U.S. Could Use International Election Observer Team

 My friend Duncan from the Netherlands recently asked me if the U.S. needed someone from the International community to be an observer for our 2020 election. I agreed we could use the help!

The Jimmy Carter Center has observed 111 elections in 39 countries since 1989. Observers bring impartiality, and their presence helps to reassure voters that they can safely cast their ballots.

The United States faces previously unimaginable barriers to people’s constitutional right to vote, including voter suppression, restrictive I.D. laws, and defunding of and slowing down the mail service. The presidential incumbent seems open to Russian interference. He says in advance the elections will be fraudulent and that he might not accept the results of the election These tactics and more make voting in a “peaceful” democracy as hard as possible.

Would the U.S. accept international observers? Probably not, but our issues are serious. Observers bring impartiality and help to reassure voters that they can safely cast their ballots. They begin well in advance of elections and assess registration practices. During elections, the observers monitor voting and remain afterwards to monitor vote tabulation. They can serve as mediators to facilitate the peaceful transfer of power.

My friend Duncan is originally from Suriname which recently held elections. Their President, who had been accused of crimes, was defeated. This Dutch-speaking Caribbean country has a parliamentary multiparty system. The losing party said to the winners: “to every Surinamese of these coalition parties who will form the government, the blessing of the Most High of the religion you profess”.

Their election was held in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May authorities imposed a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, ordered non-essential businesses closed and said people could travel only to get food or medicine. Facemasks are mandatory in shops; meetings of more than five people are banned. As of August 13, there were only 39 deaths in this country of 600,000.

What might we learn from other democratic nations? Might we now need an international team to monitor the 2020 elections in this democracy of the United States of America?

75 Years later: No More Nuclear Tragedies!

 The Japanese city of Nagasaki on Sunday marked its 75th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing where more than 70,000 were killed. The Aug. 9, 1945, bombing came three days after the United States dropped its first atomic bomb on Hiroshima that killed 140,000.

On Sunday at the event at Nagasaki Peace Park, Mayor Tomihisa Taue read a peace declaration raising concerns that countries have moved away from using nuclear weapons as a deterrent.  “As a result, the threat of nuclear weapons being used is increasingly becoming real,” He said that “the true horror of nuclear weapons has not yet been adequately conveyed to the world at large.”  Today we work to make Nagasaki the last place of such nuclear bomb tragedy.

Final words from John Lewis

Final words from John Lewis, published in The New York Times the day of his funeral, July 30, 2020:

"While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.

That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on.

Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. He was 14 when he was killed, and I was only 15 years old at the time. I will never ever forget the moment when it became so clear that he could easily have been me. In those days, fear constrained us like an imaginary prison, and troubling thoughts of potential brutality committed for no understandable reason were the bars.

Though I was surrounded by two loving parents, plenty of brothers, sisters and cousins, their love could not protect me from the unholy oppression waiting just outside that family circle. Unchecked, unrestrained violence and government-sanctioned terror had the power to turn a simple stroll to the store for some Skittles or an innocent morning jog down a lonesome country road into a nightmare. If we are to survive as one unified nation, we must discover what so readily takes root in our hearts that could rob Mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina of her brightest and best, shoot unwitting concertgoers in Las Vegas and choke to death the hopes and dreams of a gifted violinist like Elijah McClain.

Like so many young people today, I was searching for a way out, or some might say a way in, and then I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.

Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.

You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, through decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.

Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. In my life I have done all I can to demonstrate that the way of peace, the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way. Now it is your turn to let freedom ring.

When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide."

John Lewis Still Guides Us

John Lewis: a gentle, strong Civil Rights leader until the day of his death, last night. He bore on his body the scars of beatings as he followed Jesus every day of his life. He was clear that Christ called him to work for justice and that meant sometimes you had to be in the midst of, "good trouble."

For many years I would say to seminary students: "When you get into trouble--and you will--make sure it is for the sake of the Gospel."

