Recognition for Blacks?America is still struggling with how to integrate Blacks, and other minority populations, into mainstream life. The passage of the Civil Rights Act back in 1964 failed to deliver on its promise to put Blacks on an equal footing. All over America, but especially in the South, local police forces continue to single out Blacks for decidedly unequal treatment. Blacks are arrested for crack at nine times the rate for Whites, who snort cocaine in corporate bathrooms. Worse yet, there are continual news reports of unarmed Blacks being gunned down for trivial behavior. A new movement springs up around a Twitter hashtag called #BlackLivesMatter, beginning in 2014. This leads to a long summer of black protest marches, with a high-profile case of unwarranted police violence in Minneapolis serving as the spark. It seems, for a time, that America might be starting to clean up its act. |
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Turning Back the Clock Two years later, America is further polarized by what seems to be a blatantly political decision by the Supreme Court, reminiscent of the Court's hurried intervention during the 2000 election, to stop the counting of ballots. Packed with new appointees by President Trump, a newly-conservative court seems to be doing the bidding of Republicans, who have been trying to outlaw abortion for decades. Despite previous talk of 'settled law,' the justices find a way to overturn the previous landmark Roe vs Wade ruling, which had stood for 50 years, and survived numerous challenges. Women protest in huge numbers, but are unable to change the result. Similarly, the #MeToo movement, exposing widespread sexual assault by men, comes to little. | |||||||||
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Growing Polarization America is increasing divided over liberal-vs-conservative values. Liberals are stunned that the Supreme Court is now involved in politics, while conservatives sense victory in their decades-long fight against intrusions into their lives by Big Government. This is perfectly reflected in attitudes about guns. Mass shootings have become a weekly event, and are dominated by the use of automatic weapons, first developed for the battlefield. Liberals see no reason citizens, including teens, should have access to such weapons. Surely, the Second Amendment doesn't include the right to public slaughter. Conservatives counter that gun rights are absolute. They have even managed to ban the mere collection of data on gun violence. Hands off my guns! | |||||||||
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Murderers and Rapist? Another flash point dividing America involves the illegal entry of mostly Latin-speaking immigrants, who continue to flood across the border with Mexico. Liberals view the new arrivals as part of an American tradition dating back to the 1700s. Immigrants mostly do jobs that Whites find demeaning, and under-paid. They comprise the bulk of the country's migrant agricultural workforce, picking fruits and vegetables that we all enjoy. Conservatives believe that immigrants of color pose a sinister threat to the American way of life. According to President Trump, they're a horde of criminals and rapists, coming to grab free government benefits they haven't earned. Trump declares he will build a wall to keep them out, and that Mexico will pay for it. It doesn't. | |||||||||
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Deadly Virus Just as America is trying to deal with the early phase of a new and frightening pandemic, which will eventually kill a million Americans, it's election season. President Trump claims the pandemic doesn't even exist, or that 'like a miracle, it will disappear.' He prefers to take small actions, while refrigerated trailers are now being rented by nursing homes. They hold the overflow of corpses that result when the virus is let loose in a confined population particularly vulnerable to it. Just a month before the election, both Trump and his wife get Covid. But he is given an early dose of a medicine that helps control the virus, and they both recover nicely. When released from the hospital, he takes a victory lap around town in his limousine. Man of Steel! | |||||||||
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Hey, That's MINE! The 2020 election is a watershed event. Democrats seem unsure how to defeat a sitting president who seems to have an iron grip on his supporters. Then, a pivotal statement of support by an influential black senator launches Joe Biden on his unlikely quest to take Trump down. With overwhelming support from the Black community, he manages to eke out a victory. So-called 'swing states' that swing unexpectedly to Trump in 2016 now swing back the other way, four years later. 'Stolen election!' cries Trump, calling it 'a mathematical impossibility' that Georgia could have swung to Biden. In reality, swing states are so evenly divided that tiny changes in voting patterns make all the difference. | |||||||||