The 44 Percent: Jan. 6 Capitol Insurrection, American democracy and what’s new in 2022
I am angry.
Angry at America. Angry at cable media. Angry at the manipulation.
When James Baldwin said, “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost, almost all of the time,” he wasn’t just talking about the challenges that an individual faces. His point was actually much broader: “It‘s what’s happening all around you and all of the time in the face of the most extraordinary and criminal indifference, indifference of most white people in this country, and their ignorance.”
That we are one year removed from a failed attempt to subvert American democracy and we, as a nation, don’t have a collective understanding of what actually happened on Jan. 6 is just frustrating. I can’t help but feel infuriated after hearing Trump supporters blame the Democrats, the FBI or call the subsequent framing of Jan. 6 as an insurrection “a hoax.” America continues to make the same, exact mistakes that keep us divided.
What especially hurts is that there are more pressing issues to solve — COVID-19, police brutality, redlining — yet none can be properly addressed as long as we can’t agree on a shared history.
So here we are, at the top of a new year, disagreeing about what happened just 365 days ago. Such a fundamental disconnect over a blatant display of insurgency has consequences — a new Knight Foundation study found that Black Americans feel the least protected by the First Amendment — although this should come as no surprise.
Excuse my pessimism but my anger is warranted. This nation was built on the backs of Black and brown people. And regardless of how America has treated minorities since its inception, we still expect better for a nation that promised “liberty and justice for all.”
So maybe I’m just angry at myself. For wanting more. For trying to educate. For believing in freedom. I should’ve expected less from America. This country can’t even agree about what led to the Civil War (spoiler alert: it was slavery). Agreeing on an attempt to subvert American democracy — as long as the malevolent misinformation machine keeps on churning — is nearly impossible.
INSIDE THE 305
How Heat’s Udonis Haslem became Mr. 305: ‘I’m literally living a dream’:
Udonis Haslem deserves his flowers.
I had the opportunity to spend some time with the OG after the Heat fell short of a championship in the NBA bubble in late 2020 and let me tell you, this man is as real as they come. Total stand-up guy. In Anthony Chiang’s latest piece, he explores the many ways in which Haslem, a Miami native who has been with the Heat for his entire 19-year career, has further endeared himself to the 305.
“The legacy is Mr. 305, the man of the city,” Haslem said. “When I consider being called that, it’s because of how I take care and what I do for the city. I’ve been loyal and I’ve held it down from every aspect. You talk about sports, I won championships. You talk about the community, I give back. You talk about jobs, I provide jobs. You talk about housing, I provide housing. And I stay 10 toes down in the inner city.”
As Heat president Pat Riley put it, Haslem is simply one of a kind.
“I don’t think you’re going to see somebody like that come around again. Not here,” Riley said. “With the Dan Marinos and the Dwyane Wades and the people who stay here, UD is going to be — once his basketball career is over — he’s going to be thought of as one of the great players and people that have ever come out of the area. He has never been a 20-time All-Star and all that stuff. But he’s so respected in this league, his voice is so respected by the players and that’s why he’s here.”
Be sure to also check out the behind-the-scenes look at Haslem’s photo shoot featuring the Herald’s Emily Michot.
OUTSIDE THE 305
In honor of the one-year anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, the New York Times put together a live blog of stories on various subjects related to the Jan. 6 attack. There’s something on President Joe Biden’s speech at the Capitol — he accused former President Donald Trump of spreading “a web of lies about the 2020 election” which has “a dagger at the throat of American democracy” — the several protests throughout the country in support of the violent actors behind last year’s riot and the significant role that podcasts played in promulgating election misinformation leading up to Jan. 6, 2021.
American media needs to take new approach to save democracy:
We, the media, owe our readers an apology.
In the midst of grappling with the repercussions of the Jan. 6 attack, we’ve fallen into a trap that continues to ensnare us time and time again. The trap, for lack of a better word, is that we sometimes fail in calling a spade, a spade — albeit often in pursuit of what we believe to be objectivity. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post put it like this:
For the most part, news organizations are not making democracy-under-siege a central focus of the work they present to the public.
“We are losing our democracy day by day, and journalists are individually aware of this, but media outlets are not centering this as the story it should be,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a scholar of autocracy and the author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.”
Sullivan goes on to say that although this pro-democracy coverage isn’t totally nonexistent, it’s only occasional and “ doesn’t appear to be part of an overall editorial plan that fully recognizes just how much trouble we’re in.”
That must change. It’s not merely that there needs to be more of this work. It also needs to be different. For example, it should include a new emphasis on those who are fighting to preserve voting rights and defend democratic norms.
“We focus on the enemies of democracy, the villains, but we also need to focus on democracy’s heroes,” including those working at the grass-roots level, Ben-Ghiat told me, such as voting rights advocates and public officials in communities across the country. An occasional feature story on Stacey Abrams, the celebrated activist and former Georgia state lawmaker, is not nearly enough.
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Community activist in Jacksonville handcuffed before DeSantis press conference:
Ben Frazier, a Black activist in Jacksonville, was subsequently arrested on a trespassing charge Tuesday after he refused to leave Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press conference. Frazier and DeSantis aides traded words prior to the presser on monoclonal antibody treatments, a COVID-19 treatment method that the governor wants more of despite reports that it’s less effective against the Omicron variant.
“This is a public building, and we don’t intend on moving,” Frazier said to the aides at one point. DeSantis was not present at the time.
While they argued with the governor’s aides, the activists took issue with DeSantis’ response to the coronavirus pandemic, the anti-rioting legislation he pushed during the 2021 legislative session and his rhetoric about critical race theory.
In a later statement, DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw said Frazier’s presence precluded the governor from getting important information to the people.
“Mr. Frazier is an activist, not a member of the press. Every citizen has the right to protest in public places — but not to trespass in a secured facility in order to disrupt a press briefing and prevent information from being conveyed to the public,” Christina Pushaw said Tuesday via email .
HIGH CULTURE
Get ready for a content-heavy 2022:
We’re not even a week into 2022 and I’m already overwhelmed. There’s just too much, too fast (I can’t say I’m not excited, though). Here’s a quick list of projects debuting or returning in 2022 that I’m particularly excited for.
Gunna will bring the famed “Drip Season” series to a close with the release of “Drip Season 4” on Friday.
The Weeknd plans to drop his album “Dawn FM” on Friday as well.
The Zendaya-led series “Euphoria” returns for its second season Sunday on HBO Max.
After a near four year layoff, FX’s critically acclaimed series “Atlanta,” starring Donald Glover and Brian Tyree Henry, will premiere its third season March 24.
And if you want to plan ahead, Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will release Nov. 22.
Where does “The 44 Percent” name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter’s title.
