Farewell 2020!
28th December 2020 · 0 Comments
If 2020 was a prescription, we could say that it was the nastiest medicine with a spoonful of sugar thrown in. As the worst year in America’s 21st century ends, it leaves an incandescent trail of lessons for us to reflect upon and internalize.
The year 2020 taught us how to survive the good, the bad and the ugly events that will stand out in history as the greatest test of the human spirit, our democracy, our institutions and over very lives. We stood up, fought and emerged victorious in the centuries long struggle for equality and justice.
Here are some of the lessons learned:
THE GOOD:
• On May 26, 2020, the day after George Floyd was murdered by a police officer, Black Americans learned that humanity and empathy run deep in the hearts of millions of fellow Americans and global citizens who joined in the Black Lives Matter Movement protests in honor of George Floyd and later to draw attention to the senseless killings of Brianna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others who lost their lives at the hands of insensitive police and white terrorists.
They began marching in Minneapolis in the United States and the BLM marches spread worldwide. Protests took place in over 60 countries and on all seven continents. Defund the police and no justice, no peace informed the world that the killing of unarmed Black people had to stop.
• In June 2020, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered a “Black Lives Matter” mural in 50-foot yellow letters near the White House to honor George Floyd protesters. She also renamed a street near the White House “Black Lives Matter Plaza.” Bowser started a trend that saw Black Lives murals installed in 26 states and in Australia, Canada and the UK.
• Black athletes and celebrities supported the Black Lives Matter Movement and wore official gear that carried messages and honored those who were killed in 2020.
• The tenure of Donald J. Trump Sr. in the Oval Office influenced more than half of America’s youth to vote. Tufts University estimated that 52 to 55 percent of youth voted in 2020, and their impact — especially youth of color’s overwhelming support for Biden — was decisive in key races across the country. In addition, college admissions to medical school increased this year by 18 percent and law school applications increased by 35 percent. No doubt Trump’s bungling of the coronavirus pandemic and his abuse of the Constitution were catalysts for the increases.
• Black voters nationwide showed the U.S. that if they turned out in record numbers, they could overcome the gerrymandered districts that keep white Republicans in the majority on Capitol Hill.
• Black women voters in battleground states gave a decisive victory to the Biden-Harris presidential ticket and elected Kamala Harris, the first woman and first women of color, to be the next Vice President.
• The Biden Cabinet is shaping up to be the most diverse in the country’s history.
• Donald J. Trump Sr. was impeached by the House of Representatives.
• New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell took a hard line regarding coronavirus restrictions. She resisted the demands of local business owners to fully reopen before it was safe to do so. She was the first city leader in Louisiana to mandate the wearing of masks and social distancing.
• New Orleans restaurant owners formed a coalition and began feeding hungry New Orleanians.
• Former Congressman and New Orleanian Cedric Richmond joined the Biden administration as a senior adviser.
• New Orleans elected a new District Attorney who vowed to enact criminal justice reforms.
THE BAD:
• Donald J. Trump Sr. decided in March 2020 to just allow the coronavirus to “wash over” the U.S. to achieve “herd immunity.” Although he later denied the fact that his administration was implementing a herd immunity strategy, his refusal to enact a federal policy to contain the coronavirus in the U.S. resulted in more that 319,000 deaths of Americans.
• During the onset of the coronavirus in the U.S., Trump began “downplaying” the seriousness of the virus. He knew the gravity of the pandemic. In fact, Trump can be heard in an interview with Bob Woodward admitting he downplayed it and that he still wants to downplay it.
• Trump indirectly caused the coronavirus deaths of Americans by refusing to wear a mask and not taking the advice of his own health experts to social distance. Instead, he held what media calls “super spreader campaign rallies, parties on the White House grounds, and acted as if coronavirus didn’t exist.
• Trump attempted a political coup and lied about the presidential election being rigged against him. Trump claimed there was widespread voter fraud and that he won the election. Led by Rudy Giuliani, a cadre of attorneys filed at least 58 lawsuits alleging voter fraud, without evidence, and eventually brought these frivolous lawsuits to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Trump thought the Republicans on the court would overturn the election.
• American institutions held, despite Trump’s assault on every facet of the federal government and the judiciary. Trump would not become the dictator or president for life he aspired to be. At press time, media were reporting that Trump is floating the idea of declaring martial law and a “rerun” of the elections.
• Cedric Richmond’s seat is up for grabs. We can only hope that voters select the best person for the job.
THE UGLY:
• Trump’s ugly and crude verbal attacks on women, people of color, immigrants, and Muslims will forever remind us of the type of person we should never again elect to the highest office in the U.S.
• Trump’s hatred of people of color came out in his policies. He locked up children in cages on the border for seeking asylum and separated them from their parents. In October 2020, 545 children – seeking asylum in America – remained separated from their parents, who brought them to the Southern border but were deported without their children.
Trump implemented the cruel policy of separating children from their parents and locking them in cages two years ago, as a deterrent to migrants and asylum seekers from Central America and Mexico, whom he deemed a national security threat.
• A 2020 report found that Trump’s 2019 transgender ban damaged the military. Led by physicians who previously served as the top medical officers in the Army, Navy and Coast Guard, the Palm Center Report, released in November 2020, found that not only did the ban poison the well in units that were otherwise in the process of implementing the Obama-era transgender inclusion policy, it shrank an already dwindling recruiting pool and left a bad taste in the mouths of the general American public, which in polling has shown consistent support for transgender service members. The ban basically gave the gree light to members of the military to be transphobic, again.
• Trump’s law-breaking and pardoning of his criminal pals is just the tip of the iceberg of wrongdoing in his administration.
• Trump’s appeasement of Russia and his withdrawal from various agreements with other nations made the U.S. the laughingstock of the world.
• U.S. Senate Republicans refused to pass the House’s Hero Act, passed in May 2020. The Hero Act was a coronavirus relief package. Republicans held out until last week for much less than Democrats wanted, and they refused to add stimulus funds for cities and states. However, Republicans didn’t get the blanket liability immunity they wanted to shield businesses from coronavirus lawsuits.
• Republicans in the Louisiana State Legislature and on the Education Committee refused to return a simple majority vote to the Orleans Parish School Board. The bill sponsored by Karen Carter Peterson, which became ACT 91, which allegedly turned the charter schools back to the Orleans Parish School Board mandated a super-majority vote by the Orleans Parish School Board relative to decisions made about the charter school. The law essentially left absolute power in the hands of charter school operators, while nullifying the votes of Orleans Parish voters, who elect the Orleans Parish School Board.
• State Attorney General Jeff Landry fought against a historic lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates who were sent to prison based on non-unanimous jury verdicts.
• In May 2020, Governor John Bel Edwards signed into law House Bill 826 and Senate Bills 491 and 508, whereby Louisiana businesses will receive state protection from most lawsuits involving COVID-19 deaths or injuries. The bills took effect immediately and are retroactive to March 11, 2020. All of the bills were sponsored by Republican lawmakers.
In 2020, we endured a rogue administration with a self-consumed president. However, in 2020, true patriots inside and outside of government stood up for Democracy and resoundingly defeated the tin hat despot.
We, the Black community, rose to the occasion and said, “Stop Killing Us,” and fired Donald J. Trump, too. We called for police reform, criminal justice reform, and equal pay.
We will take into 2021 the lessons learned from 2020. Never again will we allow anyone with power abuse us, kill us, to suppress our votes. We learned that we must raise our voices and call out those who would harm us. We learned there is strength in numbers with a collective mindset.
So onward to 2021. We’re ready.
This article originally published in the December 28, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
