A majority of Catholic bishops have expressed their intention of writing policy to prevent those who ‘obstinately persist in manifest grave sin’ from receiving holy communion.
‘Manifest grave sin’ as in supporting abortion rights, which would then include Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.
Pope Francis and the Vatican have spoken against writing such policy, warning that it would be divisive. But there is a conservative segment in American Catholicism that strongly advocates for it.
To an outsider like me, this seems absurd.
Let me focus on Joe Biden.
Here is a man who has devoted his life to helping others and is now championing large scale policies to relieve poverty, address inequality, revitalize our industrial and technological capacities and reconnect us with the world. His religion has been a fountain of solace and spiritual renewal as he has bravely squared with the problems that life has brought him.
Having Pope Francis on his side, seems not to matter to the bishops pushing for denying him communion. I suppose the bishops are thinking that this will wound Mr Biden so gravely that it will bring him to his knees to beg for the mercy of the church.
No such thing will happen.
Mr Biden will endure the loss. He’s got the character and has been well tested by adversity. Still, he may choose to, now and then, fly directly to Rome to receive communion from Pope Francis in a private Mass. And maybe the Pope will come to the White House also.
The biggest loser in this scuffle will not be Mr Biden or Nancy Pelosi or any American Catholic politician who defends the reproductive rights of women the world over, the biggest loser will be the American Catholic church. They will go on record as having spurned two of the best examples of what their faith can do to always be renewing the fighting spirit.
Bishop myopia and poor judgment on a grand scale is not new to this church. They have a long history of it. Bloody too. Like with the Inquisition.
But somehow they have survived.
Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi will too.
They need only ask themselves, ‘why so narrow a definition of the spirit of the church?’
‘Here we are embodying the spirit of generosity and affirmation of all human beings, regardless of sex or faith, and yet we are targeted to not receive communion.’
And they will grieve and lament the bishops’ decision, all the while knowing, in their hearts and minds, that if God chose to descend on Washington DC to pay a visit, he/she would land on the White House first, and then on Capitol Hill, and visiting for a moment with the two politicians, embrace them and whisper in their ears, ‘thank you for doing my work.’
To the bishops who have so stubbornly worked in denying reality, he would say, ‘Get a life.’
In the news report from United Press International, the family expressed ‘concerns about the indifference the victim encountered after the attack’.
And rightly so.
She was stabbed on Wednesday morning a little past 10 am according to a security camera that captured the scene. The victim was walking down the sidewalk when the man went up to her and started stabbing her.
The attacker, a 35 year old man, was arrested. He had a history of prior arrests for burglary and a homicide charge from 2016 that was dismissed in 2019 for lack of evidence.
The lady is recovering at San Francisco General Hospital.
It is not difficult to imagine how anyone of us can be either a victim or a witness.
If a victim and there are witnesses, it stands to reason that one would expect some assistance from those nearby.
But that is not assured, is it?
Judging from this attack, and similar ones reported recently, it is quite possible that one will be left to fend by oneself if assaulted, the witnesses preferring to not step in and put themselves at risk.
Understandable, right?
Sure. But is it the right thing to do?
There is always something a witness can do.
You may not wish to tackle the assailant and take the knife out of his hands, for fear you will turn into their victim, but anyone of us can certainly shout loudly to the attacker to stop hurting the other person.
Anyone of us can certainly attempt to summon others for help or try and pull the victim away from the attacker.
We don’t have to get in front of the knife, unless we feel we have to power to do so and disarm the person, but we owe something to each other, a minimum of civility, a minimum of consideration to not let the assailant keep doing harm to the person while undisturbed.
A witness ought to make some effort to intercede.
Some effort to distract the assailant, something to stop the cowardly act.
If we don’t, then how do we live with ourselves?
It can happen to anyone of us. Today, tomorrow, anytime.
Fear paralyzes the will and it may have paralyzed us before as I, myself, have been. But we cannot simply surrender without an effort.
We have to do something. Something. Something that says we are alive and will not let fear rule our lives.
On June 13th Robert Gates, who served as secretary of defense between 2006 and 2011 under Bush and Obama, wrote an article for the NYTs entitled ‘We Cannot Afford to Turn our Backs on Afghanistan.’
He speaks in favor of continued support for the existing government and for international funds to assist that nation.
