When the Dawn Comes
By John Thomas III, Editor
Four years ago, when I penned my first December editorial, I was encouraged to share a meaningful word to lead into the new year. On most of our minds and hearts was the election and impending inauguration of President Donald Trump. The vicious and venom-filled 2016 Presidential Campaign showcased the United States’ worst impulses and we steeled ourselves for the worst. And it was bad. When historians tell the story of the Trump administration, they will speak of the corrupt, inept, and mean-spirited gang that sought to “Make America Great Again”.
As we come to the close of 2020, by all measures the United States is weaker, smaller, less powerful, and more isolated than when the oath of office was issued to #45 on January 20, 2017. The “Hope and Change” from President Obama seem like distant memories in the wake of the chaos and havoc that have been wrought by the Trump administration at all levels of United States policy foreign and domestic. And that’s just the government.
Over the last four years, African Americans have been repeatedly reminded that despite our pivotal and instrumental role in the prosperity and wealth of the American republic, we still occupy a perilous socioeconomic situation. Forty years of economic gains since the 1960s Civil Rights movement were wiped out in the “Great Recession” and replaced with sinkholes of debt and despair. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown in one instance how structural racism kills African Americans through “pre-existing” conditions that largely correlate with poverty and genetics. The police brutality that has always stalked African American communities has been thrust again to the forefront with the anger and rage of a new generation tired of being shot down like animals in their own streets by those sworn to “serve and protect”.
On January 20, 2021, the curtain will close on “The Apprentice: White House Years” and the United States will have President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. We know that the Biden-Harris administration must not only fix four years of misrule, but also chart a course for the future. Across the political spectrum, there will be great soul searching as Republicans face the hangover of four years in the hands of Trump combined with a brewing civil war between progressives and centrists for control of the Democratic Party.
There is no question that the United States is emerging from one of its darkest time-periods. As the dawn comes, we must be proactive in what future we wish for our people. If there is one lesson taught repeatedly to African Americans it is that the gains of today can easily be backslid on tomorrow. The Reconstruction led to Jim Crow. The Civil Rights Movement energized the Conservative Movement. And the emergence of the Trump years was in no small part a reaction to the presidency of Barack Obama.
As people of faith, AMEs trust in the providence of God to guide our individual lives as well as the course of the nation and the world. Yet, we also know that we are commanded to live out the gospel each day in our words and actions. We must take responsibility for our communities, hold our public officials accountable, and pay attention to climate change and our environment. It is not enough that we marched and voted—we must continue to show the world what true Christian citizens look like every day.
Even in times of darkness before the dawn comes, we have been told that we are to shine our lights until the sun shines. Let 2021 be a year where our light shines brightly with the hope and promise we know to be true from God’s word.
