noviembre 17, 2020 by ConTextos

Open Circle Author published in the Las Vegas Sun!

We are excited to share this piece written by Craig Hall, one of our most consistent Open Circle participants. Craig submitted this piece written during Open Circle to the Las Vegas Sun as a Letter to the Editor. You can read the piece on the Las Vegas Sun website here.

We invite you to write, share, and process the shifts, the dynamics of, and relationships to power and transitions. Click here to join us

We must back up our promises

Criag Hall

“This every-four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle,” President Ronald Reagan said.

The reason for the miracle is that there has been a tacit agreement of what our norms will be. We have also agreed upon the reinforcement of those norms.

This is akin to the idea of justice. Real justice must be blind, the scales must be balanced, and punishment must be meted out equally and evenly.

Lately, those who were to serve as our backstop have been absent. Work is needed to ensure that this every-four-year miracle continues. Without the work, the Constitution is nothing more than ink on parchment. Without accountability, those in high positions can run roughshod over our norms. Without the support, protesters are made to feel as idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

When support, accountability and work are missing from those in high positions, they are nothing more than absentee slumlords who want the exorbitant rent paid on time but will not fix a leaky faucet, replace the broken railings that will keep children safe or call an exterminator to get rid of the infestation.

This is why so many know that there is no justice. We know that she keeps peeking under the blindfold to see a defendant’s race and socio-economic class. The actual miracle will come from tacit agreements becoming more than words. They must be honored. We are nothing if we do not do what we said we would do.