He speaks of the strong likelihood that once America is gone, the Taliban will overrun the capital and eventually seek assistance from China.
So far, our share of human losses has come to over 2300 dead and more than 20000 wounded. And then there are the billions and billions poured into the effort, nearly a trillion now, not including associated costs for the care of veterans.
Is Mr Gates asking for another 5 years, maybe 10, of continued efforts on our part and NATO?
He acknowledges that the corruption of Afghan officials and members of their security forces undermined the massive international effort to change the course of that country.
When it was happening, we could have taken a strong position on not allowing such corruption.
We did not.
Mr Gates states that in the Fall of 2006 the president of Pakistan made a deal with the Taliban permitting them safe harbor in their land. Mind you, this was the president of a country where the US is one of the largest foreign direct investors, and for whom we are their largest export destination and to whom we provide significant assistance.
And still we could not keep them from supporting our enemy next door in Afghanistan.
There was a time to act and we now have to accept our losses.
If the Afghans could not refrain from undermining our efforts to help them build their nation, then we are not a good match.
We now need to invest our finite resources here at home, improving our infrastructure, our educational and health care systems and reducing inequality.
Mr Gates raises the specter that Al Qaeda will once again see an opportunity to come and bomb us.
Perhaps. But much has been learned in the last 20 years to help protect our skies and our borders.
Threats from abroad will persist, but the threats from within cannot be ignored. And those will rise if our inequalities and disagreements are not addressed.
I believe Mr Gates is right when he anticipates that once we leave, the Taliban will take full control of the country.
We should prepare for it.
It must include being able to clearly convey to the American people why we chose to leave and to assure them that we have taken all steps needed to provide for our safety.
We should avoid a repeat of the painful sights at our embassy in Saigon as we exited Vietnam, when local people who had assisted us rushed desperately toward the last helicopters lifting off pleading for a hand to help them up. Many were left behind.
It was a sad and hasty exit.
Surely Mr Biden watched as those scenes unfolded.
He has time to plan so we do better this time.
Bombing the Taliban as they encircle Kabul in their effort to seize it would come at the risk of injuring innocent people.
I hear that there are plans for Turkish and Pakistani troops to ensure the safety of the airport, with us paying the bill. But they won’t be able to hold off the encroaching Taliban. Turks and Pakistanis, too, will get in their choppers and planes and wave goodbye to that troubled land.
My hope is that Mr Biden, with his long history of dealing with difficult crises, will manage this one well.
But something is wrong in America and we have to fix it.
We should not retreat from the world but our resources are not limitless and we have to choose well.
We have lost Afghanistan and now we need to learn from it.
As we leave, China will step in. So be it. Maybe the intolerant and repressive Taliban will find kinship with the Chinese.
But something is wrong in America and we cannot just point the finger at the opposing party.
Something is wrong in America and there is fault in all of us.
Let us join together to fix it.
Let us join together to deal squarely with the enemy within.
When it begins to restrict the freedom of its citizens.
By that measure, China has already begun its slow decline.
Sure, the country remains a strong manufacturer of goods and they have made much progress in the production of electric vehicles, communication technology, artificial intelligence, renewable energy and space exploration.
But the suppression of the freedom of its citizens and the pervasive surveillance of their activities have started to slowly erode the minds of the Chinese. Slowly erode their spirit.
And the reduction in their ability to innovate will soon become clear.
Lying by the government is now the norm. That does something to the human spirit.
The large scale oppression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province is well documented but the Chinese government boldly denies the evidence.
If it is true that they are not guilty as charged, all it would take would be to allow a group of representatives from the rest of the world to visit the area, interview the people and see for themselves. But they won’t do it.
They won’t because their lies would be discovered.
A China that was truly confident would not object to such inspection.
If they had an open society then the matter would be aired.
If the intent in their treatment of Uyghurs was to reeducate them so they would become better Chinese, as they claim, there are certainly other ways to do that instead of secretly, which lead to practices that are coercive and inhumane.
That China can’t be honest with the world is a sign of the corruption at the top.
The corruption of a leadership for whom the preservation of power at all costs is the main objective. Never mind the full development of the Chinese citizen – an achievement only possible when freedom of expression is preserved while respecting the rights of others to do the same.
