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met.  And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity.  And so in a real sense our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay.  And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.  Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., interview with Mike Wallace for CBS Reports, September 27, 1966

"Urban riots must now be recognized as durable social phenomena.  They may be deplorable, but they are there and should be understood.  Urban riots are a special form of violence.  They are not insurrections.  The rioters are not seeking to seize territory or to attain control of institutions.  They are mainly intended to shock the white community.  They are a distorted form of social protest.  The looting which is their principal feature serves many functions.  It enables the most enraged and deprived Negro to take hold of consumer goods with the ease the white man does by using his purse.  Often the Negro does not even want what he takes; he wants the experience of taking.  But most of all, alienated from society and knowing that this society cherishes property above people, he is shocking it by abusing property rights.  There are thus elements of emotional catharsis in the violent act.  This may explain why most cities in which riots have occurred have not had a repetition, even though the causative conditions remain.  It is also noteworthy that the amount of physical harm done to white people other than police is infinitesimal and in Detroit whites and Negroes looted in unity.

A profound judgment of today's riots was expressed by Victor Hugo a century ago.  He said, 'If a soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed.  The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness."

The policymakers of the white society have caused the darkness; they create discrimination; they structured slums; and they perpetuate unemployment, ignorance and poverty.  It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes.  They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.  When we ask Negroes to abide by the law, let us also demand that the white man abide by law in the ghettos.  Day-in and day-out he violates welfare laws to deprive the poor of their meager allotments; he flagrantly violates building codes and regulations; his police make a mockery of law; and he violates laws on equal employment and education and the provisions for civic services.  The slums are the handiwork of a vicious system of the white society; Negroes live in them but do not make them any more than a prisoner makes a prison.  Let us say boldly that if the violations of law by the white man in the slums over the years were calculated and compared with the law-breaking of a few days of riots, the hardened criminal would be the white man.  These are often difficult things to say but I have come to see more and more that it is necessary to utter the truth in order to deal with the great problems we face in our society."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to the American Psychology Associations annual convention, September 1967

Emphasis mine.

This is why we cannot condemn the riots and the police abuse with the same voice, with the same volume and with the same fervor.  There is no question, the burning of Minneapolis is a tragedy.  It is deplorable.  But to decry it to the same level as the continued injustices that are being perpetrated is to prove that we still have not heard, nor have we learned the lesson.  We continue to allow the narrative to be coopted to focus on tranquility and the status quo.  We observe how many Americans are more concerned with order than with justice.

If we need any more proof that we still have not learned our lesson, look at our President.  His response, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."  This is a direct quote from 1967.  From the Miami Police Chief Walter Headley at the GOP convention in December 1967.  A police chief who enacted some of the most racist police procedures at the time.  Shotguns, dogs, and "stop and frisk tactics."  His great quote, "We don't mind being accused of police brutality.  They haven't seen anything yet."

The phrase was also used by segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace in the 1968 presidential campaign. Wallace notoriously opposed desegregation and supported the policies of "Jim Crow" during the Civil Rights movement.  Martin Luther, Jr. called him, "perhaps the most dangerous racist in America today."  

This is who our president quotes.

We still haven't heard them.

We still refuse to hear them.

Thankfully, Dr. King offered us the answer to how we get out of this, how we break the cycle, in the same speech toe he American Psychology Association.

"Thus, it may well be that our world is in dire need of a new organization.  The International Association of Advancement of Creative Maladjustment.  Men and women should be as maladjusted as the prophet Amos, who in the midst of the injustices of his day, could cry out in words that echo across the centuries, 'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream;' or as maladjusted as Abraham Lincoln, who in the midst of his vacillations finally came to see that this nation could not survive half slave and half free; or as maladjusted as Thomas Jefferson, who in the midst of an age amazingly adjusted to slavery, could scratch across the pages of history, words lifted to cosmic proportions, 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.  That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. And among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'  And through such creative maladjustment, we may be able to emerge from the bleak and desolate midnight of man's inhumanity to man, into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice.

