Racism and Politics: How America Faces A Challenge Like Never Before

In an age of unprecedented civil unrest and political instability, America finds itself at a boiling point of racial and political tension.

For a country that prides itself on its self-proclaimed diversity and equal rights for all, America’s longtime struggle with racism and bigotry paint a very different picture of the attitudes in American society.

With the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016, America’s stark racial and political divide intensified as the controversial administration ignored calls for inclusivity and mediation between both sides — instead insisting on exacerbating already fragile bipartisan alliances, sparking scandals from seeking foreign intervention in a US Election to promoting an insurrection that turned deadly at the US Capitol, all in the name of preserving American democracy and freedom.

And with the 2020 election, combined with an already extensive Covid-19 pandemic, America has in 2 years faced more challenges to its national unity than in the past 50 years of its history. But what is perhaps the most concerning is the national attitude and temperament towards the two sides of the political and racial spectrum, with one side the now unstable Republican Party and the other the disappointed Democrats: victims of an election that didn’t produce the results that either side was hoping for.

America has elected Joe Biden to become its 46th president. No doubt his presidency will also bring scandal and historical impetus, but more pressing about his presidency is not the implementation of his policies, but how he plans to reunite the nation, especially one that has just been rocked by an insurrection in the very building that he was being sworn in on January 20th.

“This is America’s day, this is democracy’s day, the day of history and hope. Today we celebrate a triumph, not of a candidate, but of a cause. We have learned again that democracy is precious democracy is fragile. At this hour my friends, Democracy has prevailed.”

Joe Biden has inherited a disenfranchised nation, both tired of partisan gridlock and also terrified of policy execution, a nation struggling with its last remnants of racism and police brutality, and a nation struggling through a trying international pandemic. If President Biden does the job right, he will achieve what even Lincoln failed to do: preserve the integrity and unity of the American people. If he does the job wrong, America will eventually lose its strategic strength — it will be abandoned by the world community, by its allies and partners, and be subject to some of the worst division to come over the nation since the Civil War in 1861.

Change must come to America, and it must come with speed and precision, with great promise and temerity, and with reform in big bold letters on its front page.

Change must come to America not as yet another bill written and jammed through both chambers by one party alone, but as a bipartisan bill agreed upon and written by both the pens of Democrats and Republicans.

It may sound hopeless: America’s legislative system has been locked in a partisan traffic jam for over 3 presidencies now, and at first glance that system is still at full force.

But while we can complain that we have no control over the proceedings within our government, we are to miss out on the fact that America, flawed as it may be, is still a representative democracy. We are not ruled by two parties, but by the people who elect those who deem fit to advance our interests in Washington DC.

It doesn’t take a war to sew back patches of the American people together: instead it takes a common goal, one free of partisan influence and bickering, free of the political controversy in DC, and one free of contentious debate we have become all too accustomed to in the past decade of American politics.

But what common goal does America now need to unite and stitch itself together? It’s simple: to ensure the survival of American democracy and values.

“A house divided cannot stand”

As seen in thousands of instances across the world and its history, political apathy encourages radicalization, forcing those who feel injustice and discontent with the government to take matters into their own hands, therefore feeding into hate and finally national conflict.

America needs to let go of partisanship in the name of its very survival. Another Civil War for America would not only be catastrophic: it would also mean the loss of the beacon of light of democracy, liberty, and freedom that the world has come to depend on for protection and hope.

It’s time to forget past political differences and remind ourselves that we do not have the freedom to continue to spur apathy and promote politics over national unity. If we continue on the path of indifference and political stalemate, America will become the place that neither side wants it to become: a place where power matters above all else, a place where limitations are placed in an attempt to consolidate power for one party, a place where rights of speech and religion are removed in order to preserve the power and vision one party wants for our nation.

National unity will come at a cost, naturally. Both sides must sacrifice items on their agenda in the name of promoting bipartisanship — but in this difficult time, where America is struggling to promote all of its citizens within its borders, where hate is resurging at record highs, and where a pandemic is killing Americans at a furious pace, ignoring political affiliations in its quest for world domination: America simply cannot continue to dig its own graves.

We as America, as its citizens and its protectors, as its voice and its existence are what makes America great. Let’s protect it in the name of us, in the name of its future, and in the name of its future generation which will look back on this time and judge how we reacted to this moment of national disunity.

Let us not lose faith in the American system, as flawed as it may be. While there is a need for change within America, for without hope, no change is possible.

Hope for a better future, combined with action and achievement will push our nation towards a more unified path — but it all begins with the hope for the better, and the action towards the future.