We carry John Lewis' legacy with us this very day: federal officers, unbidden by city or state, in unmarked cars, with no badges, in the streets of Portland. Systemic and blatant racism. Voter suppression. John Lewis knew the struggle would be long. May we, as he, have the strength of the Risen Christ, to continue on and on and on.

We Tear Apart Prejudices

(Last of six excerpts from an article I wrote in 1964)

We begin prayerfully, explaining, sharing, upbuilding. We begin everywhere racism sneaks in an ugly word, doubt and fear. We begin everywhere growing Christians open their hearts and minds.

We tear apart prejudices, fallacy by fallacy. We talk. We write. We help. Yes, we march. And when the time for marching slows, with eyes wide open, seeing this world and its people in the Creator’s will, trusting in Christ unafraid, we will continue to let God’s love conquer sin in whatever way God opens to us.

Church as a Redemptive Community

Church as a Redemptive Community

(Fifth of six excerpts from an article I wrote in 1964)

As a Church we begin each week in repentance, and then having worshipped as the Body of Christ, we begin to be the Church, functioning as a redemptive community. . . to make the Body One.  Love is not easy, but it does not count costs. Tokenism, “middle-of-the roadism,” gradualism, and calculated love have no place. Wisdom does.

We begin each day, not fearing “What might happen”: “We might offend,” “Some might leave the church,” “The Negroes [African Americans] might take over,” “The value of my home might go down.” We begin each day, not despairing: “The White community might not accept me,” “There’s no hope, why ask for trouble?” “Things will never be better.”  

We begin in the most real pessimism, knowing how sinful our hearts are, which no program of social justice, no national tragedy will cure.  And yet we begin with the most real optimism, trusting confidently that Christ has conquered sin and Satan, and the power of the Holy Spirit in the “Sleeping Giant” of the Church can indeed do more than we could possibly dream.

We are Freed from Building Barriers

We Respond to Racism Because We Are Freed from Building Barriers (Fourth of six excerpts from an article I wrote in 1964)

We don’t respond to the present racial crisis because it is in the news, nor because of America’s image abroad, nor even because “democracy must be preserved.”

We don’t respond out of Christian “responsibility.” We respond as new creatures, freed from the bondage of having to provide for ourselves, having to be somebody, having to judge other people, having to pride ourselves on our accomplishment, having to love only paternalistically.

We are freed to accept people as people, to spend ourselves in love feeding on the means of Grace, so that our old selfishness may be defeated each day. In repentance of our attitudes and words which have built barriers, each day we begin anew to love people as God loves.

Love is Never Easy

Love is Never Easy (Third of six excerpts from an article I wrote in 1964)

The Christian’s answer to racism will stem from the will of God. And this answer is unmistakably clear—not easy, but clear. Love is never easy.

God created all people to be God’s creation. God created variety to exist together in harmony. God created the personalities of people to live together in love. God saved us through the boundless love of Jesus Christ to be a new creation, that the barriers of pride, hate, fear, unconcern, and sin that separate us from God and each other might be forever gone. God recreated us through the cross to worship and to live together NOW.

Racism has been Laid Bare Before Us

God’s Will – Clear but Not Easy (Second of six excerpts from an article I wrote in 1964)

The issue of racism has been laid bare before us. Often, we have been so afraid to become involved in social problems for fear that our Lutheranism might be misunderstood, disarranged, theologically distorted, that we have stifled church members, disabling their love and thus disarming the heart of our theology.

We ARE involved. The immensity of articles, books, speeches, while seemingly making research on racism easier, only shows us clearly the complexity of the problem. Now our task, with all the repentant and redeemed wisdom we have, is to study, to work, and to love.