I have not lost hope.  I must confess that these have been very difficult days for me personally.  And these have been difficult days for every civil rights leader, for every lover of justice and peace."

If only we would listen this time.

Existing While Black

We recently watched the movie Just Mercy as a family.  It tells the true story of Bryan Stevenson, a Harvard educated lawyer who travels to Alabama to found the Equal Justice Initiative, a program to help fight for poor people who cannot afford proper legal representation.  Much of his work takes the form of appeals for death row inmates, including Walter "Johnny D" McMillian.  McMillian was an African American man convicted of the 1986 murder of a white woman, Ronda Morrison.  When Stevenson studies McMillian's case, he discovers that the entirety of his conviction hangs on the word of another convicted felon, who traded his testimony for a lighter sentence.  All evidence favorable to McMillian was excluded, including several eye witness testimonies that confirmed that McMillian could not have been involved.  The testimonies were excluded because the witnesses were black.  McMillian was convicted because he had "looked like a criminal" in his mug shot.  And so there is no mistake, he was wrongfully convicted.

He was guilty of existing while black.

Stevenson is also African-American.  The film depicts other instances of Stevenson suffering for existing while black.  He is forced to strip naked before visiting his clients in the prison, something no other attorneys are required to do.  He is pulled over by the cops while driving.  They offer no reason for the stop, but threaten him at gunpoint.  Guilty of the crime of driving while black.

"Driving while black" is the usual way this crime is referenced.  It refers to the tendency of African Americans to be pulled over for no apparent reason.  The thought is the very fact that an African American is driving that type of car, in that neighborhood, at that time of day, and so on and so on, is inherently suspicious.  "Driving while black."

We're seeing that the list of suspicious activities and crimes that African Americans can be stopped for, questioned about, convicted of, and killed for is rapidly increasing.

• Relaxing at home while black- Bothem Jean, Atatiana Jefferson
• Asking for help after a car crash while black - Jonathan Ferrell, Renisha McBride
• Having a cellphone while black - Stephon Clark
• Leaving a party to get to safety while black - Jordan Edwards
• Playing loud music while black- Jordan Davis
• Selling CDs while black - Alton Sterling
• Sleeping while black - Aiyana Jones (7! years old)
• Walking from the corner store while black - Mike Brown
• Playing cops and robbers as kids while black - Tamir Rice
• Going to church while black - The Charleston 9: Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Myra Thompson
• Walking home with Skittles while black, wearing a hoodie while black- Trayvon Martin
• Holding a hair brush, leaving our own bachelor party while black - Sean Bell
• Partying on New Years while black - Oscar Grant
• Getting a traffic ticket while black - Sandra Bland
• Lawfully carrying a weapon while black - Philando Castile
• Having car problems while black - Corey Jones
• Shopping at Wal-Mart while black - John Crawford
• Walking with grandfather while black - Clifford Glover (10 years old)
• Decorating for a party while black - Claude Reese
• Asking a cop a question while black - Randolph Evans
• Cashing a check while black - Yvonne Smallwood
• Taking out wallet while black - Amadou Diallo
• Running while black - Walter Scott
• Breathing while black - Eric Garner
• Having a past while black - Freddie Gray

Now we can add:

• Jogging while black - Ahmaud Arbery
• Sleeping while black - Breonna Taylor 
• Defending home from invaders who killed girlfriend while black - Kenneth Walker
• Asking someone to obey the law while black - Christian Cooper
• Buying groceries while black - George Floyd

In each of the instances above, the person was viewed as inherently more suspicious, more dangerous because they were black.  And in each instance, they were met with an inappropriate response at best and an excessive use of force against them at worst, whether that be calling the cops and lying about their behavior, or being shot, choked, beaten, murdered.

Look at each of the recent cases.  Ahmaud Arbery was a 25 year old who jogged for exercise.  He was shot by an ex-police officer, who along with his son and neighbor, planned and filmed an altercation with Arbery, because they were convinced he was guilty of a couple of theft and trespassing in their area.  Arbery was killed in cold blood, and the only reason the killers were even charged is that the video of the incident surfaced and spread wide.  That took two months.  Before that, the local police department and the District Attorney were not even going to charge the former police officer.

