America Archives

Everything You Are Feeling Right Now is Valid

Landon Shroder | January 7, 2021

Topics: America, American politics, Coup, Donald Trump, Insurrection, Republican Party, Riot, rioters, United States, Washington DC

Citizens of conscience, everything you are feeling is valid. How can we even begin to process the range of emotions experienced in the past 24 hours? What happened yesterday, January 6, 2021, is a day that will forever be seared into our collective memories. On this day, a rabble of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists attempted a coup against the government of the United States. The images of this mob scaling the walls of Congress, ransacking the offices of our elected officials, and committing violence against the seat of our government was beyond excruciating to watch. Even more so, since it was all done in the name of a white supremacist president whose lies and conspiracies have corrupted so much of our body-politic.

Because of this we are right to feel angry.

In the aftermath of President-Elect Joe Biden’s electoral certification, we cannot forget to hold those accountable who let this happen: corrupt politicians whose only sense of principle originates with naked power, the police who were clearly complicit in letting this siege take place, and a conservative media echo chamber that continues to put their profits above the health and well-being of our democracy. And of course, the president, whose malfeasance and depravities need no explanation.

Because of this we are right to feel betrayed.

There has been a lot of conversation on what to call yesterday — an insurrection, a riot, a mob — but in the end, this was an attempted coup. An attempt by a despotic authoritarian to subvert the will of the people and overthrow our democratic traditions that, however imperfect, provide the foundational bedrock of our society. This did not happen in a vacuum, though. Our president has been enabled by a subversive political class that has betrayed their oath of office and their country. Whatever their intent, they should have known better. They must be held responsible.

Because of this we are right to feel anxious.

Grandstanding on the idea of “my constituents have concerns about the election” is as dangerously ridiculous as it is dangerously provocative. There is only one outcome in this scenario: creating the conditions we saw unfold yesterday. Indeed, the men and women who pushed this narrative are not working class, salt of the earth Americans, fighting against the establishment. They are the epitome of the elite. Ted Cruz went to both Princeton and Harvard, Josh Hawley went to Stanford and Yale. These are seditious men who used their power and platform to wage war on our democratic traditions (however imperfect). They stand beside other giants of sedition: Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Alexander Hamilton Stephens — their visages could line what remains of Richmond’s Monument Ave.

Because of this we are right to feel distressed.

Do you remember this summer, when hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets in support of racial justice and police reform after the murder of George Floyd? Do you remember the sheer brutality of the police and their mandate of state-sanctioned violence? The tear gas, pepper spray, armored vehicles, riot police, and mass arrests? Now remember yesterday — when Q-Anon conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, and people who were chanting “murder the media” easily overran the Capitol building. Do you remember seeing the videos of cops taking selfies with rioters and insurrectionists, abandoning their posts, and letting the gates open? Does the difference between these two things need further explaining?

Because of this we are right to feel rage.

None of this should surprise us. We can be shocked and filled with emotion, but surprised we cannot be. This is the inevitable outcome of a failed political system; a system that has elevated demagoguery at the expense of conversation and partisanship at the expense of pragmatism. Instead of reconciling our foundational issues, which would lead to a stronger America in terms of racial justice, income equality, healthcare, education, and climate (to name a few); we have let extremism, racialism, and fascism take root — because that was an easier pathway forward. Because it was easier to ferment hate and conspiracy than it was to look within and acknowledge our failures. Yesterday proves this. Throngs of enraged white people who felt entitled enough, who were privileged enough, to wage a coup in the name of a cultist conspiracy speaks to the depravity of what America has become. And no amount of revisionist history and political double-speak will wash away the truth of what we bore witness to yesterday.

Because of this we are right to feel apprehensive.

The only path through this is forward, with an acknowledgment that everything we are feeling is valid: anger, betrayal, anxiety, distress, rage, and apprehension. There is no turning back from what happened yesterday. As we face our family, friends, and colleagues who believe in the Trump conspiracy and cult, we will be faced with the complex reality of who they are, what they believe, and what they have become. The sides have been drawn. There are those who will stand for democracy (however imperfect), and those who will stand for fascism, white supremacy, and the conspiracies of a political faction corrupted by an incurable sickness that has been allowed to spread uncontrollably. No one knows what the coming days will bring, other than a continued range of emotions — all of which will remain valid for some time to come.

