It seems like each day, this nation is swiftly careening toward an authoritarian regime with far too many elected officials (on both sides of the aisle) capitulating to the whims and dark desires of the president and his administration. During the campaign season last year, Vice President Kamala Harris warned the nation that her opponent had deep desires to turn this country backward, enrich himself and his family and friends, isolate us from our allies, ingratiate himself with our adversaries, and attempt to decrease and erase the hard-fought struggles to make this nation more equitable and inclusive.
I will admit, the future of this nation looks quite bleak at the moment. Scholars who study democracies that have been taken over by autocrats and dictators estimate this country has about a little more than a year to correct course before irrevocable damage is done to the very core fabric of the nation whereby we will not be able to turn back. Sigh. I do not know what the future holds, but I do know this is a time for us to be vigilant. We must hold our elected officials accountable, and if they are not working to make this country more diverse and free, then we must vote them out of office.
This moment takes courage. Courage will need to be a sustaining factor for the months ahead as the current regime tries to silence teachers, politicians, celebrities, corporations, lawyers, journalists, and so many other groups doing important work. This is not a drill. When a president and an administration do their grifting and cruelty out in the light, we have turned a real corner. When merely stating facts (or actual events that are well documented) are offenses met with a swift firing, we know this regime is succeeding in silencing any form of dissent. When far too few people are speaking up for the ways qualified and talented Black women in various sectors are being targeted purely because of their race, gender, occupation, and power, we must realize that we have swiftly reached a point of real democratic danger that must be addressed, rooted out, elected out, and confronted head-on.
We no longer have the luxury of ignoring what is happening. If immigrants, documented and undocumented, are being targeted at their jobs, their homes, and in courts of law, they are merely a test case for what this regime wants to do to others. We must remember the clear-eyed wisdom of Angela Davis when she warned us, “If they come for me in the morning, they will come for you in the night.” Now is the time to build coalitions with other groups and remember we can, will, and must triumph in this moment.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of the books “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.