Breonna Taylor was a 26 year old EMT in Louisville, Kentucky.  On the front lines of the Covid-19 epidemic.  She was shot eight times by the police as part of a no-knock raid.  The police had the wrong apartment.  The person the police wanted was in custody before they ever approached Taylor's apartment.  The police burst in without a knock, without announcing who they were.  Taylor and Kenneth Walker, her boyfriend, woke up and called the 9-1-1 to get the cops to come for what they thought was a break in.  The irony.  Walker took his lawfully owned gun and allegedly shot first on what he thought were intruders.  At that point, officers outside the home opened fire, blindly spraying bullets into the resident with a total disregard for human life.    The effects of the bullet fire could be seen on the apartment next door as well.

Walker was arrested for first degree assault and attempted murder of a police officer.  His only goal, his crime was to protect his girlfriend and his home.  And he was jailed for it because of a police mistake.  Because they believed they were in "significant, imminent danger."  He was initially only released because of Covid-19 concerns.  The charges against him have now been dropped.

Christian Cooper's story is thankfully less deadly, but no less concerning.  Christian Cooper is a former Marvel editor, current biomedical editor at Health Science Communications, and avid bird watcher.  He was walking in Central Park and saw a woman who did not have her dog on a leash, in an area where a leash is required.  He politely asked her to leash her dog.  She refused, and proceeded to call the cops on him telling them "an African American man is threatening my life."  Thankfully, he had the incident recorded, so the police could charge the appropriate violator.

George Floyd is the latest tragedy.  The police were called regarding a man suspected of forgery - passing a counterfeit $20 bill.  When they arrived, the saw Floyd sitting on his car, thought he matched the description, and "believed he was under the influence."  They ordered him out of the car and according to the police report he resisted.  Three officers pinned him down, and got him handcuffed.  They supposedly noted he was in physical distress and called for an ambulance.  The video footage from a bystander revealed that one of the police officers was pressing his knee into Floyd's neck.  Floyd is heard saying "I can't breathe," and "Please, I can't breathe."  Even after Floyd stops moving, the office continues to press his knee into Floyd's neck.  When the ambulance arrives, Floyd is of course already dead.  We've only seen bystander footage, the bodycam footage has not been seen.  Another death, all for $20.

There is so much to talk about in this it's hard to know where to begin.  We could talk about the militarization of our police.  When we arm them to the teeth like they are heading into Fallujah in the middle of the War on Terror, it's not surprising they want to use that gear.  When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  When you have military weapons, everything looks like a war.  

We could talk about the fetishization of our police force.  The overboard "Blue Lives Matter" campaigns. The unquestioning loyalty among Conservative circles.  A broad community enabling the next point.

We could talk about the lack of accountability- it's notable these incidents only capture our attention because there is a video or an outcry.  The tendency for them to circle the wagons and protect their own.  How difficult it is to prosecute an officer, even with egregious misconduct.  We desperately have the need to hold police accountable at a civilian level. 

We can talk about the fact that no-knock raids should be unconstitutional in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

At the end of the day, though, the issue keeps coming down to us seeing African-Americans as more threatening.  Inherently more dangerous.  This applies to all of us.  Not just the police, not jus those in power.  How there is an inherent bias for us as Americans to see those with darker skin as less of a person and more of a liability.  

Just look at the difference in police response to anti-lockdown protestors and the protestors of Floyd's murder.  The anti-lockdown protestors were carrying assault rifles around police, screaming in their faces and the police largely took it.  The protestors of Floyd's murder have been met with riot gear, rubber bullets, tear gas.  Why?  Well, we can only assume it's because the anti-lockdown protestors were largely white and the protestors now are largely black. 

I know some now will point to the looting and the rioting among the protestor's in Minneapolis as evidence enough for the police's response.  But it seems to pose a chicken and egg conundrum - does the police response perpetuate the looting and rioting?  Are we seeing that we really view the world as James Baldwin said?  "When white men rise up against oppression, they are heroes: when black men rise, they have reverted to their native savagery."  Baldwin's summation was a condemnation of how we treat the races differently.  Is it now supposed to be the status quo?

