To concede in 2021, or demand racial justice?

“If you turn a blind eye to racism, you become an accomplice to it.” — Oprah

2020 is over. This week we will inaugurate our new President. It’s the end of four terribly destructive years. As we recover, care for ourselves and pursue joy, our consciences require us to remember the wrongs that can’t be made right. Breonna Taylor’s life matters. If we want a society where all the Breonna Taylors and George Floyds out there are able to live without fear, to pursue and fulfil their dreams, the work to move the mountains of racism in America that grew in 2020, cannot end.

We will never move those mountains, however, if we merely aim for the middle of injustice and racial justice. We cannot set out to achieve concessions as we Democrats tend to do. It is imperative that we fundamentally change the power structures that stand in the way of racial justice in our country. We must demand racial justice. That includes restoring and improving social programs, enacting and enforcing environmental policies that protect Americans, and put our species on course to a future we can look forward to. Otherwise we will simply cycle back through our immoral history of failed promises to Americans of color.

Will we demand justice in 2021, or will we once again concede? Mitch McConnell has a strategic plan to answer that question his way. Can those of us with a conscience answer it ours?

- Nate Craig — Phoenixville