So here we are: in Black History month 2026, with the current President of the United States posting racist images of the first and only black President of the United States. This while his underlings attempt to scrub authentic Black History from public life.
This after the Chaos administration has attempted to disappear top leaders in the military and the federal government who are Black, and most often succeeded without much media criticism or public response. It's also no coincidence that the two most prominent journalists recently arrested by federal thugs are Black.
This after vilifying and demonizing efforts supporting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, also without much outrage. Perhaps we'll even get a decision from the Republican Supreme Court this month that destroys the last vestige of the Civil Rights Act.
This while the United States government is openly attempting ethnic cleansing in the name of immigration law enforcement, using racial profiling of the crudest kind openly on the public streets, private homes and previously protected buildings across America, targeting and attacking children, women, the disabled and disenfranchised, as well as white citizens who dare to dissent.
This president was elected. But it turns out the vast hidden popular support for the racist rampage of ethnic cleansing he and his white supremacist minions were counting on, just isn't there. There are plenty of cowardly billionaires, corporations and universities. But a joyous halftime show celebrating Puerto Rican culture, largely in the Spanish language, was just shown to billions of people worldwide. (I don't understand Spanish. I don't know many of those performers, and I'm unfamiliar with the culture, except for some of the music. But I loved it. And isn't that the point? I felt it, and its equivalents in the cultures I do know. )
It turns out that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are now rooted deep in our communities, and in our economy. There always are the racist haters and their race-based crazy theories and dark surmises. There are always these conflicts. They've risen as far as the US Congress, but for at least a century have never before taken control of the federal government.
This racism is only part of the ongoing destruction of our federal government, America's relations with the world, and the American economy--with implications for the world economy. But while this daily destruction attacks us all with its oppression and cognitive dissonance, it is also awakening many, many Americans to what they don't want, and what they do value.
Unfortunately there will likely be harder times before they get better. Economic consequences are just beginning, as the residual resilience is strained to its breaking point. With an increasingly dysfunctional government, including a collapsing Justice Department, everything that might happen just gets more dangerous. But it seems possible that more and more Americans are also becoming clearer on the kind of country they want. What they want to keep, and what they want to change. And how they want to do it: together.
