America Is Burning

He couldn't be more articulate or correct. Racism in America is like dust in the air.

Invisible to the eye. But it's always there.

America Is Burning. Again.

America is burning, both literally and figuratively.

The America that's literally burning is only a few days old as of the writing of this post. The America that's burning figuratively has been burning for centuries, ever since the inception of what is America as the world knows it today.

The figurative burning was the premise for a history course I took in college called "The Five Crises." For the first time in my life, I saw the connection between disenfranchised rage and economic disparity, an ongoing burning in its own right that plays a key role in the perpetuation of systemic racism and misogyny. I saw why my country has a pattern of burning in the form of protests, civil unrests, and uprisings. I became aware of the roots of mass social hysteria, not unlike what the coronavirus pandemic recently catalyzed for the entire planet.

When the gap between the haves and the have nots widened in 17th century New England, it was easy to point fingers at women who fell outside the socially acceptable norm as the reason for the growing division and upheaval in Salem, Massachusetts (Arthur Miller's The Crucible poignantly explores this conflict). Calling these women witches was far easier than looking in the mirror for the cause of growing economic disparity between the working and merchant classes. So was eradicating them from the community. Witches were burned at the stake in front of people they once called friends and neighbors for the sole purpose of sending a warning shot over the bow to anyone who might be considering raising their voice about perceived injustices. 

Four hundred years later it was just as easy to blame child care center workers for committing sex crimes against children when masses of mothers entered the workforce in the 1980s. Once again, the economic world order as we'd known it was burning, disappearing up in flames right before our eyes. With moms exchanging aprons for power suits, class divisions were in play again. We needed someone -- anyone -- to blame for this change other than ourselves. 

Here we are in the first half of 2020 and the world as we knew it up until mid-March has disappeared. A lot of people are furious about that. We didn't ask for or choose conditions in which we now find ourselves living. We didn't ask for a new virus to sweep through the population, taking lives as it spread. We didn't ask to be locked in our homes or sent packing from our jobs or forced to wear face masks when going to the grocery store to buy food to feed our families. Depending on your worldview, when you look at the landscape of America today, you could see anything from authentic rage and justified action on city streets to the darkest depths of helplessness and despair. Anyone who has stood outside the proverbial candy store of opportunity with their nose pressed against the glass longing for what's inside only to be told "This is not for you" understands the source of fury we witness on the nightly news. 

Fanning the Flames

Unless you have consciously chosen to live off the grid, it's impossible anymore because of the Internet and social media not to be aware of who has what and who doesn't, who goes where and who doesn't. For the last 10-15 years, the Internet has gradually fanned the flames of outrage over the growing economic divide in America as it continued to grant anyone with a wi-fi connection and device access en masse to what once were private spaces and lives. Sure, television programs like "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and MTV's "Cribs" brought cameras inside wealthy people's homes, but social media has taken exposure to extraordinary heights.

Before Instagram, we weren't seeing what our favorite celebrities or sports figures were putting in their morning smoothies as they make their morning smoothies in real time. We never imagined teenagers could become multi-millionaires from posting videos of themselves putting on makeup or playing video games on YouTube. We've never had a president who tweets whatever's on his mind any time of day or night with no filter or regard for the consequences of what he posts.

We are in the midst of a crisis, no doubt. What's happening, though, is so much more than a knee-jerk reaction to a series of senseless deaths. What's happening is a tidal wave of collective rage that's been gaining momentum for generations. In the wake of what's happened, to say we didn't see it coming seems ridiculous.  Of course we did. We just didn't want to acknowledge the warning signs, let alone heed any of them. Until the water reaches our private shore, it's someone else's problem. 

Thankfully, tidal waves don't last. Eventually the water recedes. That's when the opportunity for doing the real work begins. The obvious question is, are we willing to do the work necessary to build a new foundation that affords opportunity for the many and not just the few? Is it within our capacity to put in motion forward progress that leads to justice and widespread systemic change so as to prevent more fires raging out of control?

Or do the coals never die out completely, always smoldering below the surface until someone tosses a handful of kindling that catches fire and keeps America burning, always burning?