As I listened to the Mike Pence-Kamala Harris debate, I found myself agreeing with Pence on policy far more than Harris. That’s because I’ve become more conservative in middle age, as many people do after raising kids, working hard, and realizing time is no longer on your side.
Parts of the Joe Biden platform seem crazy to me. Legalizing marijuana is a terrible idea. I drew that conclusion years ago when I rode a motorcycle up into the hills of Jamaica and encountered real Rastafarians, who smoked weed, like, 24-7, and seemed to be living and cogitating in slow motion. You’ll never convince me that marijuana is a harmless drug.
I also don’t think you solve every problem by throwing billions at it. And I really do accept that the Chinese government is a serious threat to the United States, more so than Russia.
But I also believe that the Trump presidency has been a disaster on the issue of racial justice. And while Pence is a fluid debater and a better advocate for Trump than Trump, he had nothing of substance to say on the subject. He’ll back law enforcement every time: That’s what I heard.
And of course I noticed the big ol’ fly that landed on his head precisely when the topic was race. Hey prophetic folks—what’s that all about?
How about this: The fly in the ointment of the Trump presidency is race.
When President Trump came down with COVID-19, we didn’t assign blame in my household. My husband and I began to pray. We interceded for his health and his wife’s health. We prayed that their 14-year-old son, who lives in the White House, wouldn’t get sick.
But, led by the Holy Spirit, my prayer shifted to intercession that his illness would birth humility and empathy for people of color in the United States. That Trump would, in fact, use the rest of his time in the most powerful office in the world to do everything he could to right 400 years of oppression against African-Americans, the biggest failure of justice this nation has ever seen.
You might call me a silly dreamer, a religious simpleton, but hope is the essence of my Pentecostal Christian faith. My God is the God of the impossible. Nothing is too hard for him.
I still hold out hope. But if justice is deferred yet again, I assure you judgment will come.
I believe in the depths of my heart that God has heard the cries of his Black sons and daughters. If Trump doesn’t pursue justice for all Americans, God will set in place someone who will.
