• Editor’s note: I recall no time since the summer of 1968 after Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated and ripped off America’s scab to reveal the puss in the wound of persistent racism.
• The Washington Post titled 1968 as “The year America unraveled.”
• The newspaper reported, “Facing off — young against old, black against white — Americans wondered whether they could ever find their way back toward one another.”
• Now, 52 years later, we approach the summer of 2000, though not gripped by a Vietnam-type war.
• The eve of summer 2000 finds America in a war of a pandemic without a plan nor national leadership, unemployment rivaling The Great Depression of the 1930’s, and emotional anxiety/depression from months of shelter-in-place.
• Instead of assassinations, we now find the match was lit by police brutality against our black citizens revealing the underbelly of seething racism, inflaming our national outrage!
• What is so dangerous is that we have the President encouraging his “base” and MAGA supporters to join with the protestors implying their anger at government is the same, when such is far from the truth. The protestors are marching against police brutality. Trump’s MAGA supporters are all about Trump’s re-election in wanting him to reduce government intrusions in their lives.
• Beyond the protests, reports of out-of-town extremists causing anarchy persist in many cities.
• Taylor Swift’s Tweet put Trump on-notice: “After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November.”
• All of this while American pandemic deaths keep climbing as we approach 105,000 dead today.

• The headlines below echo a nation on edge. A long, hot summer seething with tension is ahead!

Trump Suggests ‘MAGA’ Fans Gather, Makes Military Threat

Washington state governor activates National Guard to contain Seattle protests, at Mayor’s request

Viral photo [in Louisville] shows line of white people between police, black protesters at Thursday rally – This IS “We the People!”

Gripped by disease, unemployment and outrage at the police, America plunges into crisis

Trump, desperate for distraction, turns White House into purveyor of racism, death, and destruction

Black MSNBC Reporter all but loses it rightfully on air with the truth America must hear

Nike releases ‘Don’t Do It’ ad addressing racism in America – See the ad here

Trump demands Republican convention ‘with no masks or social distancing’ despite coronavirus pandemic – US president does not want to see signs of virus measures in his renomination audience, governor’s office says

The Trump campaign isn’t about winning, but setting the stage for whatever happens after he loses

Atlanta mayor says Trump should ‘stop talking’ about protests: ‘This is like Charlottesville all over again’

Chicago mayor Lightfoot’s response to Trump’s latest tweets ‘begins with F and ends with You’

LIGHTFOOT: “Donald Trump’s comment last night was profoundly dangerous, and we must stand in firm solidarity and say this is totally unacceptable no matter who is the speaker. And, folks, we see the game he’s playing because it’s so transparent and he’s not very good at it. He wants to show failures on the part of Democratic local leaders to throw red meat to his base. His goal is to polarize, to destabilize local government and inflame racist urges, and we can absolutely not let him prevail. And I will code what I really want to say to Donald Trump. It’s two words. It begins with ‘F’ and it ends with ‘you.’ I will not remain silent while this man cynically tries to turn this incredibly painful moment into one for his own political gain.”

In a sad week for America, Trump has fled from his duty