Too Early
I was up early on Thanksgiving morning. “The dogs” don’t recognize Federal holidays, but I was ready to get going at six, anyway. It was Thanksgiving Day; there’s cleanup to do, turkeys to prepare (one for cooking, one for smoking), and tables to set. So getting out of bed wasn’t so hard. Besides, CeCe, the pit bull puppy, made no mistake about needing to go out. The harder I tried to sleep, the more she licked my face.
The morning news shows on Thanksgiving are usually a compilation of earlier shows. While the dogs don’t recognize Federal holidays, the crew at MSNBC definitely does. So there were lots of interviews that I usually wouldn’t pay much attention to. One was of a New York Times book essayist (I missed his name) who did a review of the 9-11 Commission Report, now twenty years after the attack.
9-11
There was lots of talk about the failures of America after 9-11: black sites, torture, loss of privacy with government intrusion and America’s failure to export democracy. But there was also a story (always looking for a good story), one that resonates on this day to gives thanks.
I’ve written about Flight 93 before, the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania near the little town of Shanksville. The memorials there are powerful, a fitting symbol of American determination and sacrifice. But this Thanksgiving morning I learned one more detail about what happened that Tuesday on Flight 93. The passengers, well aware of the earlier attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon, knew they were on a flying missile. And they chose to do something about it.
And before they charged the cockpit door, they did something wholly American. They took a vote. The passengers determined by democratic agreement to “do something” rather than ride the missile to its fate, probably the Capitol Building. Certainly they understood the likely outcome of their action. And they were even more aware of their fate if they did nothing. So they voted to act, to sacrifice, and to try to save America from another assault. Flight 93 hurtled upside down into a field near Shanksville at over five-hundred miles an hour. It was democracy in action.
Under the Rug
Wednesday, I witnessed another vote that renewed my faith in democracy. In Brunswick, Georgia, just north of the Florida border along the Atlantic coast, a jury of twelve citizens unanimously agreed that three white men could not chase down a black man and cause his death. It was a case that should have been a “no brainer”. One of the white men even videoed the final moments. But it also might have been swept under the rug.
The local District Attorney, a friend of one of the three, ordered the men not to be arrested. Before she recused herself, she made sure the next District Attorney would agree not to find cause for charges. Had an attorney of one defendant not “leaked” the video, charges would never have been brought. Perhaps the scariest part of this case: that lawyer leaked it because he thought the video justified the murder. In fact, it was the critical evidence proving the charges against the defendants.
No Defense
The defense made it clear where they stood. They called for black pastors to be banned from the courtroom, they denigrated the character and the physical appearance of the victim, they did everything they could to convince the jury that this “black man” was guilty – of something. This was a trial about race, about a black man jogging in a white neighborhood, and about three white men taking the law into their own hands. It was a case from the 1940’s or 50’s Jim Crow South. But in our current political climate, there is a looming question: where does America stand on race, guns, self-defense and vigilantism? Just look at the result of the Kenosha trial.
Eleven white and one black juror made their answer clear. For two days they deliberated, then reached a verdict in time to go home for Thanksgiving: guilty. The defendants were guilty of varying degrees of murder, guilty of false imprisonment, guilty of assault with their trucks. All three will spend most of their remaining lives in jail.
Thankful
Yesterday was Thanksgiving. I know that for some, Thanksgiving is symbolic of European mistreatment of the Native Americans. And there are many things in our history we should be sorry for. But there are also events we can be proud of.
Here are two where democracy won out.
