2023 was a truly interesting year in that it was neither an election year, nor was it a year when nothing happened. This was the year that Israel was given tacit consent to commit genocide on the Gaza strip, finalizing its colonial settlement. Coincidentally, it was also the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, and in Austin, Biden was scheduled to come and speak at the LBJ library, since Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. In the same month, there was an alleged assassination attempt on the opposing presidential candidate, which delayed the visit for a week, and also encouraged Biden to withdraw from candidacy. With so much tumult occurring simultaneously, I think it should be clear to anyone that symbolism cannot stand as “progress” within the dominant narrative.
One could begin with the credentials of the sitting president at the time of the anniversary of the March on Washington. Based on his behavior, Biden had a history of behaving like a segregationist. However, during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, he was considered to be the “safest” option for president, despite a wide range of options presented. Biden was safe for preserving the status quo, but he was also the oldest presidential candidate in United States history, actively separating him from the recent lived experience of most of his constituents. Also, under Biden, affirmative action was ended by a coalition of white and Asian constituents.
Additionally, Biden built his invigorated reputation off the back of his vice presidency with Barack Obama, who was the predecessor to Trump in 2016, and who dealt with nonstop racist vitriol. Biden remained as president too long, and eventually stood as a barrier to the presidency of Harris, the Black vice-president prosecutor, because even political strategists will explain that it is nearly impossible to sway people with less than four months of influence. Had Biden truly meant to protect the country, he should have resigned in January of 2024, to give the nation six months of information about a Harris presidency. If one considers symbolism, how symbolic would it have been for a Black woman candidate to speak on the anniversary of the enactment of the Civil Rights Act?
In addition to the 2020 presidential race, there were nonstop protests after the murder of George Floyd, and the United States looked terrible on an international level. Corporations threw out a number of publicity stunts designed to restore their image, and thus began the birth of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Almost no substantive action took place, and most people were bored after the summer was over. Currently, there has been a concerted effort to destroy any efforts of racial justice, and/or give platforms to elevate BIPOCQ who scorn such efforts. Symbolism is generally torn down the moment a chance for maintaining the dominant narrative was an option, which is why there has to be substantive change which is more difficult to undo.
After all of the performative behavior, nothing happened, and a fascist oligarchy was installed on January 20, 2025. There has been a lot of whining on social media, and a couple of protests, but because there has been no violence against Black people due to a lack of Black participation, the media has ignored a lot of the “resistence.” People tried crafting again, but nobody was interested, since crafting was the last response to a would-be dictator, and that did not solve any of the problems. Most targets of the dominant narrative’s abuse understand that people who want to change their behavior will. So far, there has been nothing to suggest that complacent people will do anything other than maintain power and demand more “effort” without reciprocation.
One cannot simultaneously maintain power and comfort while also liberating the masses; that is the lie that keeps people dependent on the hierarchical system already in place. If people are unwilling to see the problems with the system as it stands, they deserve to remain enslaved to its consequences. Everyone complaining about how uncomfortable they are now had nothing to say when others were demonstrating and expressing discomfort, and their demand for unity reeks of entitlement. To repair the damage done, there would have to be ostensible vulnerability to those who were oppressed in order to form coalitions, because nobody believes performative behavior anymore.
Chasing A Dying Empire 