The year 2020 started off with a great deal of promise. We had finalized out move to Florida during the second half of 2019 and our first visitors arrived with my son and his wife coming down for a weekend visit before heading to Miami for a wedding. We had gone to California to my youngest son's wedding in October and had a great time. The our youngest daughter came to visit at Christmas with her boyfriend and three children. They left the kids with us until after New Years and we had a great time. We were able to enjoy my wife's birthday in January with a fine dining experience and on our wedding anniversary, March 16th we too a trip down to Key West.
That basically was the end of good times. Upon our return the pandemic was in full swing and lock downs and stay at home orders were the standard of life. No longer were we free to venture out to restaurants and museums. No social contact and masked wearing. Life in Florida became a scary daily routine and continued throughout the year. The killings of Black men and women by the police sparked a Black Lives Matter movement that spanned the globe. All the while our president spread hatred and division throughout the country. The white privilege and racism which was always present in our country was given the go ahead to come out and reveal itself in ways that were only imagined before. To make things worst our youngest daughter and her boyfriend were diehard Trump followers, believing in the conspiracy theories and constant misinformation. I gave them room to have their own beliefs, but limited my contact with them.
As a black man who grew up knowing racism first hand I find it hard to believe when politician say "this is not who we are". I believe it is and has been, since the country was created. Coming from a single parent family after my father died, I did not get the "talk" . I lived the talk and have known the fear of living in America for my entire life, as well as bias that exist throughout our society. However in 2020 social media has let it come out in the most incredulous of ways. Watching the TV media became an everyday event, which either re-enforced conspiracy theories and lies, or a way of finding the truth, depending on which channel you follow.
As the pandemic raged and the partisan politics continued in the congress and the supposed halls of democracy I faced my most heartbreaking experience. Our middle daughter had been arrested after a altercation and her children had been placed in the care of child protective services. One of the kids went to their father, one to her father's mother, while her 16 year old was left out to fend for herself. She went from home to home of friends and her father's relatives. We knew that she was getting involved with the wrong people and some criminal activity. We tried to get her to come to us but no one really worked on behalf. In October she was murdered and became another victim of gun violence, gangs, and the system. I loved her so much and the hole in my heart will never be filled.
The election came around and Joe Biden was elected. But, our egotistic president could not accept defeat and the news again was filled with his ranting of a rigged election. For weeks at the end of the year, instead of looking out for the country during the pandemic he pouted and reeved up hi supporters that he was the winner, even after many recounts and a differential of over 7 million votes. Many of his supporters including those in congress believed him and with the browning of America, they voiced their rage at the thought that they were losing their country and the man who supported the fact that by keeping America white would make America great again.
People thought that the end of 2020 would lead to better times. A President with apathy and genuine concern for the country versus himself. However, president Trump stomped on our most revered process, which was the peaceful transfer of power after a fairly held election. He called for his supporter to storm the capital to take it over so that he could be install as the next president. And the did on January 6, 2021. No matter how bad Trump may have been morally the one thing that he had going for him was that he wasn't Black. For that he was "one of them."
We are now looking forward. There are cries for "unity" which I have heard over and over again. And while I never thought I would see a Black president in my lifetime and it happened, I have less faith in this cry for unity happening before my demise.
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