Wednesday, November 13, 2024

French Toast

You might call this the second in my occasional series of breakfast posts, since as the weather has turned colder, we’ve been eating French toast with maple syrup lately. And that’s not because everyone around here (but me) is half-French and can speak French, whereas the only thing I can say is je ne parle pas français.

While we’re on that subject, French toast, like French fries, has nothing to do with France. Its origin is believed to stretch way back to the Roman Empire, where it was called “pan dulcis.”

But of course this post is not really about breakfast or my struggles with the mother tongue or the origins of two of my favorite foods. Alas, much like my first breakfast post, “Oatmeal,” it’s about how those of us deeply distressed about the direction of our country can fortify ourselves in the face of what is to come as a consequence of Trump’s election.

In that regard, yesterday I wrote about how the initial wave of authoritarian action Trump intends to provoke at the border is based in racism. It is worth thinking about how this undermines democracy and what will be required to resist and then re-establish a democratic balance in the aftermath:

“To save our democracy, Americans need to restore the basic norms that once protected it. But we must do more than that. We must extend those norms through the whole of a diverse society. We must make them truly inclusive. America's democratic norms, at their core, have always been sound. But for much of our history, they were accompanied - indeed, sustained - by racial exclusion. Now those norms must be made to work in an age of racial equality and unprecedented ethnic diversity. Few societies in history have managed to be both multiracial and genuinely democratic. That is our challenge. It is also our opportunity. If we meet it, America will truly be exceptional.”
― Steven Levitsky, How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future

We all know that institutionalized racism is a fact of life in our country but we also know that we can overcome it and advocate for how all forms of human diversity immeasurably enrich our experience of being alive. Part of resisting Trump has to be to celebrate diversity, especially racial and ethnic diversity, in all aspects of American life.

At the same time, it will also be the little things we do for one another that matter as we deepen our sense of connection and reinforce each other’s commitment to resist and withstand the insult to decency and compassion that is Trumpism. It starts with talking to one another about this stuff.

Further food for thought: check out the excellent comments by Chris Rauber and Doug Foster on yesterday’s essay.

(P.S. Thanks to Kenneth for bringing packets of oatmeal to our neighbors group and to Susanna for bringing me a hefty supply of coffee.)

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