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Dear Progressive Reader,

The week began with nationwide commemorations of the birth of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. In a powerful essay for our website Yohuru Williams writes ([link removed]) , King observed in “A Testament of Hope,” his final posthumously published article, that humanity “has the capacity to do right as well as wrong, and history is a path upward, not downward. The past is strewn with the ruins of the empires of tyranny, and each is a monument not merely to man’s blunders but to his capacity to overcome them. This is why I remain an optimist, though I am also a realist, about the barriers before us.”

Those feelings of optimism and realism were on full display in the powerful sounds and images of hope at the mid-week Inauguration of the forty-sixth President, taking place during a pandemic, and in a city under lockdown following the insurrection of January 6. The realism is portrayed in Byron Smith’s series of photographs ([link removed]) that chronicle the National Guard presence in the nation’s capital. Luis Feliz Leon reports ([link removed]) , the “pro-Trump insurrection reflects a decades-long connection between far-right extremism and U.S. militarism.” An understanding of, and a national reckoning with, these issues is just beginning. This reckoning will also require, as Joe Mayall explains ([link removed]) , a realistic assessment of our own historical role in military actions around
the globe, not merely the myths portrayed in so many video games.

Meanwhile, there were many feelings of hope, and sighs of relief, on Wednesday as the new President and Vice President took their oaths and set to work. Matt Rothschild analyzes ([link removed]) the content of Joe Biden’s speech, which focused on unity, democratic possibility, and plain old “truth.” And, as cartoonist Mark Fiore illustrates ([link removed]) , “boredom” is kind of exciting, compared to the rage and tweets of the past four years. In the coming weeks, we will see where things go with Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, but editor Bill Lueders opines ([link removed]) it is certain that “Trump is not going to be elected to anything, ever again.”

The new Biden-Harris Administration is now getting to work with a series of executive actions and plans to move agendas forward in the Democratically controlled House and Senate, and op-ed writer Ashley Lynn Priore reminds us that Biden must carry through on his commitment to include youth voices in every aspect of his governance. “Our generation has experienced two economic shutdowns, a global pandemic, and has had to grow up with a President who did not value democracy,” she writes ([link removed]) . “We are tired of being shut out.”

One issue the new Administration can act on quickly is the U.S.-supported war and humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Monday, January 25 has been designated as an international day of action ([link removed]) to oppose that war. Longtime peace activist Kathy Kelly notes ([link removed]) , “The United Nations estimates the war has already caused 233,000 deaths, including 131,000 deaths from such indirect causes as lack of food, health services, and infrastructure.” As Reese Erlich reports ([link removed]) this week, the outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid one more trap for the incoming President in his designation of Yemen’s Houthis as “terrorist,” but “the Biden Administration has a chance to undo a disastrous label and open the door for peace.” As Kelly urges, “We must not turn away. We must decry the
terrible war and blockade.”

Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.


Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. – Last week, together with A Room of One’s Own bookstore, we hosted a special live “virtual book event ([link removed]) ” with local author Mary Lang Sollinger and her new book From Inspiration to Activism, A Personal Journey through Obama’s Presidential Campaign, which chronicles the building of a grassroots movement to elect the first African American to the White House. You can view an archive of the event on YouTube ([link removed]) . If you would like a signed copy of the book as a thank-you for a donation to The Progressive, please click here ([link removed]) .

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