How did we get here and where do we go from here?
Historians are going to have a monumental task when trying to parse these four years. As a historian and theologian, I do not envy them, I sometimes try to wrap my head around seventh and eighth century events when we have so little to work with, but here there is too much to work with. From my small perspective though I do have some thoughts about this. I will not go through a line by line breakdown of how it is we got here, but I do have some reflections on major issues and themes that made Donald Trump possible. The truth is, as monstrous and destructive as Donald Trump is, his presidency does not exist in a vacuum and he is symptomatic of a much greater rot that exists within the United States that was present at its beginning and have metastasized into the moment we are in now.
These events did not emerge out of nowhere and they are integral to the core of the United States. The United States has two great original sins that shaped its birth. The first is the genocide of the indigenous inhabitants of this continent. The second is the enslavement of people from Africa. These two things predate the Declaration of Independence and the formation of the United States government, but remember that the man who wrote “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” lived on a plantation built over Monacan land and owned 600 human beings in the bondage of slavery. This democratic republic was built by and for people like Jefferson and not for the people he enslaved. Threats to this are met with swift and deadly force because this democracy was built and is sustained by that primordial violence. Though there were some non-white insurrectionists in the mob yesterday, it does not change the fact that this insurrection was borne out of the perceived fear that the inherent power structures that create, support, and maintain white supremacy are under attack by the election of a Democratic president and congress. Even though the vast majority of the Democratic Party’s leadership is white, and their policies and platforms do little to change the fundamental structures of white supremacy. The small lip-service the Democratic Party makes to diversity and inclusion is enough to cause a mob attack the US Congress.
The people staging this insurrection and their supporters in the US government would of course reject this analysis out of hand. They claim to be protecting US democracy against socialism, communism, and authoritarianism. They of course do not understand what socialism and communism actually are. The policies being proposed by Joe Biden and his platform further and extend the reach of capitalism in the US (capitalism of course being an accelerant to further stoke this kind of violence). Instead, like the fascists in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, the fears of socialism and communism are used to mask their own violence against undesirables in their society. For the Nazis this was targeted particularly to German Jews. It should be no surprise when you scratch under the surface of the far-right in the US you find the same odious anti-Semitism lurking alongside the racism and xenophobia. A not too insignificant number of the people who attacked the US Capitol peddle in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories online and were wearing Nazi and even Holocaust-apologia paraphernalia alongside the Confederate battle flags and MAGA hats.
I can also imagine some who abhor the violence that took place in DC would raise an eyebrow over my analysis. There are people who want to say that the US is better than this, and that it is not who we are. This is of course tied into the mentality that if we get rid of Trump, we get rid of the problem. The thing is though that this kind of violence we saw in DC is not that different from the violence enacted against Black, indigenous, migrant, poor, and LGBTQIA+ communities on a near daily basis in the US, the only difference is that this violence was far more explicit and open and therefore undeniable. Trump is monstrous, but he also pulled down the glitzy façade that was always present that hid this from sight. This is who we are, whether the violence comes from an angry mob staging an insurrection or by police and military against the marginalized, the violence is still the same because it is linked back to that original sin which says that for some to have prosperity others must suffer.
So, where do we go from here?
This is a difficult question, and each and every one of us has a role to play. Aside from removing Trump from office, the answers are somewhat uncertain. There is also concern that by removing Trump or taking any major action in response we would be making Trump a martyr and further inflame the far-right within the US. However there needs to be a response to this, things are already broken and when we do not acknowledge that brokenness, we only create further damage.
Since Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election last November many have spoken about the need for the United States to heal. I fully agree, the United States needs to heal. But few seem to talk about what exactly the US needs to heal from. I think some hope that maybe there is some way to return to a kind of innocence that existed in the past before Trump’s presidency, looking to the 90s before 9/11 or even when Republicans had “integrity” like when Eisenhower was president as models to embrace. As I said though, what we saw yesterday was a manifestation of a primordial violence. No empire born in the coalescence of genocide and slavery will be able to find peace until there is justice. There is no prelapsarian state to which America can return to.
For there to be peace in the United States there needs to be justice. People need to be held accountable for their actions, and we need to take a long look at ourselves in the mirror and reflect on how we got here and then begin the work of changing it.
How do we enact our own small or large acts of violence against Black, indigenous, migrant, poor, and LGBTQIA+ people and communities around us? How do our active or passive actions or indifferences hurt those around us that are marginalized? Do we use our privilege to keep the status quo, or do we work to change the world around us? Do we show love and compassion to the least of these, or do we tune out because the cries of our neighbours are inconvenient to our routine? Do we support groups and policies that work to reconcile and restore the relationships between peoples in our communities, or do we allow for further marginalization to occur? Our actions both big and small have rippling effects and consequences beyond us, we are not islands unto ourselves even if we tend to see ourselves as isolated individuals and not as part of a community where we impact one another.
The past is the only light with which we can see the future. We cannot undo the past, but we can make the past right by embracing justice.
I will continue to pray for my home country as it begins to process the trauma from January 6, and I will continue to pray and work for justice in the spheres and world around me. I know that I am flawed, and I make mistakes. But I can always strive to do and be better. God willing, we are able to overcome the shadows that lurk in our hearts and pull out the logs in our eyes to see the world as it truly is with all of its beauty and all of its flaws. We are a family, but there are people in our family who are frightened and scared because they see the violence from January 6 and recognize that it is all too familiar. As we process our own fear, let us be mindful of the needs and fears of others, and work to make a more just and peaceful society.
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart and especially the hearts of the people of the United States, that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
James+
