History says, Don’t hope
On this side of the grave,
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.
Those words by the legendary Irish poet Seamus Heaney floated through my Twitter feed the other day, like a cool breeze on a scorching day. They came via The Irish Literary Times, a sign that the rebellion rumbling through our country is shaking up the world.
We don’t call this moment in the spring of 2020 “history” yet, but one day we will. Even without the clarity of retrospect, we sense we’re living through something that will shape the future in remarkable ways.
First came the pandemic, followed by economic upheaval that has changed how business works and people survive. Then came the killing of an unarmed black man — George Floyd — after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck, which roused massive protests all over the country.
Protests. A pandemic. Plus a president who rules with an autocrat’s taste for threat and insult. It’s history in the making — exhausting, confusing, scary and full of promise.
Of course there’s no single “we” in all of this. None of us is living through this time in exactly the same way. How old you are, where you live, the color of your skin, the money you make or don’t, your political persuasion. Many things affect how this moment feels to each of us.
But however it feels, there’s no escaping, in the words of the famous Buffalo Springfield song: Something’s happening here.
It’s happening in big cities like Chicago, where in the past week, in neighborhoods of every racial and economic makeup, protesters have marched to protest Floyd’s killing and, more broadly, the police practices that have led to so many other unjust deaths.
It’s happening in small towns like Taylorville, Ill., which is overwhelmingly white, where several hundred community members marched around the town square, many carrying “Black Lives Matter” signs, before lying down outside the courthouse.
Something’s happening here.
It’s true that for every hopeful story about this moment, there’s an ugly counterpoint. For every story that speaks to hope and possibility, it’s easy to find one that speaks to the worst in us.
You can be uplifted one minute by thousands of peaceful protesters outside the White House singing “Lean on Me,” and horrified the next moment by police officers in Buffalo, N.Y., shoving a 75-year-old protester.
You can appreciate the many police officers who maintain their composure in the face of crowds loudly denouncing them, then be appalled by the Chicago cop who flips two middle fingers at a protester.
The contrasts shouldn’t be surprising. Protest is messy. Progress is not a straight line. It happens in fits and starts, further complicated by arguments among people who share the same goals.
But something’s happening here.
It’s an extraordinary moment that could change our country for good — in both senses of the word “good,” meaning in ways that will endure and ways that will make this land more equitable for more people.
In my lifetime, the world has become better in many ways — far from perfect, far from fair, full of setbacks, but overall better — and one reason is that enough people have believed it could and fought to make it happen.
In Seamus Heaney’s words:
So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Mary Schmich is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
