The Times Really Seem To Be Changin'

By Hubie and Bertie

Is it Christmas in July? Is that the reason we're seeing the anti-racism movement in America continue to gain so much symbolic steam?

Yes, all of it needs to be followed up with life-changing, meaty legislation — police and criminal justice reform, new anti-discrimination laws, and an end to voter suppression — but that probably won't be possible until we have a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress (November, please come soon). In the meantime, though, we can do something about symbols. And we are, in a big way.

This week, the city of Richmond removed a prominent statue of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson while a crowd cheered in a pouring rain. Next up is surely Robert E. Lee, whose likeness Virginia Governor Ralph Northam was ready to take out until a Richmond judge stopped him with an injunction. Well, now that judge has recused himself from the case — a civil action brought by a descendant of the monument's creators. We feel like we know where this is going.

And Benedict Donald can scream and yell and spew coronavirus all he wants at Mount Rushmore tonight. While nobody's going to dynamite Gutzon Borglum's mountain any time soon, less-majestic monuments are crashing down all across America — one, in fact, in Trump's current city of residence, Washington, DC.

Federal Express, the title sponsor of the stadium in DC, has asked the Washington football team to change its name. Under pressure from this and other developments, once-defiant team owner Dan Snyder appears willing to "review" the situation and — eventually, it's said — propose a new name and mascot. This latest bombshell follows the recent removal of a marker commemorating George Preston Marshall, former team owner and virulent racist. What were we saying about Christmas in July? We call this an issue that is snowballing.

So we'll pay little attention to the scattered, empty words of Donald Trump in South Dakota tonight, and instead hang on tight to the continued, hopeful signs that America is at last growing up. Hey, if the NFL can change, anybody can. (And we keep saying that if someone hires Colin Kaepernick, we non-football fans will sit down, pop a brewski and watch.) We cats PURR.