Are We Living in 1864?

My heart sank. There it was on my iPhone: a New York Times headline—Justice Dept. Asks for 1-Day Sentence for Ex-Officer Convicted in the Killing of Breonna Taylor. It took me back to 2020. The deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd made headlines and triggered Black Lives Matter protests across the nation. Thousands of us marched, raised our fists, shouted Black Lives Matter, kneeled, shouted I can't breathe, and continued to march as we shouted no justice, no peace.

Untitled by Robert Longo, 1981, at The Broad

It was the year that made many of us realize that we hadn't changed much since the brutal torture and murder of Emmett Till in 1955. He was only fourteen years old when two white men brutally beat and killed him. There was no justice for Emmett Till 70 years ago. The judge rejected the Justice Department's sentence recommendation of one day and sentenced Brett Hankison to 33 months in prison for violating Breonna Taylor's civil rights. Was it justice?

It is frightening. We have folks being picked off the streets by masked and often unidentified armed individuals, supposedly from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Our skin colors dictate arrests and guilt, rather than just cause and due process. Folks are deported, sometimes to nations that they are not from, to prisons and nations known to violate human rights and torture.

We've upended lives, even for folks who had permission to reside in the United States. Their temporary visas are suddenly not renewed and they are often given less than three months to leave the nation. Some have legally lived here for more than a decade.

White America is still holding onto the anger that a Black man served as the 44th President of the United States. Former President Barack Obama is being investigated for treason. It is absurd. Folks are brushing it off as something Trump is doing to divert attention away from the Epstein file, but he had threatened to seek revenge on the former President before he re-entered the White House. I would use the word petty to describe Trump's beef with former President Obama if his pettiness isn't so dangerous.

And that dangerous pettiness towards the former President... Trump’s fixation on bringing the former President down has not diminished. Trump simply hates him and obsesses over destroying the former President's legacy because he is a Black man who dared to become the 44th President of the United States. Perhaps, Trump is lashing out in anger because he feels inferior to Barack Obama, a Black man. Without White America's anger, would Trump be where he is today?

We regress to the dark moments of this nation's history every morning. For months, I stopped reading the news. Occasionally glancing at the headlines to grunt, I became complacent, reacting only to the threat of tariffs. I consoled myself that I was going to be okay as I stocked up on Champagne.

Trump is doing what he said he would do, except for the Epstein file, when he returned to the White House during the presidential campaign. He is keeping his campaign promises for the most part. So, there is that. Just because I voted for Kamala Harris doesn't mean I can't admit that he is delivering on his campaign promises. Trump meant every hateful, inhumane, and narcissistic word.

The legal consequence of illegal immigration is deportation. That consequence existed before Trump, and I am okay with enforcing the laws of this nation as long as the law is equally applied, assumptions of legal residence and gang affiliations aren't solely made on skin colors and tattoos, detainees are given rights to legal representation, treated with human decency, and no one's due process is violated.

When birthright citizenship, guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, is in jeopardy for children who are born in this nation to parents who may be here without documentation, are we going to be delusional with rhetoric that we can save everyone from Trump? Are you delusional to believe that we can save everyone from the wrath of Stephen Miller?

When the U.S. Justice Dept. will no longer investigate and seek justice when a Black person's civil rights are violated, we can't pretend like we can save everyone. We've got to be real so we can protect civil rights, constitutionally guaranteed rights, and human rights. We simply can't afford meaningless statements and fighting words without meticulous strikes.

So, why 1864? The Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, was passed by Congress and ratified in 1865.

More essays:

Culling.

It Happens All the Time.

Can We Please Return to Civility?

I Am Not Alone. I Am a Party of One.

Hunger

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