Xi Jinping has changed the laws so he can remain in power as long as he wants.
He gets to have freedom of expression. Not his people.
And so the entire Chinese leadership has reminded us how much they have in common with despots everywhere, whether in Syria, Russia, Egypt, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Turkey, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela.
Bullying behavior comes right along with massive lying.
In the South China Sea, the Chinese have made incursions into areas officially belonging to the Philippines while Duterte, their president, apparently intimidated by them, has chosen to look the other way.
When people in power are not confronted, their perverse instincts become more pronounced.
That is evident in China’s obsession to repossess Taiwan. The island went through many years of growing pains but blossomed into a democracy and now China wants it. China wants it, mind you, not to enhance it, but to diminish it, to strip it of the freedoms that have made it an economic powerhouse.
China wants to do with Taiwan what it is now doing with Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, businesses from everywhere in the world still race to have a presence in China because of the size of their markets and the profits that come with it.
And so that influx of foreign innovation helps China thrive. For now. But it will not last.
It cannot.
Take Russia for comparison. The enormous creative potential of that country has not been realized because of their system of governance. But in their case, there are now signs of change.
The tenacity and commitment of Alexei Navalny has been spreading through Russia and reminding them of how much they are giving up by consenting to live under the controlling influence of Vladimir Putin. And although Navalny is now in prison, the world increasingly recognizes him as the true bearer of the hopes of that nation.
There is no similar figure in China because the oppression has been so complete.
But soon enough one such figure will rise.
People who dare to take on the difficult challenges make a difference.
In Europe, Angela Merkel has been the person who came to symbolize the European Union’s possibilities. As she gets ready to step down as prime minister of the German nation, Emmanuel Macron in France will likely assume that role.
Meanwhile, from America, Joe Biden has risen to carry the vision and commitment to unite the Free World.
There is no question that China is a repressive dictatorship. Like there is no question of its ambitions to extend their influence far beyond its borders.
That China is helping other economies with their exports and imports, should not hide the fact that as a system, it is toxic to the human spirit.
China may be helping western companies get rich as their own companies do, but those riches are coming at a price.
And the price is the gradual undermining of the importance of freedom of expression.
The challenge of China to the free world is for us to address our inequalities.
They are saying to us, ‘so long as we make you rich through our markets, you will slowly value money more so than freedom, and you will become more like us.’
In answering the challenge, we must create better and fairer societies, and remind China of what is truly essential.
Our freedoms are fundamental to the preservation and enhancement of what it is to be human.
China is trampling on those.
Soon enough, it is our hope, a person or movement symbolizing resistance to their system of governance will emerge and begin the renewal the Chinese citizen deserves, so that talented nation can fully contribute to solving the problems of the world.
We will be wise to be able to recognize and support such person or movement.
Prison outside of Moscow. June 10th. Late morning.
Navalny is seated at a table in a windowless room when Putin enters. Navalny glances at him but does not rise.
Putin closes the door which has a rectangular glass window through which a guard standing outside now looks into the room.
The table is bare.
A fluorescent light on the ceiling casts a greenish opaque light into the room.
Putin sits down across from Navalny.
The two men look at each other for a moment.
‘I beat you,’ says Putin without any expression.
Navalny smiles faintly, eyes riveted on Putin.
‘No, you haven’t.’
‘Yesterday, the courts labelled your group an extremist organization, so you won’t be able to be part of any election… and no one will want to come near you.’
‘I heard,’ replies Navalny, calmly. ‘The court is like your dog. Worse. And I pity those groveling judges… who’re willing to tarnish their names and that of their children, to satisfy you… people with no sense of history.’
‘You think you have a sense of history?’ asks Putin.
‘I do… and one day you will be sitting on this side of the table… because real judges, not clowns, will pass judgment on how you’ve misled our people and corrupted government.’
Putin shakes his head, dismissively, an expression of pity for Navalny.
‘I can’t deny you your fantasies… which is all you have left… just fantasies.’
Navalny has his eyes on Putin as he clasps his hands and rests them on the table.
‘I am in complete control of your life…’ continues Putin, ‘you live because I allow it.’
Navalny doesn’t flinch. ‘You really think you can keep the Russian people silent?’
‘I do,’ returns Putin, ‘not just silent but happy… for in surrendering to my will they have discovered they like it.’
