To Destruct Evil

As a child, I wondered how bad things, evil things, were permitted in society. Specifically, as a child who had descended primarily from African people, I was baffled by the forces denying the human dignity of those in Black and Brown bodies. I did not understand how men of economic means in white bodies could see the beauty in creation’s diversity and deem themselves to be superior by God’s design. This evil and depraved lie was used as the foundation on which white supremacy was formed by colonizers and enshrined in all of our social systems. Today, it is perpetuated in a complex network of hearts, minds, practices, and laws.

My young mind realized that had I been born 100 years earlier, I would have been registered as property and my only value would have been in how I contributed to the prosperity of others. As a female, it is very likely that I also would have been used to rape or breed. Tragically, I would hold no claim to the children born of my womb, just as I would have no claim to my body.

All of this is stirring within me as I ponder the countless survivors across time and place who have been stripped of their dignity and sexually abused by men and women. Today, the 119th Congress of the United States voted on HR4405. I am not legally trained but in essence this legislation calls for the release of files involving the heinous trafficking of women by Jeffrey Epstein and other wealthy and powerful men. Epstein was a friend of Donald Trump. The vote was almost unanimous, 427-1.

After again changing his narrative on the files, yesterday, Trump began telling Republicans to support the legislation. That appears to have happened because many of them had chosen to defy his command not to support the files’ release. It was a way for him to falsely claim authority over how they vote.

After a decade of people acquiescing to his demands, what happened? Did his supporters in Congress have spine or cajones implants, or have they found their moral compasses? Surely, critical thinking is of no value to them. I think we must give credit to the survivors publicly and courageously reclaiming their dignity, and using their voices to speak of their lived experiences. It is long overdue and they have not yet received justice, but they are persistent in embodying truth to destruct evil.