Yesterday was the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
Fifty six years ago the original Black Lives Matters supporters marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama and into history where they were confronted with belligerent police sent to “keep the peace” by beating peaceful marchers. These non-violent marchers - who only blocked two of the four lanes on the bridge! - included Reverend Martin Luther King and future Congressman John Lewis and Amelia Boynton Robinson, were merely seeking the right to register to vote.
What else is new, right?
Our current president - a man who understands the role of a president - signed an executive order promoting voting rights on this historic occasion. Of course there remains enormous work to do involving voting rights because - as I type - at least 253 bills are being introduced across the nation to SUPPRESS voting.
Biden’s latest executive order comes on the heels of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan of 2021 which made its way through the U.S. Senate and passed with some contentious alterations. Like stripping the $15 an hour minimum wage segment of the bill.
Here’s a peak inside:
Rescue Plan passages will not only start the process of sending out $1,400 direct payments to Americans and also:
Enhances the Earned Income Tax Credit for workers without children by nearly tripling the maximum credit and extending eligibility. It would be the largest expansion to the credit since 2009.
Expands the Child Tax Credit to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for children under 6), and makes it fully refundable and advanceable, meaning it could be a monthly payment.
Increase the tax credit for child care.
Reduce health care premiums for low- and middle-income families by increasing the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits for 2021 and 2022.
Stabilize the pensions for more than 1 million Americans, often frontline workers, who participate in multiemployer plans that are rapidly approaching insolvency.
Sends $350 billion in aid to state and local governments.
Now, the House votes once more before a real president signs it into law. No Republican Senators voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan. I guess there was nothing in it for defense contractors or any additional tax breaks for their donors or themselves. Oh, right. They were also pissed about the ‘slush fund’ left in for Planned Parenthood - the commie enterprise that tries to make Americans’ lives better by providing them with a plethora of options and in-depth information.
They were so bored with having to think about helping ordinary Americans they fled the Senate chambers following the belabored discussions surrounding the bill leaving the new majority leader - a Democrat, Chuck Schumer, who IS related to Amy Schumer - an opening to file a “cloture” vote on the confirmation of Merrick Garland to be the next Attorney General.
Suffice it to say, the Republicans shanked this one. By leaving the Senate chambers in a huff or in a hurry, they opened the door for Schumer to deftly make the confirmation vote on Garland infinitely easier. All the Democrats need this week is a majority vote to confirm Merrick Garland. All of a sudden - despite the odds still piled against them - the Democrats are beginning to smell like roses.
I say the odds are piled against them because they are Democrats, after all. Well-versed in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Just this morning, the CDC announced people who are vaccinated may gather indoors without masks. Just the other day, it was reported 2.9 million vaccinations took place throughout the country which is .9 million more than our target number. Apparently 60 million Americans have received one dose. I am one of them.
I must confess I am beginning to feel a little bullish about the immediate future. But we should not be surprised. When Democrats gain control of the mechanisms of government, they may not be progressive juggernauts but they are always laser-focused on domestic issues. And, in case you haven’t noticed, those issues directly impact our lives. They give us cause to hope and dream.
Other than Native Americans (and even they immigrated across the Bering land mass), America is a land of immigrants. While conservatives generally eschew multi-cultural diversity, or derisively refer to it as “woke” capitalism, progressives embrace the chaos because it more accurately reflects America and our ideals.
Like Lin-Manual Miranda’s line in the musical Hamilton, when Democrats hold the reins of power like the immigrants they are, they “get the job done.”
By the way, it’s International Women’s Day. Every March 8th. Hear what Palki Sharma has to say about it. I recommend checking out all of her opinion pieces
Also, thanks to AAR Jerry Baird, I caught wind of this very on point cartoon about the ongoing out-of-immediate-sight happenings in the pandemic. This woman lives, and works as a nurse, in Boise where, just this weekend, as I was passing through coming home from my travels, there were Idahoans protesting masks by burning them in a burn barrel on the Capitol steps.
Heavy sigh.
I suppose we should be happy they were not storming the Capitol of Idaho.
One more thing. I started writing this column because I wanted to put my finger on the scales and do my part to tip those scales toward justice. I’ve encouraged y’all to make your voice heard. I’m convinced there is no other option readily available to us to make an impact. I’m convinced regularly contacting your representatives - like the steady drip of water on rock - is one tried and true method of making change happen. For that reason, I’m adding one last thing to the conclusion of my columns. A suggestion for what you can harangue, or congratulate, your representatives about today.
I’d send a thank you note to your Senator or Senators if they voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan. I’d send a note admonishing your Senator or Senators if they are some of the ones on the wrong side of history and humanity.
I find Resistbot is the easiest way to go. But, phones work as well.
Definition of hiatus
1a: a break in or as if in a material object : GAP
. . .the weedy hiatus between the town and the railroad— Willa Cather
2a: an interruption in time or continuity : BREAK
especially: a period when something (such as a program or activity) is suspended or interrupted
after a 5-year hiatus from writing. . .