Navalny turns away for a moment, the expression sad, as he thinks of the quiet agony of his beloved Russia, surrendering to the will of a man. How did it get to this point? Where were the bright lights of Russia, the intellectuals, the poets, the writers? Where were they that they didn’t scream in horror at their nation’s slow descent into their present state?
Navalny now glances at the guard peering into the room through the small glass window.
He returns to stare directly at Putin.
‘You may well kill me… I’m well aware it could happen any moment… even today… whenever you wish to give the order… but the movement I’ve started is far greater than me… I’m awakening this great country, my land… awakening them to see how you are holding them back… just so you can remain in power. Look at yourself… what regimes do you defend in this world? Assad in Syria, who’s been butchering his people for years… Myanmar’s generals who’re wantonly killing brave protesters … Maduro in Venezuela, who has impoverished and destroyed a once prosperous nation. In all of them, you have aided in the brutal repression of freedom… aided in the denial of people’s rights… while causing immeasurable suffering. Tell me, just how do you sleep at night?’
Putin smiles with self satisfaction. ‘Very well. Right through the night.’
Navalny closes his eyes for a moment, the expression grim.
‘Why did you want to see me?’ he asks. ‘What for?’
‘I’m not sure,’ begins Putin. ‘I suppose that I take pleasure in seeing an opponent defeated… maybe beg for mercy.’
‘Go to hell, man. Go to hell,’ replies Navalny angrily as he pulls up in his seat. ‘Do not imagine for a moment that you have crushed me or our movement. You will never do that. And none of us will ever beg for mercy from a despot like you. You can have me killed right now and I will die a free man, not a slave like the Russians who bow to you. So, go to hell, Putin.’
The guard at the window, struck by Navalny’s intensity, cracks the door open and takes a step in.
Putin calmly waves him off. The soldier closes the door and returns to looking through the window.
‘You cannot take our thirst for freedom from any of us,’ continues Navalny, firmly, ‘no matter how many rules you pass, no matter how many of us you poison, like you did with me… but you’ll never know what freedom is… no, it’s not in you… the only thing in you is the desire to oppress and control others.’
Putin sits back in his chair and crosses his arms. He stares at Navalny.
‘I didn’t poison you,’ he says calmly.
‘No? Then who did?’
‘I don’t know.’
Navalny shakes his head slowly as he looks down at the ground in disbelief.
‘There are other actors in Russia…’ says Putin softly.
‘Other actors?’
‘People I have no control over.’
‘What a convenient excuse. I suppose that includes all those responsible for cyberattacks on other nations, and the hackers who interfered in the elections in America.’
The two men look at each other directly.
‘You really expect me to believe that?’
Putin shrugs his shoulders.
‘I believe nothing you say to me, nothing,’ says Navalny. He glances off for a moment, then returns to face Putin.
‘Why don’t you walk away while there’s still time… before you start turning your machine guns on Russians protesting in the streets… before you start massacring your brothers and sisters and our children in broad daylight…’
‘That will never happen,’ says Putin, calmly. ‘My great accomplishment… has been to turn Russia into a politically docile nation… capable of great accomplishments in other areas… but politically docile.’
‘Like in China,’ says Navalny.
‘China has learned much from us.’
‘Yes… the wrong lessons. I cannot understand how an intelligent man like you has chosen to ignore assisting your land in its development. I cannot understand how you stubbornly refuse to see that Russia needs to grow up… to evolve politically… to learn to give up supporting autocrats… communists… despots like you… and rise to become a nation that values freedom of expression… and to be able to support the quest for freedom in other nations… anywhere in the world.’
‘You want Russians to be like Americans?’
‘Russians need to learn how to become enlightened Russians. We may find things in common with Americans but we want to find our own path… like any other self respecting people in this world. We want to find our uniqueness.’
Putin nods slowly.
‘Americans have their own problems they are struggling with,’ continues Navalny, ‘like race, and the idolatry of the super entrepreneur, which has led to the absurdity of their not paying any taxes, which fosters inequality…but to their credit, Americans keep working on it. Sometimes they have a dinosaur sneak in to lead them, but they eventually get past them.’
Putin rubs his nose as he weighs Navalny’s words.
‘I am amazed to hear you talk… it’s like you live in another world… maybe that’s why I wanted to see you today.’
