A change is coming

| 3:06 am EST January 7, 2021
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I started out the morning excited for the future of our country, thanks to the result of Georgia’s runoff races. Raphael Warnock made history — twice — when he defeated KKKelly Loeffler. He is not only the first Black Senator from Georgia, but he is also the first Black Democratic Senator from the South. Before we could even get into fully celebrating this historic event, all hell broke loose at the Capitol.

Watching those people take police shields and use them to break windows out in the Capitol was like watching a bad action movie. The problem? It was real. Seeing photos of a man lounging in Nancy Pelosi’s office and sitting at the desk occupied by Mike Pence moments earlier was appalling, but what was more appalling was how little the police seemed to be doing to stop them. I witnessed them breaking through barricades and punching officers. Is it not against the law to assault an officer? They certainly had no problem shooting Jacob Blake in the back seven times while he was handcuffed, or shooting Breonna Taylor 16 times while she slept. This speaks to something even bigger than what happened today, and all it must end.

President Elect Joe Biden spoke, asking for calm and order to be restored. He called on Donald Trump to speak to the nation. When Trump finally appeared, he was enjoying every minute of the chaos, destruction, and disorder. The first words out of his mouth were: “We have an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side.” Typical Trump speak: “us versus them” or “red states” and “blue states.” He not only enjoys the division he creates, but it is also part of who he is. Fanning the flames further, he told the protestors, “we love you. You’re very special.” There is absolutely nothing special about a bunch of thugs overtaking the Capitol. The best thing to do with Donald Trump is to immediately remove him from office, and the Republicans who started the whole objection nonsense need to go with him. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, the crazy woman from Colorado, Lauren Boebert, who screamed her objection to certification—they all need to go. They have no business governing this country.

The drama and terror inflicted on the Capitol on Wednesday completely took my mind off the good news that Raphael Warnock will be our groundbreaking Black Senator. It even made me forget that Jon Ossoff’s race still hung in the balance, but that changed after reading a tweet from Marc Elias, an attorney who has become a beacon of defending democracy. His tweet revealed that Jon Ossoff won his Senate race with more than .5%, meaning there will be no automatic runoff. Ossoff will be the youngest person in the Senate at 33 since Joe Biden was elected in 1973, and he is only the second Jewish Senator from the South. Thinking of these two historic elections helped to put things in perspective for me and reassures me that despite what I witnessed today, a change is coming.