Education for the ‘us first’ crowd

Now that Election Day has come and gone, my reckoning on the 2016 presidential campaign is underway. Putting aside Donald Trump’s historic upset over Hillary Clinton, the issue I have struggled most with is the divisiveness and anger that was exposed during the campaign. The toxicity of this race had a way of invading everything, like the Blob. It was almost impossible to avoid at times, and the bad juju felt palpable on the streets of Washington. Many times I’ve wondered what happened to the hope so many Americans felt and shared on that cold day in January 2008 when millions lined the streets of Washington to hear and rejoice in the inauguration of the nation’s first black president?

On that day, it truly felt as if we turned a corner in America. I still remember my then 84-year-old father being totally amazed that he had lived to the see Americans coming together to celebrate the inauguration of a black president. Here was a man who celebrated the birth of his fourth daughter only a day before four other little girls were killed in a bomb explosion at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Maybe, just maybe, the issues that divided us for so long were finally beginning to fade.

It is true the last eight years have not been easy. Many Americans continue to suffer economically since the Great Recession of 2007-09. But current national statistics don’t reveal a country in freefall or severe economic distress. To the contrary, economic growth has been consistently strong, the unemployment rate is down, and millions more people have health care. So why are so many people unhappy and angry about life in America?