Putin leans forward a little, speaking softly.
‘Russians want nothing of what you talk about… they have found peace in their souls… and peace is having a strong boss… like Stalin… and yes, like me. They like to have a father figure who helps them go to sleep quietly at night… go to sleep knowing that their country is feared in the world… that no nation dares to pick a fight with us. But you don’t get that.’
‘You are so wrong about what Russians want…’ responds Navalny with fervor, his expression filled with wonder, ‘Russians want to dream… dream with their eyes open and under a bright sun… they want romance…’
‘Romance?’ asks Putin.
‘Yes, Russians want to fall in love with freedom… and all its possibilities.’
Quietly amused, Putin takes in Navalny’s enthusiasm. ‘I knew there was something wrong with you… but didn’t know you were a romantic.’
Navalny sits back in his chair. He now seems tired, despondent. How could Russians have endured this man governing them for 20 years?
Navalny closes his eyes for a moment. Why did Putin really come to see him?
He looks Putin in the eye. ‘Why are you here?’
‘I wonder about that, myself,’ replies Putin.
Putin has been thinking to himself that there is a strength about Navalny that he finds appealing… a commitment that drives the man to put his life on the line for his nation… to endure being poisoned and still return to Russia knowing he would be imprisoned, maybe even killed. And as Putin secretly admits to his rival’s boldness… the courage to defy whatever may stand in his way… even death itself… Putin quietly acknowledges that he envies Navalny.
‘Oh, yes…’ he begins again, ‘there was something I wanted to tell you… you know how there’s been talk that you would be awarded a Nobel Prize for Peace?’
Navalny looks intrigued. Yes, of course he knew that.
‘Well…’ continues Putin, ‘… now that our courts have ruled you and your movement an extremist group, I don’t think the West will have the guts to go forward with that idea.’
Navalny lets out a laugh.
‘You poor man,’ Navalny says, his expression bright again, ‘of course they will. They will do so now more than ever. Like the Americans say, just to rub it in.’
Putin frowns. ‘No, they won’t. They won’t dare embarrass me like that.’
‘Yes, they will,’ says Navalny defiantly, with relish. ‘Your actions labelling me an extremist just moved me to the front of the line.’
But Putin is not laughing.
‘And, of course, you won’t let me go receive the prize but I and all Russians with a thirst for freedom will smile in our hearts that the world acknowledges our yearnings.’
Navalny leans forward, brashly. ‘Is that what you really came here to tell me?’
Putin stares back at him with simmering anger.
‘The world is not afraid of you, Vladimir… they know who you are. They know what you mean, and they stand by the Russian people who want to be free.’
‘I will be meeting with Biden in Geneva on the 16th of this month…’ says Putin.
‘I know… just try to be on your best behavior when you meet…’
‘Why?’
‘Because Biden is not Trump.’
Putin rises from his chair abruptly as he looks down at Navalny.
‘It is up to us to light up the fire that will warm the hearts of all Russians, and we will do it,’ says Navalny, with renewed strength.
‘And up to me to pour cold water on them,’ replies Putin, icily.
On June 6th an article appeared in The New York Times describing an incident in Asheboro, North Carolina, where a student graduating from high school was denied his diploma because he had draped himself with the Mexican flag for the award ceremony.
According to the article, the school had allowed for students to display their identities by decorating their mortar boards and many did so.
The student in question was breaking with protocol by draping himself in the Mexican flag.
He is the son of Mexican immigrants but was born in this country. In the aftermath, he was quoted as saying that the Mexican flag meant everything to him and his family because it’s what’s in their blood, that’s where they came from and he’d do anything to represent it.
Even though he was born here the student may not feel he’s from here.
Not just yet.
And that’s fine. It takes a while.
What he’s doing right is that he’s taking every advantage to educate himself. And he has graduated. He’s probably perfectly fluent in English so he will have little difficulty moving up to the extent of his efforts and capabilities.
Eventually, he will merge with the host culture and make it his own.
And what ties he chooses to keep to the culture of his parents, that is fine, too.
The school officials were within their rights to expect compliance with their rules.
After the ceremony, a school official emailed the mother of the student to tell her that the young man would be able to pick up his diploma this week.
