April 16, 2022
T.S. Eliot wrote that “April is the cruelest month,” and by any measure, that seems to be true. It is hard to resist being crushed under the weight of unrelenting grim news. Russia, frustrated by its failure to conquer Ukraine in a matter of days, has escalated its genocidal campaign to level the country and erase its people. Russia has repeatedly shown its blatant disregard for international law and contempt for humanity, bombing a train station in Kramatorsk last Friday that was packed with women, children and elderly people seeking to evacuate. Fifty civilians were killed, including two children and 300 people were injured, (Source: “A missile strike in eastern Ukraine kills 50 people waiting for trains to escape the fighting,” by Megan Specia and Michael Levenson, The New York Times, 4/8/22).
This past week, a terrorist with a Glock boarded a rush hour train in Sunset Park and set off two smoke bombs before firing 33 bullets. Miraculously, although 10 people were shot and 19 people injured, no one died. It is notable that the officers in the subway at the time failed to prevent the crime, or apprehend the suspect before he boarded a train across the platform. Frank James was arrested 29 hours later thanks to an eagle eyed Syrian immigrant, Zack Tahhan, who spied James in the McDonald’s next to the bodega where Tahhan worked. James also apparently called the tip line himself to alert the authorities to his location. Remember these facts when we’re told that more police officers are the solution to rising crime, (Source: “Suspect in Brooklyn subway train shooting called in the tip that led to his arrest, sources say,” by Brynn Gingras, Shimon Prokupecz, Pervais Shallwani, Artemis Moshtagian, Laura Ly, Kristina Sgueglia, Eric Levenson and Mark Morales, CNN.com, 4/13/22).
Earlier this week, Oklahoma voted to criminalize abortion, passing a law that makes performing or having an abortion a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison (Source: “Oklahoma governor signs near-total ban on abortion,” by Paul LeBlanc and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN.com, 4/12/22). Not to be outdone, Thursday, the Kentucky state legislature overrode Democratic Governor Andy Beshear’s veto to pass a law that immediately shut down all access to abortion in the state of Kentucky, (Source: “It’s now practically impossible to get an abortion in Kentucky,” by Nicole Narea, Vox.com, 4/14/22).
Faced with depressing proof that the barbaric impulse to dominate others through murder and persecution knows no borders, it is easy to forget that it has only been a week since the uplifting South Lawn celebration of the vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to be the first Black woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. It is easy to forget Judge Jackson’s recognition that her family “took just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court” and to forget that it was our Herculean organizing efforts to elect Joe Biden and two Democratic Georgia Senators that made that moment possible.
It is easy to forget that less than a month ago, a small band of workers led by two Black men, won their battle to unionize Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse. Despite the Amazon lawyer’s dismissal of leader Chris Smalls as “not smart or articulate,” despite being outspent by more than 20 to 1, Chris Smalls and his best friend, Derrick Palmer defied conventional wisdom and established the independent Amazon Labor Union. Smalls and Palmer succeeded because they were undeterred by Amazon’s derision and staunch opposition. They won over their co-workers by building bonfires to warm them as they waited for buses home, bringing them home cooked food, and fundraising for a co-worker who was in danger of becoming homeless, (Source: “How Two Best Friends Beat Amazon,” by Jodi Kantor and Karen Weise, The New York Times, 4/2/22).
Now, more than ever, it is critical that we not give in to cynicism and despair. Now, more than ever, we all must commit to standing up for one another and actively resisting injustice, whether we are personally affected or not. The confirmation of Justice Jackson and the victory of the Amazon workers is a timely reminder that we should “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”