Sorry Joe, Countries Don't Have Souls

Twenty-two speakers took to the virtual stage of the Democratic Nation­al Convention (DNC) and fretted about the state of America’s ​“soul.” Hillary Clinton wants to ​“redeem” it, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) to ​“heal” it and Pete Buttigieg to ​“contest” it. Kerry Washington and Jill Biden wanted to ​“fight for” it. Five others, Andrew Cuomo, Colin Pow­ell and Sally Yates among them, want to ​“restore” it. And another five want to ​“battle” for it, in­cluding Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Joe Biden, who, when accepting the nomina­tion, asked Americans to join him in ​“the battle for the soul of the nation.” 

Claims of American exceptionalism to the contrary, countries don’t have souls. They do, however, have collec­tive histories. Historian Jon Meacham used his time at the DNC podium to describe two Americas. ​“Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall dwell in the American soul,” he said. ​“But so do the impuls­es that have given us slavery, segregation and sys­temic discrimination.” He asked that we confront our history. ​“Often we’d prefer to hear the trum­pets rather than face the tragedies, but an honest accounting of who we’ve been can enable us to see who we should be.” 

“Who we’ve been” — our national heritage of white supremacy and chattel slavery — has been on full display since the Memorial Day murder of George Floyd. Yet, as the Republican Nation­al Convention neared, the Republican Party ap­peared to celebrate the legacy of what some have called America’s original sin. In his RNC accep­tance speech, Vice President Mike Pence ridiculed Biden for saying that systemic racism exists in America and that the police had ​“an implicit bias against minorities.” Said Pence, ​“The hard truth is, you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.” 

Accepting the GOP nomination for president, Donald Trump did what he does best: gin up hate, sow fear: 

If the Left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs. … We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power. … We can never allow mob rule. … During their convention, Joe Biden and his supporters remained completely silent about the rioters and criminals spreading may­hem in Democrat-run cities. 

Trump said he is there to help: ​“We will take care of your problem in a matter of hours.” As for the white supremacists who can’t wait that long, they know they will receive not condemnation but praise from Fox neo-fascists like Tucker Carlson. 

Are those fireworks we hear … or gunshots from Kenosha, Wis.?

The soul-invoking DNC speak­ers — who ranged from democratic so­cialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to conservative former Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) — framed the 2020 election as a moral choice. They called upon all Americans to let their better natures shine.

Given the horrors of the Trump era, that pitch for a return to decency may be enough to secure a Biden victory in November. But we are embodied beings with material needs, and we need not only roses for the soul but bread for the body. Progres­sives must insist on old-fashioned material objec­tives like Medicare for All, relief from student debt, universal child care, a Green New Deal and work­ers’ rights. We need concrete measures to protect Black and Brown citizens from state violence. 

In a 1967 speech at Stanford University, Martin Luther King Jr. said: 

[A] riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? … It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more con­cerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity. 

In 2020 and beyond, we need a Democratic Par­ty that hears the unheard and fights for justice and humanity — a party that speaks to the pain so many are feeling, not one that quiets them with bromides for our collective soul.