Remember when the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived said he was "a uniter, not a divider"? Well, the Worst Person— although he took advantage of the shock the nation felt after 9/11 — was one of the most enthusiastic practitioners of the politics of division you'd ever want to see. You don't vilify gay people to win re-election in 2004 and then get to claim that you're a "uniter," sorry.
This question of national unity is on our furry minds tonight, because we cats just had a brief conversation with a friend who said that he didn't want to go anywhere near the city of Baltimore. We didn't have to ask why. The friend meant, "I don't want to be where black people are rioting." It was clear from his comments that he'd bought the FOX "News" line about collusion among Baltimore street gangs hook, line and sinker.
We cats tactfully replied, "We think those claims are overblown." But we found the conversation very depressing. The FOX narrative had obviously sold so easily and so well.
So tonight, we are worried about many things. One, that the destructive actions of a few Baltimoreans will obscure the important message of the many — that police brutality against minorities is a continuing and serious American problem. Two, that as a nation, we'll never be able to overcome the divisions among us. Not if we can't come to agreement that one set of citizens has a different experience with law enforcement than another set of citizens does.
The fire that's burning in Baltimore can be lit anywhere. It can happen in New York, Chicago, or Washington, DC — or even in our friend's preferred location, Richmond, Virginia. It just happens to be in Maryland's biggest city right now.
Which makes us think again of how the Worst Person played on a peculiarly American myth: that we as a nation are special, bonded to one another in a great journey of freedom and democracy. It may have been true once (after Pearl Harbor, when, unlike the Worst Person, Franklin Roosevelt had the smarts to call upon Americans' best spirit, and ask for sacrifice and hard work). But even then, underneath it all, we were not united. Because there were Americans who — whether they were black or gay or female or Japanese — did not enjoy the same rights that other Americans did.
The history of the United States is a wonderful tale of "who's next?"— who will be the next group of Americans who will fully realize equal rights under the law? We cats are enthralled by the many chapters of this story. We just wish sometimes that it wasn't so painful. Like now.
Wouldn't it be great if all the "next" groups of Americans got together and declared their American-ness? If there were a convention of blacks, women, gays, Latinos, whoever — all of whom gathered to write and present a... well, a Declaration of Non-Independence? One that said, "America, we are part of you, whether you like it or not"? One that "placed before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent"?
Ah, well. That's probably fantasy. In the meantime, we have to rely on things like Supreme Court decisions and political campaigns and voter turnout. Scary stuff. We cats, being loyal and devoted Americans, PURR and HISS at the thought.
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