I don't mean to be reductivist, but it's hard to see any other differences.

Think about it.  What got more outcry among your particular circle - Kaepernick taking a knee in protest or the knee on George Floyd's throat?

It would seem there is still plenty of reason for Kaepernick to be kneeling.

As I've searched on this topic, I've stumbled across a few African American voices who have articulated that they feel like America still views them as 3/5 of a person and it's hard to disagree.  When will we break through this cycle of bias?  When will we stop judging danger by the color of a person's skin?  

When will we get angry enough to fix things?  When will our anger rise to levels that we have seen expressed from being on quarantine?  When will we be outraged about the right things?

When will we let African Americans be free to exist while black in America, with no fear of danger, no fear of police, no fear of harm, just because of the color of their skin?

When can existing while black be a good thing?

When we get to know each other better.

We get it as kids, we've got to do better as adults.  After the Ahmuad Arbery murder came out and there was a call for a Run With Ahmaud on the celebration of his birthday, we participated in that 2.23 mile run.  Jamie and Avalyn ran, I walked Jude in my arms or on my shoulders the whole way.  Jamie asked Avalyn why people do such hateful things.  Avalyn replied, " I think some people just don't like other people because they're black or they think that they are better but I really think it's because they just don't understand that we're all special to God.  We all get happy.  We all get sad and angry.  We're all loved by God."  

Your mouth to God's ears baby girl.

Covid-19 - What We've Learned

Just as important as it is to look at what we know about the Covid-19 situation, it is also vital to look at what lessons we have learned from its impact.  A few lessons we can hope to take from this time and implement for our future coming out of this.  For if we come through this experience and everything looks exactly the same as it was before, then we have failed.

• Teachers are vastly underpaid for what they do - They have had to completely overhaul their lesson plans for the year.  They have all had to move online with no notice.  I think all parents have come to realize how much teachers are doing.  How much we ask of them.  And yet there are still some that are going to be cutting their funding in the fall.

• Online learning has a greater role to play going forward - While no one wants to go forward with online school forever, it is a tool that can be utilized in a much greater capacity.  I know Indiana uses it to make up snow days.  Perhaps southern states could use them for storm days.  Or perhaps lessons could be recorded for the benefit of those who are out on school activities, out sick, etc.  If not recorded lessons, perhaps a digital equivalent or digital alternative.  Having virtual prepared lessons for alternative education programs.  There is a place for this and it will increase going forward.

• Those we paid the least are essential, and should be treated as such - During this time, we really depended on a lot of workers that earn minimum wage.  Perhaps it's really time to admit that they deserve a living wage.  That our $7.25 per hour minimum wage is far too low, especially given that it largely impacts services we depend on.  We also should be moving away from tipped based waitstaff to the raised minimum wage for waitstaff.

• Broadband internet is a public utility and needs to be available as such - For work from home, for school from home, we've seen the great need for not just internet access, but high-speed internet access across this country.  This is the next great utility expansion and we should be doing all we can to achieve this.  Broadband internet access at this point literally makes the difference in access to the future for our younger populations.  Let's equip them all.

• Work from Home should be more common going forward - With the adaptations we've had to make, and seeing the proof that people can be productive and about their jobs while working from home, work from home should likewise become a tool for most businesses that is used for much greater effect.  For sick days when you are contagious but don't really feel too bad, you could work from home to stop from spreading a cold, the flu, etc.  For days when you need to run an errand, go to a doctor's appointment closer to your house, etc.  For days when you need to watch your kid because they cannot be at school or at day care.  For days when you need a mental health break away from your coworkers.  Work from home should become a larger part of employee benefits in certain types of jobs.

• Virtual Family Hangouts - Part of this is our move, but we've also been on more FaceTimes, more group FaceTimes, Google Hangouts, etc. with our family in this time.  And this has been true of others as well.  Because it has been difficult to physically see them at all, it has been important for us to at least see them virtually.  We need to keep that up when things get back to normal as well.

