John McCain: I want to talk to you about the current unrest and what it means from my perspective now.
Annie, there is much more going on now than meets the eye. Certainly rage at the inequality of care, education, and opportunity fuels the flames of this violence, and certainly much of that I could not see when I was living. I thought protecting America meant keeping out foreign adversaries so that we were free to resolve our internal lives as we saw fit. That was ok as far as it went, but, clearly even to those with the limited resources of human perception, that approach did not go far enough.
Here, where I am now, a bigger picture is available to me. The fire that lights the funeral pyre is the fire that clears the contagion. It is no accident that a viral contagion has been released on the world at the same time that the contagion of imperialism, racism, and scapegoating is being illuminated by incontrovertible and visible acts of oppression. Hold on, folks, there is more to come. And as it comes, rocks will be turned over, secrets revealed, and players unmasked. This is a necessary process, and I urge you to step into it not away. We are not going back to “normal” because normal was the ungodly oppression of the multitudinous weak for the benefit of the miniscule powerful. Education was prohibited for blacks for many years, and even now systems institutionalize the upward path that those in poverty must tread just to get a seat, not at the table or even in the same room, but somewhere on the lawn outside.
We are changing this and the angels rejoice. Weep, yes, grieve, for what we must sacrifice in this war, and that is what it is. There is a terrible price to pay for those whose lives and families are forfeit. Never can this be overlooked. But the end result will be worth it, and, therefore, we must fight, give no quarter to anything that shames our love of light, God, and kindness. This does not mean hatred but implacable love for all of the souls that God created.
Ask Auntie,* she knows. She sees. And she has been there. There will be a leader like her who knows how to fight, who knows how to love, and whose standing is above reproach. I am looking to Stacey Abrams and those like her who can move over to utter consistency and balance, who see not white or black or brown or green but who see through to the content of our characters and move us to align with the love of the God that created us.
My friends it will happen. Swords will not be beat into plowshares yet because we have not yet liberated those who have been doing the plowing. But it will come. And the swords of the ungodly will be exposed for what they are, instruments of oppression and greed, nothing more. It is happening now. Be a part of it.
June 2, 2020
*Harriet Tubman. See post Harriet Tubman on George Floyd, May 31, 2020.