When Will We Ever Learn? Juneteenth and the Tulsa Massacre

Friday is Juneteenth, (June 19). “Freedom Day,” celebrates the day a Union army general read federal orders in Galveston, proclaiming that all enslaved persons in Texas were now free. The Emancipation Proclamation had formally freed them 2 ½ years earlier. Enforcement had been slow and inconsistent. Finally, all slaves in the United States were free. Will African Americans ever be totally free? Will legislation always be slow? We must act now so that all people can be truly free.

The Tulsa race massacre was, May 31-June 1, 1921. It was the single worst event of racial violence in U.S. history. Mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses. More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and as many as 6,000 black residents were interned at large facilities. How many were killed? We may never know because bodies were put into unmarked, probably mass graves. A private airplane bombed and destroyed more than 35 square blocks of what at that time was the wealthiest black community in the United States. Before 9/11, before Pearl Harbor, the first time an aircraft bombed the U.S. was 99 years ago in Tulsa. Ten thousand “Negroes” were left homeless.

Black and white residents were silent for decades about the terror and violence. If a black person spoke or wrote about it, he or she would be lynched. The massacre was largely omitted from local, state, and national histories.  Finally, a commission to study the massacre began 75 years later. The Commission's final report, published in 2001, said that the city had conspired with the mob of white citizens against black citizens. Will we now learn about systemic racism? Will justice always be delayed? Listen!  We must learn.

Sixty Years of Ministry: White Supremacy Continues

In marking the 60^th anniversary of my consecration as a deaconess (June 6, 1960), I reflect on my first call to a congregation in St. Louis. I was well accepted, liked. However, people said Norma had one problem: “She likes Negroes!” I began my call to public ministry a few months before John F. Kennedy was elected president. I was serving during the March on Washington August 28, 1963, when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I have a dream” speech.

 Three weeks later white supremacists bombed a Baptist church in Birmingham, killing 4 Sunday School girls and injuring 22 people. Burton and I joined a protest demonstration in St. Louis. It so happened that members from my congregation saw a picture of me marching and brought a complaint. When the Voters’ Assembly met to decide if I should be fired, I was not allowed to be present because women then could not vote in that church.

Fast forward to my diaconal ministry of being a community organizer in Detroit during the “riot”—we called it a “rebellion,” the bloodiest of “The Long Hot Summer” of 1967. It began as a confrontation between black residents and the Detroit Police Department. Nearly 2,000 U.S. Army paratroopers were deployed, adding to 800 Michigan state police and 9,000 members of the National Guard, to “quell the violence.”  After MLK’s assassination in 1968, protests returned in Detroit. Nearly 200 cities experienced arson and sniper fire. It was Holy Week.

Pres. Lyndon Johnson had just released the “Kerner Report” investigating the 1967 “riots,” which stated: “What white Americans have never fully understood—but what the Negro can never forget. . .” The causes named were poverty, lack of housing, lack of economic opportunities and discrimination in the job market. “White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”

Saturday I marked the 60^th anniversary of my consecration by being with deaconess sisters, via Zoom: a number in the Twin Cities, and others from all over Minnesota, the N.D. border, Wisconsin and northern Iowa. Diaconal ministry is a call for prophetic service. Sunday, Trinity Lutheran Church here in Mason City, via on-line streaming—included my anniversary in the announcements and prayers: “Dr. Everist was later ordained and taught for 41 years at Yale Divinity School and Wartburg Theological Seminary. She worked for social justice as a community organizer in the inner cities of Detroit and New Haven, CT. She served parishes in St. Louis and in New Haven and Hamden, CT. Her formation as a deaconess has shaped her entire career as a pastor, professor, author and servant leader.”

Sixty years later: the issues are in front of us today. We are all involved and called to activate change. As Pastor Gerrietts this morning prayed, “Continue to strengthen her, and each of us, to be bold in our proclamation of the Gospel.” Our calling is now—and urgent!