• First hours for the elderly or at risk populations are good ideas - Grocery stores and big box stores offering early morning hours for older populations or for at risk populations to shop in a lower capacity, lower risk environment remain easy ways to care for the most at risk among us, even beyond the Covid-19 crisis.  It is a very small sacrifice that could be made to benefit those populations in a tangible way.  

• Live-streaming or online recordings should be a practice of every church going forward - As most churches have adapted in some way to bringing worship online into live streaming and recorded formats, it should remain a tool available to them going forward.  The ability for members to view sermons and worship and remain connected when they must travel.  The opportunity for the home bound to participate in worship with their home church.  It's just another tool in the arsenal.  Even for the smallest church.  It doesn't have to be overproduced. A teenager with a stabilizer and an iPhone recording the service will suffice.  

• Churches can be more active during the week - What I have been heartened by the most in this process, are the churches that have increased their workloads during this crisis.  That have added near daily communications with their members through daily devotionals whether written or video, through live stream prayer services, through virtual music services either mornings or evenings.  Through Zoom parties.  And so on and so on.  These can and should still continue.  It's another way to keep reaching out.  To keep people connected and to keep encouraging the saints.

• Our Healthcare system must be overhauled - This process has revealed deep issues in our healthcare system.  States having to barter and trade, to literally out bid other states to get needed PPE.  States circumventing our federal government and working directly with other countries like South Korea to get needed tests.  The staggering amount of medical debt that Covid-19 survivors will be saddled with.  We can be proud in the way the emergency responders, the doctors, and the nurses have responded, but we can also acknowledge the need to create a better system around them.
• We can have an impact on our environment - If there was any doubt that man has an impact on the environment and our ability to harm it or to improve it, it has been removed.  Look at all the pictures of locations across the globe where some sights have been visible for the first time thanks to the reduction of smog resulting from the stay at home orders.  Carbon monoxide is down 50% in New York, nitrogen dioxide down by 30% in China.  Stars are visible in Dehli.  Mount Kenya can be seen for 85 miles now. Venice canals are sparkling.  We've seen that changes can be made.  So it falls to us to see what changes can be sustained and how we can positively impact things in the future.  Greater work from home, less commuting can definitely help.

• We all need to be outside more - We know the healthier you are, the less the virus affects you.  Being outside, getting more vitamin D, getting more exercise are all things that can help us be healthier.  All things we can use more of and things we've been doing as ways to keep from going stir crazy in quarantine.  It's something that should be kept going forward.  Plus, it's tougher for the virus to spread outdoors, so it is a good way to help curb the future spread.

I could go on for pages more, but this is a good start of things we should keep from this.  What's your list?  What would you like us to keep from this time?  What lessons should we learn?

Covid-19 - What We Know

As we're facing a time of transition with the current global situation, it seems a good time to reflect on a couple of important points: what we know and what we've learned.  I think it is especially true given how much there is that we actually do not know about this disease, the future, and how to proceed.  These are important grounding tools when facing uncertainty, focusing on what information we do know and what lessons we hopefully have learned in the process.

Today, we look at what we do know about this virus and the global response.  Please note, this information likely can and will change as we continue to learn more about this virus and its effects.

• Covid-19 is highly contagious - Though an exact transmission rate is hard to pin down, we do know that the R0 rate is over 1.0.  This means 1 infected person infects multiple people.  Generally, it is ideal for the R0 rate to be below 1.0.  That would mean the virus would die out on its own.  If the R0 were 0.5 for instance, 100 people infect 50 people, who then infect 25 people, who then infect 13, and so on, and so on.  The numbers keep decreasing.  In March, the World Health Organization put the R0 rate for Covid-19 between 2.0 and 2.5.  This would mean 100 people would infect 200 would would then infect another 400 who would then infect 800, etc.  You can see how quickly it could spread.  It is important to note that, as with most things regarding this virus, the R0 value is highly localized and changes over time.  As people get infected and recover, the R number drops, and that's the goal for our facing the virus.  Covid-19's number has varied from around 0.4 to 5.5 or more, depending on location and time.  