The mother, however, replied, that this would not be enough. That her son and family expected an apology from the school because what had transpired was an act of racism ‘not just to my son but to the entire Hispanic community.’
I disagree.
There is racism in this country and maybe the young man has felt it, but the requirement by school officials that he comply with protocol at his graduation ceremony is not racism. He could have decorated his mortar board like the rest of the students. He chose not to.
We have to be careful with how we use that word, otherwise we devalue it.
Overcoming racism in America will be a long struggle, and maybe the young man will add his effort to the quest, but we must stand on solid ground when we call attention to it.
Meanwhile, it is not the school that needs to apologize to him and his family, but him that needs to apologize to the school.
And it will do him a world of good to acknowledge his mistake.
Save the daring for when it’s justified. There will surely be many such opportunities during his lifetime.
To the young man, my best wishes for a successful life.
To the school officials, onwards with the difficult task of preparing the next generation.
Dr Aruna Khilanani, a psychoanalyst, was criticized by Yale University for expressing violent thoughts in a lecture she gave as part of grand rounds on April 6th. During the virtual lecture, she spoke of how hard it was to talk about racism to white people.
The doctor has a practice in New York that specializes on the subject.
I have not seen the videotape which viewing has now been restricted by Yale to their own community, after a writer had posted an audio version on Substack this last Friday.
My opinions are based on the article ‘A Psychiatrist Invited to Yale Spoke of Fantasies of Shooting White People,’ which appeared in the New York Times dated 6/6/2021.
Both the views of Yale University and of Dr Khilanani are presented in the article.
It is clear that Dr Khilanani is very angry about her experience with racism and she is very vocal about it.
The problem I see is that during her presentation, the line between therapist and sufferer was blurred.
In the lecture, as described in the article, we got to hear aspects of the sufferer’s pain and her fantasies of retaliation.
The doctor has never overstepped her boundaries in real life, which is why she felt the freedom to speak of her fantasies with great candor.
But such candor proved too unsettling for the audience. The attendees knew what the subject would be in advance. But the raw quality of the content proved most unpleasant.
I think the audience expected to hear how the profound pain of racism gets dealt with and neutralized. They expected to hear how such pain is defanged. They expected to hear how the analyst got to transform and soften it.
Instead they got a version of someone in the thick of her struggle.
Dr Khilanani gives the impression of having made a strong commitment to the study of racism and to finding ways to resolve it but she’s still working her way through.
Her path to resolution of such burden may not be yours or mine, for all of us have unique capabilities and may come up with different solutions, but I see her honesty as an important statement and as such must be heard and respected.
Yale University has their viewpoint, too, and it largely reflects the desire most people have that this problem we all face will find answers that are peaceful. We all want that.
But acknowledging the fullness of the pain is essential to get to such answers.
As the doctor says at one point, ‘My work is important. I stand by it. We need to heal in this country.’
At the end of the article a Yale professor is quoted as saying that, as a guest of the university, the doctor was free to speak on campus but that her views ‘must be soundly rejected.’
I disagree.
Dr Khilanani put it best, ‘my speaking metaphorically about my own anger… was a method for people to reflect on negative feelings… if you don’t, it will turn into a violent action.’
She has a point.
Oscar Valdes oscarvaldes.net
Also available on apple and google podcasts, anchor.fm, Spotify, buzzsprout.com and others.
Please see the videos Letters to A Shooter in YouTube.com
Mr Biden has committed to the US exiting that nation. It was not an easy decision. But after 20 years of occupation, I think it is the right decision to make.
What has made it so hard?
We went there in pursuit of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. That has been accomplished.
An enormous commitment in manpower and investment in the Afghan people was made to attempt to rebuild that nation, at least the sectors open to it. But the Taliban has proved eminently resourceful and, with the support of Pakistan, has managed to undermine American and NATO allies’ effort.
We have been grieving for a long time the loss of our effectiveness in Afghanistan, grieving that we could not do more for their people.
But we now have to face up to the failure of our ambitions.
We wanted to persuade the potential Taliban supporter that democracy was a better option. We could not do so. For one reason or another, what the Taliban preached was able to prevail and so convert enough Afghans to their side, and thus continue bombing schools and centers of learning and killing their brothers and sisters. The Taliban were willing to sacrifice their lives in praise of their god while seeing us as the devil.