I'm Watching! Protests Need to Continue

I’ve been watching. We are tempted to seek merely a “return to calm.”  Fewer fires, charges filed, less need for the National Guard.  However, from my perspective of having lived in the midst of the Detroit Riots (We said “rebellions.”) of ’67 and ’68, “quiet again” does not mean justice achieved. I’m pleased Ferguson elected a black woman mayor, and this Iowa congressional district said “No” to representation by a man steeped in racism and white nationalism. But this is just a chance for a new beginning.

            For sixty years Burton and I have been working for Social Justice. The work is hard and long. So, I’m watching! Perhaps Trump’s call to use The Insurrection Act is merely a threat. But ’68 came after ’67. Might we yet see the U.S. military descend on streets across the nation? Charges brought, but will convictions result? Police department reform policies pledged, but will municipalities follow through? And so much more.

            Racial inequality is deep; dare we hope for equal justice? White supremacy reigns. COVID-19 continues. Can we imagine a truly whole and healthy pluralistic society? We will need to work long and hard—together. I’m watching.

"Unprecedented!" "Virtual," Yes, but Epidemics, No

Unprecedented! That word begins most newscasts these days. But yesterday I attended the virtual Commencement of 2020 Yale Divinity School graduates. (I’m class of 1976.) In the 319 years of its history, “virtual” was unprecedented.  However, the situation is not. Classes at YDS were suspended for six years during the Revolutionary War. During the global pandemic of 1917-18, over 700 citizens of New Haven died.

        Fevers and plagues seemed never unprecedented. Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University 1781-1795, wrote in his diary on Feb. 10, 1794, that “the town was alarmed by the danger of spreading Scarlet Fever.” On March 15 a student died. The next day: “four students sick with Scarletina fever.” On March 31 President Stiles wrote, “I myself and wife taken sick . . . released many scholars to go home. . .” On April 2 Stiles discontinued all college activities.

       Then, just 3 months later, Stiles diary: “The Yellow fever brought in by a vessel has been lurking about and proves dreadful. More mortal than small pox.” And Scarlet fever, “tho’ much abated” was “yet extant.” Only half the students returned for the next term. September 5^th Stiles wrote about what we today call, “social distancing” and “contact tracing”: “Hitherto I have believed that by the care and vigilance of the Authy [Authorities] it might be guarded & its progress checked, as we could hitherto trace all instances. . .I begin to give up the possibility of preventing its spreadg [spreading].”

     About 5 months before he himself would die of a “bilious fever,” Stiles wrote a “Bill of Morty for New Haven the Year 1794,” based on his notebook of daily statistics on the epidemics. The data collected by Stiles and New Haven County physicians led to the founding of the city’s first board of health in 1795. The data were also used by Noah Webster (Yale 1778) in his pioneering 1799 work, “A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases” which became a standard text in early medical schools.” (from an article by Judith Ann Schiff, chief research archivist at the Yale University Library, published in Yale Alumni magazine, May/June 2020)

          Des Moines Register news release this afternoon, May 19, 2020: Officials report 15,296 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Iowa with 367 deaths statewide.  

    

          What a Christ-centered Yale Divinity School virtual commencement it was! Current Yale Divinity School dean, Gregory Sterling, quoted St. Paul in Romans and 2 Corinthians.  “The one who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on God we have set our hope. . .” (2 Cor. 1:10)

WW II Shaped Me for COVID-19

It was a different time. I won’t compare my childhood WW II years to COVID-19 today, but I do remember: shelter at home; shortages; united efforts; quarantine; racial discrimination; uncertainty.

I remember the darkness. My formative years from birth to six were in Des Moines. We lived less than a mile from the “War Plant.” (Solar Aircraft was a government-converted industry for wartime production.) During black-out drills we were isolated in our homes in total darkness at night for fear of being bombed.  Bombing in the middle of country?  That did not happen, but we did not know that then.  In the middle of a crisis, one does not know how things will turn out--when the war would end, or how. Mother put a tiny night light in our bedroom doll buggy so my sister and I wouldn’t be afraid of the dark.

