1.11.21 | An American Insurrection
edition thirty-one
Good Monday morning. Beginning today, P&W will publish every other week. Thank you for your thoughtful feedback; I will introduce more changes in the coming weeks as the newsletter evolves. Be protective and deliberate with your boundaries this week. Our agenda:
This is who we are
The Dialogue (Social Justice)
Future of Higher Education
Best of the Rest
This is who we are
After years of lies, racism, conspiracy theories, and bullshit, President Donald Trump has admitted for the first time that there will be a new administration on January 20th — but only after his almost exclusively white supporters staged a deadly insurrection. This is who we are.
Visual Timeline: How one of America’s ugliest days unfolded inside and outside the Capitol (Post)
Gripping: Inside the Capitol siege: How barricaded lawmakers and aides sounded urgent pleas for help as police lost control (Post)
We will never have a truly representative democracy until we confront white supremacy and systemic racism. As UMD government and politics professor Dr. Lilliana Mason put it, “the parties have taken opposing positions on whether the traditional social hierarchy should (or still does) exist. This is not a debate with an acceptable compromise position for either side -- which is a dangerous position for a democracy.” This is who we are.
Prof. Hakeem Jefferson lays it out clearly: Storming The U.S. Capitol Was About Maintaining White Power in America (FiveThirtyEight)
They Say This Isn't America. For Most Of Us, It Is. (Harpers)
Roxane Gay: The Capitol Riot Showed Us America's Ugly Truth (NYTimes)
Adam Serwer (author of “The Cruelty is the Point”): Multiracial Democracy Is 55 Years Old. Will It Survive? (The Atlantic)
“White Americans aren’t afraid of the cops. White Americans are never afraid of the cops, even when they’re committing an insurrection,” JoyAnn Reid said in speaking for many Black Americans. Where there is radical Black resistance, there is state repression. Where there is white rebellion for conservative causes, there is collusion with the state. This is who we are.
Look at the Capitol Hill rioters. Now imagine if they had been black (Guardian)
Recommended: The Police’s Tepid Response To The Capitol Breach Wasn’t An Aberration (FiveThirtyEight)
This was the police response when it was Black protesters on DC streets last year (CNN)
Even in the wake of this Trump-inspired violent takeover of the Capitol, more than 100 Republican legislators continued to vote for a seditious attempt to reject a legitimate election. Many of these same politicians have the audacity to urge us to come together in the name of “unity” as they reject any attempts at accountability. This is who we are.
“On Tyranny” author Timothy Snyder: "America will not survive the big lie just because a liar is separated from power. It will need a thoughtful repluralization of media and a commitment to facts as a public good."
Bottom line: before there can be unity, there must be justice.
IMPACT AND TRAUMA
Black Capitol Police Officers Describe The Racism They Faced (Buzzfeed)
Rampage Weighs on Congressional Staff Members and Capitol Workers (NYTimes)
Confederates in the Capitol (Atlantic)
Photos from Capitol riot may cause anxiety and stress (Post)
What do you do when tens of millions of people are being herded into conspiracy thinking and extremist ideas?
WHAT A WEEK FOR THE RASKIN FAMILY
Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) has been through more in one week than most people experience in a lifetime: He lost his son to suicide, he and his daughter survived the insurrection, and he began working with two colleagues to prepare articles of impeachment.
When Tommy Raskin died at 25 years old on New Year’s Eve, he left a farewell message for his family: “Please forgive me. My illness won today,” Tommy wrote, according to a poignant tribute written by his parents. “Please look after each other, the animals, and the global poor for me.” Hundreds from the D.C. area and beyond have signed up to fulfill Tommy’s final wish by doing good deeds in his name, adding them to this Google document.
PANDEMIC: WHERE YEAR TWO WILL TAKE US
Things are dark now. Hope is on the horizon but so are obstacles. As one expert said: “Think about this summer as a marker for when we might be able to breathe again. But there’s almost a year’s worth of work that needs to happen in those 6 months.”
Where the Pandemic Will Take America in 2021 (Atlantic)
Part 1 is about the challenges of rolling out the most complicated vaccination campaign in US history. Part 2 looks at the new patchwork that will arise, when some parts of the US are heavily immunized and others aren’t. Part 3 is about the virus’s next move—how long the immunity from vaccination might last, whether/how the virus might evolve in response, and what happens next.
Parts 4 and 5 are about the enduring scars that a year of pandemic failure will leave even as vaccinations restore a sense of normalcy—a tattered health-care system, millions of long-haulers, and widened inequities that will last a generation.
Finally, Part 6 is about how we’ll think about the pandemic in hindsight, the lessons that will make us better prepared next time, and the risk that "we're trying to get through this with a vaccine without truly exploring our soul.” This is who we are.
The Dialogue (Social Justice)
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Webinar on Jan. 13: White Backlash: why it happens and how we fight back (Showing Up for Racial Justice)
Helpful! “Commit to making social change a lifestyle choice, rather than a crisis response.” We saw important social activism last year. Here’s how to maintain it in 2021. (The Lilly)
New from my friends Damien Franze and Aaron Hood: Interdependent Study is a podcast about the learning and unlearning work for social justice and collective liberation: linktr.ee/interstudypod
BLACK LIVES MATTER
Must read: How COVID-19 Hollowed Out a Generation of Young Black Men (ProPublica)
America in 2021: Racial Progress in the South, a White Mob in the Capitol (NYTimes)
AMPLIFYING VOICES
What if care was the organizing principle of our society? (South Seattle Emerald)
Classes on Racial Justice Can Be a Burden to Students of Color (Teen Vogue)
'Toxic Individualism': Pandemic Politics Driving Health Care Workers From Small Towns (NPR)
Future of Higher Education
HOT TOPICS
Higher Education in a Time of Insurrection (Chronicle). “We need more people to attend college not chiefly because our economy demands it but because our democracy depends on it.”
Colleges Share the Blame for Assault on Democracy (Chronicle). “Whether about immigrants or climate change or white supremacy or the Covid-19 pandemic, the president and his allies lied with abandon, and higher education remained largely silent.”
Colleges Weigh Whether to Require Covid-19 Vaccines, or Just Urge Them (Chronicle)
Delay, dismantle, resist: DeVos leaves a legacy like no other Education secretary (Politico)
Colleges Need a Better Way to Deliver Emergency Aid (Atlantic)
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Advice for BIPOC faculty for preparing for pandemic instruction in the coming semester (IHE)
Are You Working? From New Year's Resolutions to Reality (Chronicle)
Best of the Rest
WELLNESS
Do You Want to Buy Less Stuff? Three People Tell Us How (NYTimes)
What it means to pandemic solo (Culture Study)
UNDER THE RADAR
FUN
Best Places 2021: Great Authors on Our America (Frommers). This year’s Best Places names the spots Americans should get to know—one day, once the pandemic is just a bad memory—to better understand their own heritage and legacy and, perhaps, to start the process of healing.
Related: 52 Places to Love in 2021 (NYTimes)
The Most Anticipated Books of 2021 (Good Reads)
Until next time, be strong and be well.