Now is not the time for silence

I have a friend who, faced with conflict, often reminds people that we have more in common than we have in difference.

It’s good advice. Bound together as we are by cords of common humanity, most of our conflicts are rooted in short-sightedness. For the most part, we desire to live out lives in peace, to breathe clean air, and enjoy the fruits of our labors. We may dispute the best ways to get there, but surely as adults we can put those aside, and work together and find ways to respect and even celebrate our differences.

It’s good advice, when it’s appropriate.

Right now it’s not appropriate.

Right now our country is divided and in pain, but this is not because some of us are being insensitive and overreactive. We are divided because a mob last week was egged on to violence by a president who for four years has spread deceit and sown division.

The rioters were invited to overthrow the democratic process because of a thoroughly debunked lie he has been spreading that the election was rightfully his and was stolen. This is not an idle assertion; the issue has been thoroughly litigated in the courts and its mendacity has been attested to by election officials in state after state.

Silence now normalizes the president’s behavior. Silence now normalizes the far right and its attempt to overthrow our democracy at the behest of the president.

Our republic teetered on the brink a week ago. Armed insurrectionists stormed the Capitol with the intent to execute elected officials because of the lies Trump has been telling and the division he has been sowing.

This is not the time for silence. Silence now would be complicit with the evil he has done. Silence now would say his lack of character and integrity are no big deal.

Justice! the Deuteronomist writes. Justice you shall pursue. So let us pursue the unity that comes through justice.

Trump is a wicked man, and yes, I am glad to see him impeached. I am glad to see his ability to willy-nilly sow discord curtailed. I will be glad to see him out of power. I will be glad to see his evil policies brought to an end, and I cannot be silent about a desire to see justice for the refugees he has denied sanctuary, for the families he has torn apart, for the children he has thrown into cages, or for the millions of Americans whose votes he has denied the legitimacy of because he can’t handle the truth that the election wasn’t stolen from him, he lost it in a landslide.

The only thing that makes me sad about his loss is the number of people who overlooked the evil he has been doing and who bought into his lies. I’m sorry for the disappointment they feel, but I’m not going to be quiet. We need to have a long and perhaps painful conversation, and no one is going to heal or experience unity until we have it.