From “US: The Resurrection of American Terror” by Rev. Kenneth W. Wheeler
From time to time America has been able to break the chains, if only for a short time. From 1865-1877 we had twelve years of Reconstruction after the Civil War. From 1940-1968 we had twenty-eight years of a modern-day Civil Rights Movement. Then, from 2009-2017 we had eight years under an African American president. But after each brief reprieve the demonic force of white supremacy would re-emerge stronger and fiercer. The Ku Klux Klan would follow Reconstruction with the clear purpose of exacting terror against Black people. The modern-day Civil Rights Movement would see the assassination of its leaders and a gutting of the centerpiece of the 1965 Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court in 2013, which allowed states to roll back and erode many of the legal accomplishments that were achieved by the movement.
And then came the candidacy and election of Donald Trump. This was a direct result of white voices who would never accept a Black man as president of the United States of America rising up to register their displeasure, their opposition. They were saying “never again” to any Black man or woman who believed the presidency was an office they could ever aspire to. In his final speech before he was killed, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of the difficult days that we would face as Black people. We are in those difficult days. White resistance to an America that is inclusive and expansive is fierce and strong.