19
by wings
I count Jan 6 as part of 2020. But that gets into the problem of sequels and cliffhangers and - no offense to those with backgrounds in the field - I can't be arsed to bother with literary nuance. Note to self, apology note to CDF.
2021 is about what I hoped for. The republic still stands. The fascists fly their flags openly, and will no longer walk among us in secret. By rejecting masks and vaccination, they have chosen paths that make prosecution easier while exposing their own to differential risk of death. Some of the demographic changes in the last census are very heartening. We still have a glowing ember of hope.
Something I read recently, from Mary Trump, reminded me that the story we tell ourselves about America - the land of the free and beacon of democracy - is really a story about a part of America. The part we want to believe in. That we are two Americas. The part we don't want to believe in is the state of fascist white supremacy. The Confederacy. Antebellum and post, Reconstruction and today, Civil War and Civil Rights Era. It's fashionable to say that Pokemon Go has lasted longer, but the Confederacy goes back to the Colonial period and continues today.
America has always been 2021.
We are a phoenix. We have always been rising from our own ashes. The ashes of lynchings and race riots. The burning of the White House and the storming of the Capitol. We strive to overcome our past, to be better than we were. We rise.
To be progressive is to never let your eye off the goal. We may not get there in our lifetimes. I never thought we'd see gay marriage turn over so quickly. I didn't expect to see a Black man elected President before a white woman. Then again, I never thought Trump had a chance. So we keep working for the future. No matter what.
No matter how slowly. No matter how incrementally. It does not matter if each step could be longer, if each gain could be more. Every win is a win.
