“Justice for all.” Those are the last three words of the Pledge of Allegiance and they should become our national credo for 2021 as we work to recover from COVID-19 and make a start on the long path toward racial equality.
On its final day, we are reminded how we endured a great paradox in 2020. COVID-19 forced many of us to withdraw into our homes for all or part of the year. Cut off from friends, social events, the freedom to shop and even worship, we were still confronted by George Floyd’s May 25 murder by a police officer and evidence, tragically revealed again and again in 2020, that racial equality demands a re-examination of American law enforcement, housing policies and how we have interpreted our nation’s history.
Even as the pandemic forced us into isolation, the glaring reality of racism in America required us to gather in demonstrations, many organized by Black Lives Matter, and virtual meetings to examine what racial equity really means.
Our top priority task for 2021 has already begun, albeit slowly. We have an entire nation we must vaccinate against COVID-19 before we can fully and safely return to our jobs, social lives, restaurants, stores, concert venues, sporting events and movie theaters.
Almost outstripping vaccination in importance is the need to safeguard millions of people from hunger, eviction and foreclosure. The intransigence and gridlock that has dominated American politics for almost a decade and that gave rise to Donald J. Trump has delayed the urgently-needed distribution of stimulus money.
Naysayers brand stimulus help as an uncontrolled handout that future generations of Americans will be forced to shoulder in the form of tax increases. More prudent minds understand that the American economy cannot accelerate to its maximum post-pandemic potential unless relief assistance is provided over the next two months to Americans staring down hunger and homelessness.
To his credit, President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is impatient to get a national vaccination program fully implemented and he understands the absolute need to provide stimulus assistance.
Optimists tell us that mid-2021 will finally see the rays of hope and recovery shining on the country and, hopefully, the world. Enough people will be vaccinated to consign COVID-19 to the vanquished disease list that includes typhoid and polio.
But we can’t wait until June or July to do the hard work confronting us in 2021.
The brutal lessons imposed on us by the pandemic must be translated into action to reshape the economy. Even a successful mass vaccination will not guarantee people will flock back to restaurants, office towers or airliners. Post-pandemic, the economy is going to look different.
The hard climb up to racial equality has begun, thanks to Black Lives Matter, but we can’t falter or let ourselves slip backwards. Tough discussions on white privilege and systemic racism must continue and produce action agendas. We need only look to the town of Swampscott where diversity and inclusion have a better chance to flourish because the town’s fire and police departments have been freed from the antiquated civil service hiring system.
After a year that has seen so much disruption and so many deaths, recovery and return to status quo cannot be our goals. We must aim for loftier heights and make a confrontation with racism, finally and for all time, and a reshaping of the American economy to bring everyone to the table, our objectives.
“Justice for all” aren’t just words we recite; they are ones we must live by.
