"A New Wave?"

A NEW WAVE?

            I was disappointed but not greatly surprised that Stacey Abrams barely lost the election for governor of Georgia.  When the primaries were held in Georgia last spring, the Democratic candidates got 50,000 less votes statewide than the Republican candidates.  Stacey had to make up 50,000 votes, and though she ran a fantastic campaign, she just could not do it.  Stacey did ramp it up, though – she received more votes that any state Democrat ever has, and her defeat is testimony to the racism and sexism and voter suppression of the old, white South.  In an ironic twist, the early returns show that more white women voted against Stacey than did white men.

            Stacey Abrams is an impressive candidate, so much so that an op-ed piece in the Washington Post last week suggested that the Democrats name her to be the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.  She brings to mind another African-American candidate who rose quickly on the national stage:  Barack Obama.  She does have an advantage over President Obama at this stage – she has great experience in using political power.   She may run for Senate in Georgia, but I’m hoping that she will run for President in 2020. 

            Whatever Stacey does, we must celebrate that she is part of a new wave of voters around the country.   I am hoping that this is part of a new wave in American electoral politics.  It’s not just that the Democrats took back the House of Representatives – a great relief to act as a check on Donald Trump and his dictatorial tendencies.  It is how they did it, and it is also that they brought along many states with them in seeking to build a party that reflects the need and the desire for justice and equity.   With Muslims and Native Americans and more women and Hispanic and African-Americans elected to Congress, it feels like we are witnessing a shift towards policies that will bring relief to so many of us.  And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is helping us to see that young people can and will vote and get involved.

            And, it’s not just on the federal level – great gains were made in many states and counties.  In Georgia, the suburbs went for Democrats for the first time in several decades.  That switch helped to elect an African-American Democratic woman in Newt Gingrich’s old seat.  In the Houston area of Texas, all judges elected in Harris County were Democrats for the first time in years and years.   The newly elected attorney general of New York, Letitia James, is the first woman and first African-American to be elected to that position, as well as the first African-American to be elected to statewide office in New York.  Perhaps more importantly, she emphasized that she wants to investigate the Trump Foundation, which has its charter in her state.  Our daughter-in-law Erin Graham is on the East Lansing school board in Michigan, and though she was not up for re-election, she was part of a coalition that helped the Democrats regain power in that state. 

            There are still very ugly realities – Trump seems able to hold his base, and the Senate, which will continue to confirm terrible federal judges, gained votes for Republicans.   Unless John Roberts is worried about being compared to Roger Taney, SCOTUS seems to be firmly entrenched in white, male supremacy.  And, being from the segregation days of white, Southern life, I don’t want to hope too much, because I know that the power of racism and sexism and materialism and militarism and homophobia is deep and wide.  To use Biblical language, we are captive to the power of the prince of the air (Ephesians 2:2), and we are wrestling with structures of power that are deeply entrenched, so that it seems that when we defeat one, many more pop up to contest our struggle for justice and equity.  It will be a long, hard journey. 

            And yet, in this week of Thanksgiving, I am grateful for this movement, for the women and Native Americans, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans and Muslim and white folks who put so much energy into starting a new wave – may it grow stronger into a tsunami for justice and equity.  And, if you are in Georgia and Mississippi, don’t forget to go back to the polls for important run-offs!