Already, a pre-autopsy of how Trump took over America highlights crucial issues.

While we might have failed to address the deeper origins of our societal wedge over the past several decades, Trump’s election in 2016 should have been a wake-up call.

Rather than focusing on universal human rights, we have become more preoccupied with different human identities. Rather than pursuing social justice while building unity and inclusion, we have fallen for a form of justice that drives divisions.

We cannot sacrifice our principles in the fight for those same principles. Our means must be morally consistent with our ends.

Now, we do not have the power to change our past. But we have the power to change our future.

But if this conflict is to be resolved by force — and there may seem to be no other option in the face of atrocity — we must recognize that, though war may appear to defeat hate, violence is only a form of suppression.

Until we revolutionize our social structures and address the underlying causes of extremist hate, the stain of hate will persist in our society, and we will never achieve social resilience.

Additionally, we must remember that we will all lose in a war — victims and perpetrators alike.

Therefore, no matter how righteous our causes may be, they will mean nothing if we no longer exist.

All of these realities also tell us about the central role of reconciliation following any conflict. Without an earnest effort toward reconciliation, the curse of violence will forever tear apart the fabric of our nation.

The choice will be stark: a collective future or a collective death. Reconciliation will provide the only path forward for the future and survival of our society.

Until we learn to be together, we will not be free.

But when our many voices learn to sing in harmony, we will produce the symphony that is togetherness, we will discover the real power of humanity, and we will watch the awesome sight as freedom and justice flow through all the waters and cover all the lands of the world.

Works Cited:

  1. King, Jr., Martin Luther and James M. Washington. 1986. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. New York: HarperCollins.
  2. Moore, Doug. 2018. “50 years later, King’s ‘Dream’ speech remains benchmark for progress.” St. Louis Dispatch, August 8, 2013. https://tinyurl.com/yc2l964z.

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Human, activist, scholar. Physician-Economist-in-training @UMich. CEO @proghealth. @FulbrightPrgrm Awardee. I work on anything that matters, locally & globally.

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Josh Greenberg

Human, activist, scholar. Physician-Economist-in-training @UMich. CEO @proghealth. @FulbrightPrgrm Awardee. I work on anything that matters, locally & globally.