Angst. Reflection. Uncertainty. The month of November has been one roller coaster ride, many feeling these very emotions. Or perhaps not. We have seen the long game played by strategists culminate into the second presidential win for Donald Trump. A new set of realities is now upon us.
In his keynote at the NAACP Freedom Fund Gala, Hill Harper crystallized the convoluted state of American politics.
“The future does not belong to those who are fearful of bold projects and new ideas,” Harper said. “But rather the future belongs to those who can blend passion, reason and courage into a personal commitment to the great ideals and enterprises of American society.”
Harper shared this quote from one of his Harvard professors. He exhorted that we must find new solutions to old problems, declaring that we fall to the level of our systems. He continued, saying that folks got sold on “Hope and Change” and then “Making America Great Again,” but change seems bleak, and things feel worse. The collateral damage: America’s most vulnerable.
Both political parties are broken, he went on, referencing how both Democrats and Republicans have participated in money being used as the determining factor of elected outcomes. This has led to massive distrust and confusion among voters. Emphasizing that most people want the same things, safety, economic stability, affordable living, decent education, Harper’s address wedged a message of collectivism into the skeptical consciousness that has inevitably gripped many of us post-Nov. 5. We are indeed at a point of inflection. A scarcity mindset breeds desperation, stokes paranoia, and evokes fear. In the meantime, manipulative forces can engineer the outcomes they desire and an apathetic mindset breeds suppression.
A stark correlation of the political crosshairs we find ourselves in was drawn in Harper’s keynote address: being stabbed in the face or being stabbed in the back. This brutally honest synopsis, as hard as it is to hear, captures the state of the union; a rationale that swims in murky water. So then, what do we do now? This is not a new paradigm.
W.E.B. Dubois, in 1956, penned an essay titled “I Won’t Vote.” In it he said, “I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no ‘two evils’ exist. There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say. There is no third party … Democracy is dead in the United States. Yet there is still nothing to replace real democracy. Drop the chains, then, that bind our brains. Drive the money-changers from the seats of the Cabinet and the halls of Congress. Call back some faint spirit of Jefferson and Lincoln, and when again we can hold a fair election on real issues, let’s vote, and not till then. Is this impossible? Then democracy in America is impossible.”
Now is the time for courage. For collectivism. For preparation. We must use reason. The picture is far bigger than the 2024 election. We cannot afford to be fractured. As he ended his keynote on the topic of courage, Harper’s poignant commentary was the shoulder check we all needed to help us collectively recalibrate.
“I often joke about many members of our community because … it seems you can agree on almost nine things, disagree on one, (and say) ‘I can’t work with them’ … but just notice, in a variety of other communities, they can disagree on nine and agree on one, and they’ll storm the Capital,” Harper said.
As we exhale from the month of November, preparation awaits us all. Let’s get to work – together.