American Failure. American Humility. American Hope.

This year has been a disaster.
We are living through a global pandemic yet have inadequate health screenings, medical equipment or a viable vaccine.
We are witness to public killings of black people at the hands of law enforcement yet our legal system continues to be slow to act if at all.
 Our schools and hospitals are starved for resources yet police have riot gear, tear gas and army surplus tanks to patrol the streets.
 Climate change causes unprecedented storms, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes and other extreme weather yet our policymakers refuse to take any action to change it or even acknowledge it’s happening.
 We’re experiencing record unemployment and a stalled economy yet the super rich loot and pillage recovery efforts to record profits.
 Refugees with nowhere else to go seek shelter at our door and yet we respond by rounding them up like criminals, separating them from their children and caging them like animals…or kick them out alone and afraid.
 Masked as ANTIFA, white supremacists are spreading misinformation online and terrorizing our communities.
Guns are unregulated. Truth is un-celebrated. Fascism re-branded.
 All while America cries....the President hides in his bunker. And the only response is an echo of the past: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Now our president has threatened to unleash America's military on it's own people.
 It’s no wonder, then, that so many folks have taken to the streets to express their outrage and demand justice.
 America is in a failed state. But there is at least two things that gives me hope. The first thing is, we have not lost our outrage. So much happens. Every month. Nearly every day. But we have refused to accept them. We refuse to shrug and let this just become normal.
Another hopeful note is the rush of optimism I feel anytime I see what is new. There have been protests before against the ingrained racism within our government, police and even well-meaning folk. But in this moment, the vast amount of faces lifting their voices to be heard are young and multicultural. Seeing people stream out onto the streets is probably the most hopeful I’ve been since the start of the pandemic. America is experiencing mass death, incompetent and vengeful leadership and economic collapse. Even under these catastrophic circumstances, people join together to demand more and better for themselves. This gives me hope for my children's world.