• It is most likely transmitted through droplets - From the CDC, "The virus that causes COVID-19 is thought to spread mainly from person to person, mainly through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. Spread is more likely when people are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet)."  This is why face coverings over the mouth and nose, social distancing of more than 6 feet apart, and hand-washing and proper hygiene are so important.  They reduce the likelihood droplets will be transferred from person to person.  Face coverings keep your droplets closer to you.  It's a barrier from you spreading them farther away.  Social distancing greater than 6 feet increases the distance a droplet would have to travel, decreasing the likelihood it would reach another person.  Proper hand-washing and keeping your hands away from your face prevents transmitting droplets from your hands to your mouth and nose.  

• You can transmit the disease even though you have no symptoms - While people are thought to be most contagious when they are symptomatic (feverish, coughing, sour throat, etc.), asymptomatic carriers are the great danger of this disease.  You can spread it without ever even knowing you had it.  This is particularly true of younger populations.  Children, teenagers, young adults can all transmit the disease but feel no ill effects.  This is another reason why wearing face coverings, social distancing, and proper hygiene are so important, even among those who appear to be healthy.

• Though high contagious, most people will have no to mild effects - Though the disease can be easily transmitted, only around 7-15% of the infected are getting a serious version of the disease.  The vast majority of people become infected will have mild symptoms, if they experience symptoms at all.  For those with more moderate symptoms, it can feel like a prolonged or more severe flu.  Only a small percentage of the population gets a more serious version of the disease.  Unfortunately, that more serious version of the disease is lethal.

• For those that do get sicker, the virus is lethal - The global mortality rate for Covid-19 is around 6%.  That means 40%-80% of serious cases are lethal.   That's largely because...

• We do not know how to treat this virus - This virus is presenting in ways that doctors have never seen.  We do not have a known medicine to administer to treat.  Recent tests on hydroxychloroquine, the one drug that has been mentioned the most, have not been promising, with seriously ill patients being more likely to die on the drug than off.  Further, the disease is presenting in several different ways.  For example, for some young people, their first symptom of the virus has been a stroke, given the blood clotting effects of the virus.  Doctors are confronting things they've never seen before.  "Happy hypoxemics," or patients with abnormally low levels of oxygen, but able to breathe relatively easily.  The one thing we do know, is that the virus affects certain populations much more severely - the elderly and those with underlying conditions.  94% of the deaths related to Covid-19 have had underlying conditions.

• America has a lot of underlying conditions - we have one of the worst diets globally, we are the 12th most obese country in the world, and around 12th in heart disease.  This is suspected to be the reason we are seeing more Covid-19 cases among younger populations. 

• Covid-19 has reached all corners of the globe - There are Covid-19 cases on every continent across the globe, with the exception of Antarctica.  5,563,260 cases of Covid-19 worldwide, 346,680 deaths.  Virtually every country on the planet has been faced with this crisis and they are reacting to it in a variety of ways.  Rest assured, the lockdown, its duration, frustration with the government response, these are not unique problems to the United States of America.  Everyone is struggling with how to respond, what to do, how to react and balance issues related to the virus with economics and other considerations.

• The Covid-19 Crisis is not over - the virus is not dead, nor is it cured.  It is still spreading, though thankfully at slower rates due to the measures that were taken.  There will be a likely second wave come the fall/winter.  There will be spikes as more things open up.  We will still be working at finding effective treatments and a vaccine.  

These are all important to remember in order to contextualize why we have taken the steps that we did.  Why things closed.  Why we wear masks.  Why we social distance.  It's particularly for those among us that are most at risk.  Because those who get a serious effects from the virus are very likely to die.  Especially given that we don't know how to treat this virus, yet.  We take every precaution we can so that we are not the carrier of the virus to someone who cannot handle it.  

We remember this to remember we are doing all of this, taking these steps and precautions for the benefit of other people.  

For the greater good.

E pluribus unum.

Tomorrow, what we have hopefully learned from this virus and the effects it has made on society.