Shortages.  Each family or individual was issued coupons for such limited supplies as butter, sugar and coffee. My Daddy ran a gas station. It was not a profitable time to run a gas station; petroleum was needed for the war effort.  People at home had to limit driving; they were issued gasoline coupons. Each night Daddy would bring them home; Marianne and I pasted them in booklets for him to turn in.

I remember the shortages and physical limitations, but I also remember being united under the leadership of FDR, a trusted president. President Roosevelt collaborated with allies and encouraged while he organized people at home. 

Entering kindergarten at age 5, I carried newspapers bundled together with string to school. School children collected scrap metal, and tin foil. (Recycling decades later would not seem strange.) We saved dimes in stamp books; $17.50 in dimes could be exchanged for a $25.00 War Savings Bond.

People planted  “Victory gardens.” This eased the burden of commercial farmers working to feed troops and civilians overseas. Fruits and vegetables were grown in backyards and on school grounds, and parks. By 1944 an estimated 20 million victory gardens produced 8 million tons of food.  (I think now of support for local organic farming and sustainable agriculture.)

Diseases did not stop for the war.  Before a vaccine for whooping cough became widely available, when I was 3 and my sister 5, Marianne, and I and our mother contracted whooping cough. We were quarantined inside our house for 10 weeks.  Mother almost died.  Daddy couldn’t come home. He did have two sisters in Des Moines. The health department put quarantine signs outside houses to prevent highly communicable diseases from spreading.  Though very young, I remember sleeping with a sheet over my crib with a humidifier providing steam for me to breathe. (Although widely considered to have been eradicated, outbreaks of whooping cough have returned in recent years due to not all people having their children vaccinated.)

But the war was the constant focus. An uncle and my older cousins served in the military overseas.  We listened daily to the news on our radio.

Yes, the United States came together. But not everyone.  I remember mother saying how upset she was that during time of struggle and sacrifice, there were people who made profits off the war. I learned early that during a time of crisis some will always look out for their own gain and gratification.

And there was racial discrimination. We were at War with two enemies, I heard as the “Nazis” and the “Japs.” One the U.S. described as Hitler’s German National Socialist Party, with the  swastika symbol. The other the U.S. described and symbolized as a “slant-eyed” people.  Japanese Americans were incarcerated in concentration camps. German Americans, such as myself, were not.

I was in first grade when the war ended.  I vividly remember VE Day and VJ day, WW II ending in Europe and Japan. We celebrated downtown in Des Moines.  (We knew little of the devastation of our atomic bombs.) And I remember, too, listening to the radio, and for the first time hearing news other than about the War. I recall being surprised. All my formative years I had not experienced anything but war news.  As a child I was not shielded; this was my reality, even though Mother kept the small light hidden in our doll baby buggy. What had I learned?  What shapes our lives?

But, of course, times were different then.  It may have been a different time; however . . .  

Women's Voices will Persist

Two women, so intelligent, competent and passionate, Elizabeth Warren and Rachel Maddow, sat in Elizabeth’s home last night talking about her taking her name out of the running for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. 

Elizabeth was thinking about all the little girls who would have to wait to see a woman as president. So many millions of us have had to wait since Hillary was defeated, not in the popular vote, but in the Electoral College. So many women and men saw such promise in their being six women candidates, and people of color, and a gay man among the 2020 candidates.

As I watched Elizabeth, my mind went back thirty years, to 1990, when there were no women Lutheran bishops in the world. A number of us women had been willing to be candidates in various ELCA synods, so at least people could envision the possibility. I was nominated in a synod in Minnesota; so many people from across the country sent encouraging support. As the balloting drew close, and there was a very real chance I would be elected, with much prayer and discernment, I took my name out of the running, telling the assembly, “I feel clear that I am to continue my calling to be a teaching theologian of the church as a professor at Wartburg Seminary. . . I don’t like to disappoint people. . . There are many extraordinarily gifted women in this church ready and capable of being bishop today.”