After all these years, Afghans remain a profoundly divided nation, at war with themselves and immersed in a mortal struggle for their identity and their affirmation as a people.
We cannot fight their fight.
Twenty years we were there and failed to fire up in them the drive to counter teachings that restrict the possibilities of human beings.
Twenty years we were there and failed to impact their culture in a meaningful way.
It was a very ambitious goal to begin with, and maybe it could have been approached differently, but we did the best we could given our own level of development.
Now we must retrench. Now we must look at ourselves squarely and examine what has gone unattended within.
Maybe we can continue to offer some measure of support and keep the Taliban from overrunning the government that we and our allies, at great cost in blood and treasure, have helped put in place.
I hope so.
But as we pull out we grieve the limits of our power.
And as we grieve we must confront the inequality within that has weakened us and lessened our effectiveness abroad.
Addressing such inequality will make us more effective when we again attempt to help other nations.
Had we been a fairer nation, had we been known for treating African Americans with respect, we probably would not have been a target for Osama bin Laden.
The Twin Towers were a symbol of White Power in America.
Had power not been so concentrated in a group perhaps such attack would have never happened.
The image we project as a nation matters. If we project an image that all ethnic groups in our land have a seat at the table when decisions of consequence are made, then the perceptions the world has of us will be different.
And so it is critical that we integrate all of our minorities. As we do, we will project an image that we are a reflection of the world in its entirety. That because groups from all over the earth have a place in our nation, then we are the world.
If all religions and languages, all colors and types can live and prosper in our land and we can still see ourselves as one nation, does that not tell the world that we are them and they are us?
Yes, it does.
And our effectiveness as mediators and resolvers of conflicts would be multiplied twenty-fold.
And we would be seen as a place where transformative choices occur – a laboratory for human interaction – from which others can learn just as we learn from them.
Are we up for the challenge?
I say we are.
We are because all it takes is courage, intelligence, civility, humanity and the ambition to power it through.
A friend of mine texted me that Derek Chauvin had asked his judge to shorten his prison term. I wasn’t expecting the former officer would do so but here’s my take on it.
Mercy has to be earned.
Mr Chauvin was reckless as he abused George Floyd in plain sight, with others filming him, even warning him that the man might not survive the oppressive knee. And yet Mr Chauvin thought he was doing his job.
Never mind that George Floyd was not a threat, for he was lying prone on the ground, handcuffed behind his back, begging for relief.
Mr Chauvin still kept the knee on.
That he persisted, undeterred by the cries for him to cease, sparked turmoil in the nation and took the former officer to court where he was found guilty of 2nd degree unintentional murder, 3rd degree murder and 2nd degree manslaughter.
Mr Chauvin has a right to ask for mercy, but mercy has to be earned.
His request can be seen as a first step in the long journey ahead in search of his humanity. The humanity he had been running away from all of his life and the absence of which was most glaring the day he took George Floyd’s life.
How he became the man he became only Mr Chauvin knows.
We hope he will tell us one day.
Throughout his career, he appears to have done little to try and overcome his flaws. And if they were noticed by his superiors, little of consequence was done to urge him to check them.
And so, in a way, the tragedy of May 25th 2020, was inevitable.
It could have happened any other day or to any other person, but that was the day he arrested George Floyd.
Seeing Mr Chauvin in his suit, seated next to his lawyers in the court room, evoked a certain sadness. There he was, without his uniform to protect him, without his badge to insulate him from life.
It is very sad to see a grown man not challenge himself to learn the plight of those whom he dealt with in the course of his work.
Only now, after repeatedly viewing the clip of his killing George Floyd, has Mr Chauvin begun to realize what he did.
Only now, then, is he starting on his journey to become a human being.
Mercy has to be earned and Mr Chauvin should begin immediately on his task.
If you are reading this, here are some suggestions to you:
Start a journal where you write down all your feelings and thoughts. It is an exercise in listening to yourself. As you learn to do so, you also learn to listen to others.
Read stories about people’s sufferings. All people’s sufferings, no matter what their race, to learn how they came to understand their pain and overcome it.
As you do you will begin to put together your own story. The story of how you grew so insensitive to the suffering of others and how you came to devalue them.
