TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.
If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people whave behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory. — Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn described himself as “Something of an anarchist, something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist.”
He wrote extensively about the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movement, and labor history of the United States.
The quote above is a favorite quote of mine. Zinn reminds us that there was never a time in human history that was conflict-free. And even in the worst of despicable acts, there can be inspiring examples of the best humans have to offer each other.
At challenging times like these, those few who act selflessly in the face of danger to save lives, give comfort, aid or reassurance to others, we call “heroes”.
Television’s children host Mr. Rogers said his mother responded to scary news by telling him, ‘Look for the helpers.’
Fred Rogers often told this story about when he was a boy and would see scary things on the news: “My mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world.”
I’ve four examples of heroism surrounding tragic events of January 6th deadly attack on the Capitol by Trump Supporters, who, in my humble opinion, exemplify Zinn’s quote, and give me hope we will overcome this latest threat to our democracy.
My sincere hope is their stories inspire you find the courage to help others as well.
TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
Capitol Hill staffers who grabbed Electoral College ballots amid chaos
When supporters of President Trump overran the US Capitol as Congress prepared to certify the Electoral College tally, staffers scooped up the ballots so they wouldn’t be damaged in the chaos, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday.
The Minnesota Democrat described how the members of Congress were informed that Capitol security had been breached and they were told to leave the chamber.
Sen. Klobuchar says these anonymous staffers grabbed Electoral College ballots amid the Capitol chaos.
Hours later, Congress convened and early Thursday approved the results giving President-elect Joe Biden 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.
Because they would, for certain, have been ransacked and taken if they had not been — if they had been left there, — Klobuchar told NBC’s “Today.”
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.
If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
Capitol Police officer Goodman drawing rioters away from Senate chamber
As reported by JORDAIN CARNEY a video posted on Twitter by HuffPost’s Igor Bobicshows a lone black police officer, identified as Eugene Goodman, being chased by a sea of white rioters as he heads to the second floor of the Senate side of the Capitol building.
At the top of the stairs he is seen looking through an empty doorway to the left, which leads to an immediate entrance to the Senate floor where most senators, staff and roughly a dozen journalists, including this Hill reporter, were sheltering.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who was in the Senate chamber, said Goodman’s actions “likely saved lives.”
Last Wednesday, I was inside the Senate chamber when Officer Eugene Goodman led an angry mob away from it at great personal risk. His quick thinking and decisive action that day likely saved lives, and we owe him a debt of gratitude, — Casey tweeted.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future.
Rep. Andy Kim cleaning up after the riots
Unlike many of his congressional colleagues, Rep. Andy Kim D-N.J., was in his office in a separate federal building when Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon. So he didn’t actually see the damage live until nearly midnight after the House had voted down the last challenge to the presidential election result.
When he finally did walk around the rotunda — his favorite and arguably the most storied room of the building — the disarray left him speechless.
Water bottles, broken furniture, tattered Trump flags and pieces of body armor and clothing were strewn on the marble floor as if it were an abandoned parking lot.
So for the next hour and a half, he crouched down and filled a half dozen trash bags with debris.
When he finished cleaning up the rotunda, he began working on the adjacent rooms, including the National Statuary Hall and the Capitol crypt downstairs.
Then he returned to the House floor to debate Pennsylvania’s vote count, a session that lasted until 3 a.m. By Thursday evening, he’d been awake for more than 36 hours.
On a day in which video of mayhem and bloodshed inundated social media, a widely shared photograph of Kim, alone on his knees, picking up the final pieces of garbage in a nearly empty rotunda, was a radical break from — and rejection of — the violent impulses that drove the country to the brink of collapse.
Many people labeled him a “true patriot.” While Kim said he didn’t dwell much on the symbolic heft of his actions, the term was on his mind.
I feel blessed to have this opportunity as a son of immigrants to be able to serve in Congress,” he said. “Democracy to me is this place of opportunity that is affording me a chance to do something extraordinary.
Rep. Kim gets it. I’m proud he represents me. We need more who care like he does.
The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
Governor Schwarzenegger’s message regarding the attack on our Capital.
Gov. Schwarzenegger talked about how intergenerational trauma can affect an entire society.
In his case, he shared a personal story of being a child and watching his father come home drunk once or twice a week, hitting and scaring his mother.
My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week's attack on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/blOy35LWJ5
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 10, 2021
He said it felt normal because he knew it happened at neighbors’ houses, too. Why? According to Schwarzenegger, this behavior tied to collective guilt and horror after World War II, saying these men were “in emotional pain for what they saw or did.” In his words, he grew up “surrounded by broken men drinking away the guilt over their participation in the evilest regime in history.”
It all started with lies, lies, lies, and intolerance,” Schwarzenegger stated. “Being from Europe I’ve seen firsthand how bad things can spin out of control.
Though I personally can’t speak to growing up in a home where abuse was the norm. I had friends who I knew were in homes that were in disarray, with constant upheavals.
Friends who were ashamed of their living conditions or their family drama. To this day, some are still too traumatized about their childhood and can’t open up about what they went through.
He didn’t have to share that painful memory, but I’m glad he chose to. Gov. Schwarzenegger’s personal story illustrates the consequences for individuals who allow their country to stumble down the path of Fascism.
In my book? That took guts.
The thing that unifies all these stories for me are the examples of “compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness” that Zinn highlights in his quote.
Each of these heroes displayed these qualities in the face of the cruelty and malignancy of Trump’s insurrection.
I’m grateful and optimistic that their positive examples are the messages that will resonate with anyone in this country of goodwill. In my piece “D.C. Riot? What D.C. Riot? – Democrats to Take Senate as Warnock & Ossoff Win Runoff!“ I wrote on January 6th.
I wanted to keep the focus on the historic election of Sen. Warnock and Sen. Ossoff. A black man and a Jewish man representing the great state of Georgia. And the election of Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Blasian and first Woman to hold the office.
These are great accomplishments. These get top-billing. Let’s not lose sight of this.
We have a lot to be thankful for, in spite of Covid and Trump. Rep. John Lewis & Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, El Malei Rachamim, who only last year lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda Donald Trump caused to be despoiled, worked tirelessly to achieve these goals for us.
The hard-won victories through the ballot box and mail-in ballots that saw unprecedented numbers of new voters in 2020 and again in the Georgia runoffs were by all accounts free and fair.
We’ve fought for the promise of a brighter day we’ve hoped to come. We’ve waited far too long through the long hot summer of unrest behind the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and far too many other black and brown victims of racist police violence to flinch now that “YallQueda” wants to cause trouble.
In closing, it’s worth repeating-
The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
Yibambe America.
About Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922 – January 27, 2010) was a historian, playwright, and social activist. He was a shipyard worker and a bombardier with the U.S. Army Air Force in Europe during the Second World War before he went to college under the GI Bill and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University.
Zinn taught at Spelman College and Boston University, and was a visiting professor at the University of Paris and the University of Bologna. He received the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannan Literary Award. He lived in Auburndale, Massachusetts
Zinn wrote over 20 books, including his best-selling and influential A People’s History of the United States in 1980. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, A Young People’s History of the United States
Has as many detractors as fans, depending upon your politics. But his take on American History remains important for exposing an alternate telling of American History from the perspective of those not given a voice in the myth-making, colonizing Euro-centric, Misogynistic, American Exceptionalist camp most public school children had traditionally been indoctrinated with.
Library Journal calls Howard Zinn’s iconic A People’s History of the United States “a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those…whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories.”
Packed with vivid details and telling quotations, Zinn’s award-winning classic continues to revolutionize the way American history is taught and remembered.
To learn more, please visit howardzinn.org
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