*All photos by Quinn Bonney. You can also find Landon Shroder on IG right here.

In Case You Forgot, Today is National Pizza Day

RVA Staff | February 9, 2018

Topics: America, Ancient Rome, immigration, International Pizza Day, Italians, Italy, Pizza

Today is a national holiday of the highest order. What is it you ask? Some kind of remembrance day whereby we honor those who came before us? Hardly. Today is National Pizza Day. While this holiday might be “unofficial” it certainly lives in the hearts and minds of American everywhere. According to the Pizza Joint, a website which tracks pizza statistics and offers pizza based analysis, Americans consume almost 350 slices per second, which averages out to almost 100 acres of pizza a day.

Given that pizza plays such an integral role in our lives it is often easy to overlook the rich tradition and history that surrounds this delectable circle of delight. As with most things, it’s origin story is shrouded in mystery, but some historians believe that a version of modern day pizza was developed by the ancient Romans. Thought to look like modern focaccia, the ancient Romans referred to this as “panis focacius”, a flatbread that toppings were added to. Modern pizza, as we perceive it today, can be traced to modern-day Naples. Carol Helstosky in her seminal masterpiece, Pizza: A Global History makes the case that pizza was for the working poor, a food that could be bought based on the size of what a person could afford.

“Thus, pizza was more than just an example of a regional culinary curiosity, it was a ‘the gastronomic thermometer of the market’ and therefore of Neapolitan society,” wrote Helstosky.

As President Trump’s immigration debate rages on in the US, it is important to remember that pizza – selling three billion pies a year – was a food imported by Italian immigrants who came to the US in waves, but none greater than between 1880-1914. This also coincided with the first pizzeria, thought to be Lombardi’s in Manhattan, which opened in 1904. Nonetheless, the pizza revolution in the US swept through the middle class in the years right after WW2, shedding the image as a food of the Italian working poor. As Helstosky pointed out, this is when pizza started to lose its ethnic character by embedding itself in the cultural consciousness as a food for kids, college students, or props in films and movies.

Today, pizza is a 30 billion dollar a year industry spread across almost 61,000 pizzerias in the US – that’s a lot of dough (zing, zam, cue drum roll). It is also a global staple available just about anywhere in the world. Conversely, pizza was one of the first foods brought back to Eastern Europe after the fall of communism, having been banned as a “capitalist snack food”. Helstonsky brings up another salient point in our hyper-connected global age, “the globalization of pizza has led to greater localization of the food as consumers make their own pizza concoctions…” Nowhere is this truer than in Richmond, which has its share of great pizzerias like Belmont, 8 1/2, Stuzzi, Graffiato, and Chanellos, each of whom has customized pizza in their own devilishly sacrilicious ways.

However, next time you decide to go have a slice, make sure and ask where the real National Pizza Day specials were?

Opinion: State of the Union — Which Union?

Landon Shroder | January 31, 2018

Topics: America, Authoritarianism, Economy, immigration, President Trump, racism, State of the Union

So many old white dudes on parade.

That was my first thought as the cabinet filed into the Senate chamber Tuesday night for President Trump’s State of the Union address. Their presence certainly set the tone for all of the things old white dudes love to hear in the State of the Union: patriotism, nationalism, populism, militarism, and naturally a fear of black and brown people.

In fact, the entire pomp and circumstance surrounding the State of the Union were perfectly set for a political charlatan like Trump. Which, once again, is great for old white dudes. What was lacking last night was anything that would have resonated with young people, people of color, women, innovators, the LGBTQ community, and social entrepreneurs. Anything that represents what American modernity actually looks like.

So what did we learn from the State of the Union last night? Nothing new. But a quick look at some of the most obvious points will help us focus on the meaning behind the meaning – there were many – which is important in understanding our current political age defined by Trump.

Racist Cues

From digs at Colin Kaepernick to referring to people as “citizens” instead of Americans (more on this later), there were many things to unpack. According to FiveThirtyEight, Trump’s approval rating is at 39 percent – the lowest for any first-year president. His speech, therefore, needed to reassure that 39 percent, or else he risks losing his only real support base. Who is that base? Older white people who believe that Trump is “Making America Great Again” by referring to African countries as “shit-holes.”

