Five Things We Learned From 2020

1. Character matters
In 2016, we heard the recording of Donald Trump bragging that he could grab women by the genitalia and kiss them without consent. This reveal of sexual abuse was a blinking red warning sign: “No character!” But most white American Christians voted for him anyway. Now hundreds of thousands of Americans are no longer with us. Children are dead, separated from their parents, neglected and abused in our detention centers. Police continue to kill unarmed Black people with impunity. Evidence shows that wherever there is violence against women, there will also be violence against ethnic minorities and the land. Character matters.

2. Our votes matter
If you ever doubt that, remember 2020: body bags, 175 cities on fire, food lines, closed businesses, fears for the future, the president having tear gas shot into a crowd so he could walk across the street and hold a Bible in front of a church he doesn’t attend. Let us learn that a non-vote is a vote for the winner. In a democracy, votes have the power to bless or curse millions. It is our civic duty to approach elections as informed citizens. It is our Christian duty to leverage elections to protect the least of these.

3. Our families matter
On Feb. 14, my mother was rushed to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a “viral syndrome.” Before COVID-19, we might go a week or two without talking. Now, I check in every day. All this time on the phone has led to stories, laughter over things in the news, and shared tears over revelations about our family, our relationship, and our future. My family has come together like it never has before. We even started a text thread to keep tabs on each other and share news to make sure everyone is informed.

4. Black life doesn’t matter here
One of the most telling moments of this year was in early April when it was reported that a disproportionate number of people filling hospitals and morgues across the U.S. were Black, Latino, and Native American. Soon, the president changed his approach: Rather than continue a lockdown, he encouraged everyone to come out and utilize businesses. At the same time, he pressured Black and brown meatpackers to return to work without adequate protections from the virus. Scores have since died. If you ever hear someone chant “All Lives Matter,” simply say, “COVID.”

5. People who identify as white must repent
The United States is in the shadow of the most contentious election season in its modern history. What brought us to this brink? Some may say it was the fight over Roe v. Wade. Others may say racism against people of color. Both have merit, but it runs deeper. What brought us to the brink of losing democracy? White men’s need to control and define the world, and white women’s complicity. It is not about hatred. It is about narcissism. It is not about Democrats or Republicans. It is about white men’s war against God for supremacy. White men and the women who prop them up: Both must find their way to their knees. They must confess. They must repent. They must repair what they have broken in the world.