I do not mean to equate my situation with that of Elizabeth Warren, except with that piercing empathy I felt for her.  Women and girls would have to wait. 

However, soon after my vocational decision, a Lutheran woman was elected bishop in Germany, and in 1992, April was elected in the ELCA, followed by Andrea, and more, and women of color and then Elizabeth as Presiding Bishop of the ELCA.  And I count it a great joy that some women whom I had been privileged to teach at Wartburg are now synodical bishops.

As Elizabeth Warren and Rachel Maddow talked last night, almost sister to sister, it was clear to me that their gifts will continue to be used.  Their persistent voices will continue to be heard.

After Iowa Caucuses: What Really Happened

     Timing! What the news is missing this morning: During Caucus night in Iowa there was no violence, no police needed, no people shooting each another, no name-calling.  Our room was filled with respectful, patient people who followed the intricate rules through the long process.

     While news reporters this morning talk about chaos and confusion and some people even speculating conspiracy, they are missing the picture.  It’s all in the timing. Iowans need to be very sure the count of sign-ins, first preference group, realignment groups, and final delegate count are all accurate. Otherwise people might doubt the truth.  Verify, verify, verify!  

     Sure, the aps didn’t work as planned. Not good; but the paper trail is in place.  And, in our ward, because two precincts met at one school building,  we had to make sure people signed in on the right sheets and went to their correct caucus room. Timing.  But people were amazingly kind and helpful to each other.  Instead of rude bullying, there was careful collaboration.

     National news analysts were frustrated they had 3 ½ hours with no results to report. Primaries are good, but those of us in precincts in a Caucus state know we needed to come together, talk, listen, be honest, and take the time to choose well. (There were no “undecideds” in our  precinct.) Watch for the full results and keep working. This nation needs truth, clarity, verification and trustworthy collaboration.

"Until Iowa" Post 6 MLK Jr. Day: Leadership for the Iowa Caucuses

“Until Iowa” Post 6: Today, Jan. 20, is MLK Jr. Day. We marked it with three hours of training for the Iowa Caucuses 14 days from now. It was a strenuous morning, learning leadership to help the evening of Feb. 3 go well. First, people in our precinct will register as a caucus voter, a new voter, a youth observer, other observers, or the media.  New this year for the Democrats will be presidential preference cards. Yes, those will be signed and counted after the first alignment in preference groups, so the nation will know the total number of people who voted for each presidential candidate.

Then comes the math. Based on the number of delegates one’s precinct will have to the county convention, a percentage determines if a presidential preference group is viable. There are careful procedures. I picture it taking time, but being thoughtful. Perhaps there are 247 or maybe 432 caucus voters and 8 delegates assigned this precinct. By counting, multiplication, and rounding up to the fourth decimal point, how many actual delegates each presidential candidate receives is determined. The nation will be waiting that night for this number from the 1678 caucuses in the 99 counties of Iowa.

There’s still more work to do: choosing the actual delegates and alternates to the county convention. The gathered caucus goers will have opportunity to discuss and adopt resolutions to recommend to the Country Platform Committee.  Yes, challenging work. We will do it together in this participatory democracy. Martin Luther King Jr worked his entire life so that all might have voice and vote.

"Until Iowa" Post 5 Cory Booker Really Listened

“Until Iowa” Post 5: I began to write this morning: “As I enter my Iowa caucus in 21 days, I’m in Cory Booker’s corner.” I’ve been meeting candidates for months now and had been most impressed with Cory. But at noon I received word from Booker, “It’s with a full heart that I share this news -- I’ve made the decision to suspend my campaign for president.”

He listened, really listened, and learned from us. He is deeply committed to bringing this country together. He is a man of faith, extraordinarily intelligent, street-smart, globally informed, and locally astute. I respect his collaborative leadership style. He lives his convictions, going home to his residence in Newark rather than “moving on up.”  He’s “in touch” with all economic groups, across color lines.

