It all depends on us

So much going on: Demonstrations all around the world over the murder by a Minneapolis policeman of an African-American, George Floyd. The coronavirus (COVID–19) is still spreading, especially where lockdowns were prematurely relaxed. President Trump poses for a photo in front of an Episcopal church holding the Bible upside down after having dispersed a crowd of unarmed, peaceful demonstrators that stood in his way.

The protests have spread throughout the nation, and are populated by whites as well as people of color. A majority of Americans support the demonstrations. The police have responded with a brutality against unarmed demonstrators hard to imagine in a civilized society.

We have experienced demonstrations and even riots many times over our history, but this seems different. The videos posted on social media showing the brutality of the police against unarmed demonstrators has finally opened the eyes of the nation’s citizens, especially white citizens. It is hard for anyone to view the video of the casual murder of a black man by a policeman and deny that we have a serious problem with the police.

In the past, northern whites have sprung to action when they were confronted by atrocities committed in the deep south against African-Americans. That was the impetus for the Civil Rights movement in the ’60s, which led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After the passage of these two acts, everyone, especially northern whites, sat back and relaxed, patting themselves on the back for what they had accomplished.

The law of unforeseen consequences, however, dictates that well-meaning acts, such as passing laws, enforcing them through the courts, and punishing violators, seldom achieve the precise results the drafters desire. Both the Congress that passed these bills and the president that signed them into law failed to anticipate the resistance to some of their provisions, not only by southern whites but also northern whites. These were the sections that prohibited discrimination in housing.

Prior to the ’50s, housing segregation was virtually the law of the land. The FHA and other federal agencies that guaranteed housing loans did not, as established policy, approve loans for inner city housing, but only the suburbs. African-Americans could not follow opportunity to the suburbs, due to racially-restrictive covenants that forbade the sale of homes to blacks. But that is a story to be told elsewhere.

What I intended to write about is the current situation. Our politics are in flux; the establishment is off-balance, although it will likely recover. Change is in the air. A majority of the population is ready for change. It is not clear, however, that the white public would be willing to swallow the medicine that the nation must take to bring about such change.

When officials moved to enforce the fair housing provision of the laws, white communities pushed back, and the politicians backed off. President Richard Nixon had appointed George Romney, former governor of Michigan, as head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Romney took his job seriously and began to enforce the laws against discrimination in housing. Nixon, feeling the political heat, ordered Romney to let up on enforcement. Romney ignored the order, and Nixon fired him. And the nation is more segregated now than it was in 1970.

No one of whom I am aware possesses adequate knowledge and wisdom to prescribe the proper medicine. I think we have a general idea of what needs to be done: an overhaul of a society that oppresses blacks, other minorities, the poor, and the vulnerable. This cannot be done without a more equal society, where the obscenely wealthy cannot buy a government that enables them to become even more obscenely wealthy.

When Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, presented him with a 1,000 page list of what needed to be done during his presidency. They had planned well, and many of the policies in the list became law, to the detriment of the 99%. Inequality, as measured by the Gini Index, started rising immediately and has continued its climb up to the present.

I haven’t seen a viable plan (or any plan whatever) to seize the moment. It does no good to enjoy the discomfort of the power elite without preparing in advance a detailed plan to take advantage of the unrest that makes change possible. To borrow from Vito Corleone, “The powerful can make mistakes – the rest of us do not have that luxury.”

A movement without plans will fail. The participants must agree on goals and strategy. They must be ready and willing to act. Previous movements, like Occupy Wall Street, arose spontaneously, but seemed to have no goals other than making a point. Occupy Wall Street is now only a memory.

I am concerned that the present anger will dissipate, leaving only a faint memory. Now is the opportunity to focus that anger and transform it into targeted action. Leaders must inculcate in the participants a willingness to take responsibility for bringing about change. Personal improvement will not cut the mustard. Established power will not yield unless it is opposed by power. Power comes from concerted pressure by the people. It is time to organize and project our own power to save what remains of our representative democracy.