I watched the inauguration of Joseph R. Biden today with many competing emotions. I was afraid it might not go off without a hitch. After all, just two weeks ago (to the day) I watched people storm the Capitol building and commit acts of violence. More violence had been threatened. Thankfully, it didn’t happen. My heart was also heavy that America recently passed the horrific milestone of 400,000 deaths from COVID-19. At one point, half that number seemed unthinkable. It’s hard for me to imagine a more thorough failure in the world’s wealthiest nation. I was eager to hear what Biden would say in the face of such difficulty, and he named things so well.
His is one of the first inaugural addresses to take place in a society where quotes are instantly memed. And certainly, he had some meme-worthy phrases. Perhaps the line that struck me the most was his referring to the current state of affairs in America as an Uncivil War. What a fascinating thing to say. It’s entirely possible that America has never been as divided as it is now except for the time it literally went to war with itself. The physical wounds of The Civil War were monumental. Two percent of the American population died from warfare and its associated miseries. But, I think many of us are coming to terms with the fact that we have been underestimating the figurative wounds which caused the conflict and have stewed in one way or another since. Ultimately, this is all to say, America has not fully come to terms with the fact that it was founded on the near genocide of Native Peoples and the abhorrent practice of enslaving Africans.
I want the kind of society Biden spoke of, and I have given my life to help bring it to fruition. Still, I lack the imagination to understand how healing can take place without a proper diagnosis and course of treatment. Until America as a whole confesses the sins of the past and seeks legitimate restoration, I think it will be stuck in an endless cycle of division with those who love the country so much they can never speak ill of it on one side and those who love it so much they can’t allow it to exist under a delusion on the other. This gets at the trickiness of civility. How do you agree to disagree about lies? Maybe the people perpetuating the lies finally give up the futile fight. But until that takes place, any notion of healing, progress, or advancement will be partial at best.
