After Trump’s first week in office, I’m called to our anthem, ‘We shall overcome.’ | Opinion

On the day that Donald J. Trump took the oath as president of the United States of America for the second time, many Americans were celebrating the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The celebrations were an eerie contrast.

King was a man who gave his life trying to bring unity to a country he loved, but didn’t love him back. Trump is a man who has reaped all the country’s benefits yet wants to tear the nation apart.

One of his first acts as president was to set free the more than 1,500 people charged with federal crimes in connection to the deadly attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump issued “… a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol” that day, according to a copy of the executive order released by the White House.

At least five people, including a Capitol police officer, died during or soon after the attack. Four other police officers defending the Capitol that day died by suicide. And more than 140 police officers were injured.

With his pardons — more than 1,200 people had been convicted, and about 175 have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to a police officer — some of us resurrected our old battle cry, the anthem, “We Shall Overcome…”.

I am used to being hopeful with the sitting of a new president, no matter what political party he is affiliated with. This time, there seemed to be a deep feeling of gloominess overshadowing the day. What were we witnessing? What role does Elon Musk play in the Trump administration? What lies ahead for people who look like me and other minorities?

Even when Trump was elected the first time, I took a let’s-wait-and-see attitude. Oh, I heard what he said during his campaign and saw some of his actions toward women, via a video tape. But becoming the president, I thought, would wake him up to his new responsibilities.

It didn’t. During his administration, fresh fears of America returning to its old Jim Crow ways kept surfacing. And Trump did nothing to assure America that wouldn’t happen. In fact, he seemed to fan the flames of racism, hate and strife.

But some of us prayed and believed that we would make it through those four years. And we did.

Then came the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. No matter how officials on both sides of the aisle tried to show Trump that he lost in a fair election, he would not accept it. The Big Lie tore the country apart.

But we got through. Now, with Trump being given another chance to “Make America Great Again,” as is his motto, I believe he is even more dangerous.

He has already had a taste of power. He knows where the country’s weakness is. And he has an agenda: He wants to be president for life, a dictator. Remember when he said if the people voted for him this time, they would never have to vote again?

Well, my friends. The people voted and the majority gave Trump his wish. And the games have already begun.

That is why Donald Trump’s second inauguration seemed more like a day of mourning, than a day of celebration for many of us Americans. We remember the first four years.

Even as his promise of a “golden age of America” still hangs heavily in the air, one of his first acts as president was to set free Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio. Tarrio, 40, a native Miamian, was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in orchestrating the attack on the Capitol. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison in September 2023, the longest sentence handed down at the time, and was serving time in a federal prison in Louisiana before his pardon.

He returned to Miami Wednesday amid cheers and jeers at Miami International Airport.

READ MORE: Miami Proud Boy pardoned by Trump in Capitol attacks greeted by cheers, taunts at MIA

The news of Trump’s pardons made me sick, but I wasn’t surprised. That’s because Trump told us what he would to before he was elected.

Still, somehow I kind of thought it was just talk. Surely, not even Trump was so heartless that he would release the people who tried to overthrow our government, his government.

And what about the families of the five people who died, including the loved ones of Brian Sicknick, the U.S. Capitol Police Officer who died the next day as a result of two strokes? Or the four officers who died by suicide? Or the more than 140 officers injured? Doesn’t he even care a little bit about their feelings?

Well, as if that weren’t enough bad news for the day, the story of the plight of the immigrants caught my eye.

My heart still hurts for the more than 5,000 children who were separated from their parents as part of the first Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. Worse, there was no tracking process that would enable the children to be reunited with their families, according to an 18-month investigation by the Atlantic magazine.

Some of them will never see their parents again. What a shameful blot on the soul of America.

There’s more. When I learned of yet another devastating move by the president — the dismantling of all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices in the federal government — I thought to myself: If it’s this bad less than a week of Trump in office, what’s it going to look like in a month or two?

Dismantling the diversity offices is an unhealthy move for people who look like me, and other minorities. It’s also a blow to the people who work in those agencies, who will be out of jobs, many of whom are veterans with service-related disabilities.

First, no more affirmative action. Now this.

So, while a gloomy pall hangs over us since Trump’s inauguration, I still see reason to hope. I know some people think I am crazy for asking for prayer for a man who is always in attack mode.

But trust me, people. Prayer works. God can change the heart and mind of anyone. Trump is no exception. He can only go as far as the Lord allows him.

We got through his first four years; we will get through these next four. Meanwhile, let’s pray for President Trump, and for our nation as well.