Sunday, May 20, 2018

How A Royal Wedding Exposed the Moral Bankruptcy of an American President

 
Who would have ever thought that a Royal Wedding in Great Britain would, in its rituals and symbols, expose the moral bankruptcy of the Trump Administration as much as any direct protest or critique, but that is exactly what happened yesterday. With the whole world watching, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engineered an event which affirmed the unity of peoples and nations by drawing upon the most powerful African American traditions of prophetic preaching and choral performance and linking it to the ancient traditions of the British monarchy and the church of England. The result was an event which moved many American observers, including TV commentators, to tears, in part because it stood in such contrast to the hatred and rage being spewed by the President and his defenders in the United States, It was a reminder that that the dream of the unity of all peoples, and the celebration of their collective traditions, was still alive and still capable of kindling the imagination and transforming governments and public life. It was also a startling indication how, after the Presidency of Barack Obama, Americans had elected someone who would severely damage the global reputation of the United States by taking us down the lowest of low roads, appealing to the kind of nationalism and raw prejudice that once fueled fascism. Make no mistake about it, the contrast between what took place in Great Britain and what is going on in Washington, was both intentional and powerful