The most obvious cue was linking the community work of Preston Sharp, a 12-year-old boy from California who gained recognition for placing flags on soldiers’ graves, to the advocacy of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Trump connected the two by saying, “Young patriots like Preston teach all of us about our civic duty as Americans…reminds us why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance, and why we proudly stand for the national anthem.” Platitudes like this are not about patriotism or nationalism, nor do they celebrate the military or law enforcement. They are used to undermine the symbol of modern social justice, embodied by Colin Kaepernick — a black man fighting against police brutality.

Even the Washington Post interpreted this line to suggest that “black men, adults who say they have experienced racial discrimination for decades, need to take lessons on what it means to be an American from a white child.”

Is it surprising then that over a dozen lawmakers decided to boycott Trump’s speech last night? I spoke with Congressman Donald McEachin about this last night, before the speech. When I asked him if he was going to boycott, he said, “I am going. I believe that I should confront racism, confront hatred, confront bigotry, and so I am going to do that by being there.”

The Economy

The commitment to the American economic past is alarming. What’s more, success in the stock-market is not a bellwether for the every day success of American families. How many people are buying stock in Exxon at $86 a share? Speaking of Exxon, Trump lauded them by saying, “We have ended the war on American energy, and we have ended the war on beautiful, clean coal,” followed by an announcement that Exxon will invest 50 billion in the US. The very same company our Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, used to be CEO of… something something about corporate cronyism.

(As an aside, I used to work for Royal Dutch Shell. Oil company jobs are not really available for hard-working blue-collar Americans, unless you have an advanced degree in chemical engineering.)

Absent in his economic discussion was any mention of how climate change was going to impact the economy, or how this is going to drive the next generation of innovation, technology, and research and development — all of the things millennials and young people need to be successful in the 21st Century economic landscape. Instead, we have an adherence to the economy of our grandparents, driven by coal, oil, and car manufacturing. China, the world’s largest creator of solar panels, is laughing at us. There is a reason why MIT has detailed the growing US innovation deficit in stark terms.

Just to plug irony (my favorite literary device), Trump also took credit for the lowest unemployment rate for black people ever, going so far as to say, “African-American unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded, and Hispanic-American unemployment has also reached the lowest levels in history.” Cut camera to the Congressional Black Caucus; deadpan, stone-faced, and entirely unimpressed. Why? Because there is nothing more obvious than a man known for his deep racism taking credit for black success.

Immigration

“Citizens.” This was the loaded word of the night, and one used to stir the worst kinds of nationalist, us vs. them sentiments. It dehumanizes immigrants, migrants, and refugee populations in the worst way, by making them “the other,” while at the same time preparing the American public for increased deportations and arrests. This is the rhetorical preference of every strongman to ever hold power, those who need populist resentment to fuel their policies.

There is obviously nothing wrong with debating the merits of legal vs. illegal immigration. According to the President, however, “citizens” are about to be abducted, murdered, and brutalized by marauding immigrant gangs like MS-13 at any moment. Yet according to the human rights group WOLA, MS-13 was actually created in America, and their membership only totals around one percent of all active gangs in the US — making Trump’s policy ideas more about fear-mongering than actual security.

During my conversation with McEachin, I asked him what else people needed to know about Trump’s immigrant policy. “It is not only about the Dreamers,” he said. “It is also an attack on legal immigration,” – one of the strongest American virtues.

That was obvious in Trump’s announcement of his four-pillar immigration plan, which will now focus on a pathway to citizenship, border security (including the wall), ending the visa lottery, and an end to chain migration — allowing family members to join other family members in the US. While the pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants is a nod to the Democrats, Democrats will now have to determine how to negotiate around this point, which includes the Dreamers.

What Was Most Scary?

Most concerning, though — beyond Trump’s call for a nuclear arms race — was something that could have gone unnoticed if not for the obvious authoritarian overtone to it. Midway through the speech he said, “I call on the congress to empower every Cabinet secretary with the authority to reward good workers — and to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people.”

Could anything be more autocratic and less democratic than a call to action, which would see government employees purged for “undermining the public trust”? Because we have already established that the “American people” look very different to Trump and his 39 percent support base than to the rest of us. And as the Russia investigation ramps up amid rumors of the President trying to remove the special council, it is entirely ambiguous as to what “removing federal employees” really means… but I think we can all guess.