Cory gathered many of endorsements early in Iowa. He continues to be in the “second tier” of candidates in the polls, and actually went up in a poll 1 point today from yesterday. Yet he was rarely mentioned in the press, even his dropping out today. I would love to have seen him stay in through Iowa because this year the first round of votes will be reported out (whose corner you go to when you enter the room) as well as the second, realignment.  But lack of money, not qualifying for this debate and his responsibility in Trump’s impeachment trial made him make the decision today.

We will miss Cory. He has a deep understanding of farm issues and foreign affairs—and of their connection.   We need his aggressive plan on gun safety, his work on criminal justice reform, protection of reproductive rights, his advocacy for people with disabilities, and his standing up for people and communities that have been left out and left behind.

Race! It is still about race. It has been for decades and centuries. Cory would tell the story of how his parents tried to buy a home in a segregated neighborhood and how people of courage had to work together to challenge the system to make that happen during the Civil Rights Era. The Obama administration argued that to fulfill the Fair Housing Act of 1968 agencies still had to address disparities in housing, integrate neighborhoods and transform racially concentrated areas of poverty into areas of opportunity. This January The Trump administration plans to propose pulling back Obama-era efforts to desegregate housing, saying they were burdensome.

This January Corry Booker and other candidates of color have had to drop out of the primaries. We need them.  I’m still in Cory’s corner.

"Until Iowa" 24 days. What's Next? War? Revenge, Anxiety, Decisions on a Whim?

“Until Iowa” Post 4: “What’s Next?” War? Not knowing what form revenge might take? Having a president who makes decisions on a personal whim? It’s 24 days until the Until Iowa caucuses Last night we heard John Kerry speak on behalf of Joe Biden. “We’re in a different place,” Kerry began. He went on to speak passionately, with his—and Biden’s--decades of experience about environmental protection, the climate crisis, truth being essential for democracy, and more. 

Kerry was careful to stick with central campaign issues, until I asked him about “the place” we’re in these very days with Iran. Then Kerry said with great seriousness, “This moment is so dangerous.” He detailed what it took to build the Iranian nuclear agreement, the success it was having in de-escalating the nuclear threat, the support of NATO and the U.N., and Trump taking us out. With even more intensity, and convincingly, he stated this country needs U.S.  leadership that again builds relationships that the world so much needs.

"Until Iowa" 28 Days: Civil and Civic Conversations

“Until Iowa” Post 3. We gathered at the Mason City Public Library Saturday morning with our State Senator Amanda Ragan and State Representative Sharon Steckman for a “legislative preview.” Never mind that next door at the Art Museum Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer also would be speaking Saturday and across the street in the other direction candidate Bernie Sanders would be speaking at Music Man Square Saturday evening. Those events also would be full.

However, decisions made by states matter too—greatly! At our meeting people of all age groups talked calmly, intelligently, and knowledgeably about a full range of topics facing us this legislative term. We began with the need for emergency services. Sometimes people have to wait 45 minutes for an ambulance. Volunteers work hard; the need grows.

Next the group delved into mental health issues, for youth and adults. We need more counselors in schools. This led to the important issue of public education. Iowa for decades has been known for excellent public schools for all children, but budget cuts are hurting. There is a need for child care and nursing home workers, and for raising the minimum wage.

Another big issue is water quality. For nearly two hours the conversation continued, people sharing knowledge and asking each other questions.  We ended with talking about the upcoming Iowa Caucus sites.  What I participated in Saturday WAS the kind of civil and civic conversation around issues that happens at an Iowa Caucus.

Tweet 3 of “Until Iowa” Besides Tom Steyer and Bernie Sanders being here Sat., we gathered with our State Senator and Representative about issues of mental health, public education, water quality and more. Calm, intelligent conversation. This IS like an Iowa Caucus