Now is the Time
We are all complicit by inaction in the perpetuation of injustices that prevent us from being the kind of country we want to be.
By Thomas Fingar
Thomas Fingar is a former Deputy Director of National Intelligence and Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. He is a Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Scholar at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
It is almost 60 years since bob Dylan asked “How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?” For all that time — and for decades before he wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind” — too many Americans have found it convenient or expedient to ignore injustice, inequality, and racism in our own country while hypocritically chastising others for trampling on values we profess to hold dear. Looking the other way must end. The tragic death of George Floyd, disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people of color, and outrageous behavior of the President have galvanized Americans of all races, creeds, and political persuasions to acknowledge and address long-ignored injustices that weaken and demean our nation. The time to act is now. We can turn our heads no longer.
The massive demonstrations of public outrage during the past week attest to the scope and strength of disgust, dismay, and dissatisfaction with do-nothing politicians. Americans in all parts of the country have self-mobilized to proclaim, “Enough is enough. We want action and we want it now.” Peaceful protest bespeaks acknowledgement that we have a problem or, more accurately, that we have a complex array of cultural, economic, attitudinal, and political problems. Acknowledgement is a necessary first step, but demonstrations alone will not bring meaningful change and merely hoping for change is not a viable strategy. We the people have the right and the power to fix problems we are no longer willing to ignore. Fixing them is not someone else’s responsibility, it is ours. What follows is an illustrative list of things we can do.
Register and vote. Systematic disenfranchisement is one manifestation of the injustices we must fix, but far more Americans can vote than normally do so. The activism that has produced massive outpourings of grief and anger can and must be redirected to voter registration and get out the vote campaigns. Between now and November, our goal should be to register every American entitled to cast a ballot. Registration is critical but it is also insufficient. We also must act to thwart existing and proposed measures to limit voter participation. Where restrictive requirements exist, we must help people to meet them by obtaining prescribed identification documents. We must fight attempts to make voting inconvenient or unsafe by demanding mail-in ballots, multi-day voting opportunities, and safe procedures for in-person voting.
Force candidates to take a stand. Every candidate for public office should be pressed to endorse concrete proposals to end discrimination and social injustice. Party activists should demand this of their candidates, and journalists and organizers of debates and other campaign events should demand a clear statement of what every candidate will do to address our country’s most urgent social problems. Their commitments should be publicized in local media and included in voter information materials. Any who refuse or offer only vague platitudes should pay the price on election day.
Wallet power. Social injustice is everyone’s problem and no one should be able to pretend otherwise. We make decisions every day about where to spend our money and should use the resultant power of the purse to reward businesses that stand up for social justice and penalize those that won’t. Stores and professional service providers should be encouraged to take a corporate stand and be rewarded accordingly. Campaign contributions are a matter of public record; individuals or businesses that support candidates who refuse to address inequities in our society do not deserve our patronage.
The examples above are illustrative. Much more can and should be done. Those alive today did not create the problems requiring urgent attention, but we are all complicit by inaction or inadequate attention in the perpetuation of injustices that prevent us from being the kind of country we want to be and the kind of country we must become for the sake of our children.