Just like you were blind and deaf to the suffering of others, there are other police officers out there who are just as blind and deaf as you were.
Reach out to them. Try to educate them. Encourage them to connect with their higher selves.
As you do, you will be helping them exercise better judgment in the field and in their lives. And they will be grateful.
Write to them and let them write to you.
Your journey to find your sense of compassion will then assist other officers in finding theirs.
And you will be saving lives.
Save the letters of appreciation you receive and one day you may wish to share them with the family of George Floyd. And perhaps one day they will choose to advocate for your release.
Whether they do or not, you must start to rebuild your life by repairing your mistakes.
And you must do it for you. For your sanity. For your wisdom.
You are a young man. Build yourself up as a compassionate human being.
Work hard, Mr Chauvin, and never give up.
If not too damaged and if circumstances are not overwhelming, we can choose our fates.
Dare to do so.
And maybe your efforts to earn mercy will become an inspiration for the rest of us.
Dare to transform yourself.
Good luck and best wishes.
Oscar Valdes. Oscarvaldes.net
Also available in Apple and Google podcasts, Anchor.fm, Spotify, Buzzsprout.com and others.
There is a strong desire to absolve ourselves of that judgment.
A strong tendency to want to spare ourselves.
There is no other group that has suffered like African Americans have throughout the years. Except for American Indians who were decimated.
Emancipation came in 1863 but it would take another 100 years – 1964 – before Lyndon Johnson pushed through, against great resistance, the Civil Rights Act prohibiting racial discrimination. Not surprisingly, discrimination against blacks persisted in both overt and covert ways.
Is America racist?
We have been. And we still are in some ways.
What to do about it?
Put it on the table so we can examine such belief each and every day.
Not to do so retards both our personal and national growth.
Not to do so diminishes us.
Each one of us has to keep looking squarely at who we are, day in and day out and ask, Do I think myself better than African Americans? Do I think they are inferior? Do I think they don’t try hard enough? Do I think they are more violent? Do I think they are less intelligent?’
Am I racist?
If I share any of the above, even as a passing thought, then I have to work on it.
Because African Americans are neither inferior, nor lazy, nor more violent nor less intelligent.
But they have been marginalized for a long time.
Impoverished for a long time.
Undereducated for a long time.
All of which warps the essence of a person.
It is okay to say to ourselves, ‘I am racist… and I am committing to overcome it.’
It is not an unforgivable flaw to have racist thoughts.
And we don’t have to tell anyone.
We don’t have to confess.
So long as we keep working on it.
But we all have to do it.
Is America racist?
Yes, we are.
We are because we have gone along with policies that segregated African Americans. Because we have not objected loudly enough to their having poor educational and work opportunities. Because we have colluded, consciously or unconsciously, actively or passively, to keeping them down.
And what about our guilt?
If we have personally injured an African American acting from a racist belief – call it harm in the concrete – then we must apologize. And it will be up to them to forgive us or not.
If we have injured African Americans by not favoring measures that would assist their development – call it harm in the abstract – then we can work to reduce our guilt on our own, by questioning ourselves daily about our attitudes toward them and aiming to resolve them.
Forgiveness will be up to us and our consciences.
Advancement for African Americans has been happening gradually, over the years, thanks to the commitment of many of our more enlightened fellow citizens.
But opportunities need to grow faster.
As they do, we will see African Americans rise in every field of human endeavor, showing that they are just as capable as any other group on earth. Their numbers in the higher ranks of science and academia and industry and technology and business and all professions will swell. And their numbers in jails and prisons will decrease.
And we will feel proud of our civic and emotional growth.
Gradually, we will cease to be racist as a nation.
And we will be at peace,
And we will be one,
For we will have conquered ourselves.
But we have to keep working on it. Day in and day out.
Is America racist?
Yes, it is.
Am I racist?
Answer the above questions and make your judgment.
You may not be.
You may be one of our more evolved and mature citizens.
Each person has to square with their truth.
And so long as each one of us does, each one of us will be ceasing to be racist every single day.
As for me,
I will not confess,
But I will keep doing the work every day,
Day in and day out,
And feel damn good about the progress I’m making.
Oscar Valdes. Oscarvaldes.net
Also available in apple and google podcasts, Anchor.fm, Spotify, Buzzsprout.com and others.
Oscar Valdes 