This is a historical day. Inauguration Day is history regardless of the persons being sworn in to lead the country. It's just after 3:30pm EST and I have a few things I really want to say in reflection of the gravity of today:
First, Congratulations to President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris for winning the 2020 election (whether people want to believe that happened or not) and I pray that you manage to keep, at the very least, the spirit of your campaign promises. I, for one, understand that you might not get everything passed or everything passed the way you want, but I hope that you make the effort to viably progress the day-to-day lives of ALL the American People.
Also, Mr. President, I hope you understand that, during your campaign, you made a few.... we'll call them missteps..... with Black America. We have not forgotten. Your work with us is not close to done and please, for the love of God, don't placate us with superficialities. We are watching.
I also want to take a moment to apologize to former President George W. Bush. Man, did we say some off the wall things concerning your time in office. But after witnessing your class and humility after your left office, I realize that you weren't so bad after all. So, for myself, to President Bush, I offer my deepest apology.
I also want to note the class shown by former Vice President Mike Pence. I wish you would have been more vocal during your tenure in office. Maybe you could have been the much needed voice of reason America needed over the last 4 year. I also acknowledge that this may not have been the easiest thing for you or any other Republicans to do. I can only imagine and, to be honest, I'm intently awaiting your memoir of your time in office.
Today, I took my last surviving grandparent to get her COVID vaccine. This really stood out to me because, as I said, she is the only grandparent I have left. It was good just to be in her company. We had a good chance to talk. She was thankful for the chance to get the vaccine, understanding how important it is for everyone to move closer to "normal" and live on the other side of this pandemic.
My grandmother did her part in the Civil Rights movement and was a member of the Army. As we drove, I took the opportunity to ask her, being a veteran, how she felt about the kneeling protests. I felt a bit surprised that she, very adamantly, stood against it, declaring it disrespectful to the country and our flag. We then had a discussion about it. I told her about my other veteran friends who themselves will tell you that despite their feelings, they fought for our right to protest and have our own views. She agreed with this and again was adamantly against kneeling during the anthem. I also shared with her the reasons Kapernick knelt as oppose to his original sitting and she seemed to understand. Her personal view did not waiver.
I'm not gonna lie. It was weird to hear an opposing view to my own from my grandmother. To a point it was uncomfortable. In the absence of my Great-Grandmother, she is our Matriarch. She would not be one to argue with, but it wasn't an argument. It was a discussion; a mutual expression of views where both parties walked in with different views from each other, had a conversation, and walked out holding the same views and the same level of love for each other. It CAN happen. In light of this, I wonder why families are so willing to splinter over political viewpoint difference. Why the only thing holding some families together is the glue of silence; where everything is fine as long as we don't speak life into the differences that fill the air in the room. The broken family is a HUGE issue that we need to work on.
As we approached noon, I had turned on live coverage of the Inauguration so my grandmother could watch it in the car. She got to watch a woman of color get sworn in to the second highest office in our nation's government. We smiled and cheered and clapped in the car. It was a special moment that I'll get to hold on to forever. It's a moment she'll get to hold on to as well. I got to witness my grandmother witnessing the swear-in. There was gravity in this moment as I reflect on the history of Black people in America. Knowing that in her time, she's seen nearly the full spectrum of Black History, up to and including The Inaugurations of the first Black President and the first Black Vice-President (Obama and Harris, respectively, obviously). It was indeed a moment that wasn't lost on me.
In closing, I want the Nation to thrive. I wanted Trump to get past his childishness and focus on the nation at large and sadly, despite what some of his blind followers may think, he fed the country lies on an enchanted silver spoon to make his stew of lies taste better going down, but were lies nonetheless. I hope that the country is taking a moment to think about what's next. I hope the country has a chance to think about the issues of the last year and what they can do to better social relations. The social issues we encountered in 2020 are not for the government to fix, it's on US. We can lead the economy by supporting our small and local businesses. We can do our part to fight for the truth. We can do our part in slowing the spread of the Virus.
Inauguration Day is a day that kicks off change in America. I say that we, as a Nation, should do just that.
- Moon