WAKE UP, AMERICA

WAKE UP, AMERICA
From the Desk of Rev. Dr. Michael Nabors
President- Evanston/North Shore NAACP

A response to the Presidential Debate held Tuesday, September 30, 2020

I usually sleep like a log.  When my head hits the pillow, I am out within minutes, often for 7-8 hours.  Watched the Presidential Debate.  Couldn't sleep well last night.  Restless.  Tossing and turning hour after hour.  When I finally dozed off at about 2 AM, I had a dream.  Here it is:

It was post-election but before Christmas.  The Evanston and Chicago landscape was draped in white snow.  Along Lake Shore Drive, billowing waves of Lake Michigan rose and crashed against the shoreline.  The trees were bereft of leaves and the concrete buildings stood as frozen monuments under the canopy of the wintery sky.  Cars and busses made their way up and down the streets, boulevards and avenues, but they were few in number.  

Something strange, unsettling permeated the atmosphere.  I couldn't put my finger on it.  Then, it hit me.  There were no people outside.  No one was walking along the sidewalks.  No one was entering and exiting their homes.  No one was carrying shopping bags along the Magnificent Mile.  No one was pushing shopping carts out of grocery stores to their parked cars.  No young parents were walking their children to school.  No students were walking in small groups to various destination points.  The only human figures were those in vehicles moving up and down the roads.  

Then it dawned upon me.  Something has happened.  Evanston, Chicago, Illinois and the nation are under Marshall Law.  I turn on the radio of my car and the announcement is clear as a whistle-

"Marshall law for the entire nation continues as white militia groups move in droves throughout towns and cities everywhere.  Heavily armed, they are fighting and shooting every black and brown person in their sight."

"In retaliation, heavily armed black and brown groups are meeting these white militia everywhere.  Hundreds, no thousands of conflicts have resulted in the span of a few weeks.  Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands have died.  

"Having lost the election by popular and electoral votes, Donald Trump has encouraged white nationalists everywhere to take up arms and refuse to accept the outcome of the presidential election.  This has wreaked havoc everywhere.  Police departments cannot respond to the unrest because they are fighting each other.  National guardsmen in every state are actually fighting one another, as so many racists are in their ranks.  When the armed forces were called out to restore order, they too began fighting each other with white racists being overpowered by black and brown soldiers who number sixty percent of enlisted men and women."

"The United States is suffering from total anarchy.  Both the House and Senate have stopped meeting in fear of being assaulted, attacked and possibly killed.  The Supreme Court has cancelled all deliberations on every case until further notice.  The president is signing executive orders from an undisclosed bunker.  Overwhelmed with no help from the federal government, state governors, mayors and local elected officials are witnessing the demise of their municipalities."

I turn the radio off, glancing at the waves of the Lake to my left and the sterile coldness of stately buildings to my right.  Turning around, I drive home quickly to my family.  Their lives are at risk.  I turn down the block where my home is located and pull up in front of the house, I hear the sound of a bullet.  My windshield shatters.  I feel something piercing my chest as I slump over the steering wheel.  

Then, I wake up.  Wake up, America.  For God's sake, wake up.
How did you sleep last night?