A Nation in Trauma James C. Revels JamesCRevels@AOL.com This is a nation in trauma. This is a nation of people who are silenced. This is a nation of many people who have just lost trust in their democracy, who everyday feel betrayed as a far right agenda is implemented in a time when their collective choice was not to do so. This nation is stunned in silence and lead by collusion between the corporate media, the top of the political powers, and big, big money. This nation is walking in sleep and stumbles in sleep. Those who were passionately reaching for participation have curled back in, have pulled the covers back over their heads and have stopped. The nation is frozen in trauma. Those who were reaching, on fire, to bring their voices out, have lost trust, have lost a capacity to speak and be heard. Their right has been aggressed upon, trespassed. Their right has been overcome, betrayed, and now in the silent aftermath of this event there is no resolution, there is no voice emerging from the leadership that channels, empowers, and gives voice to the feelings that lie submerged within the nation of people. There has been no platform, really, for the outrage that has arisen after these events have occurred. There is a stunned silence, waiting, as the aggressor aggresses and implements their agenda. WHAT HAS HAPPENED IS NOT OKAY! And yet we feel forced to accept what has happened due to fears of insecurity, insignificance, and destructiveness. We remain silent. And the few who have spoken, those who have given voice to the outrage, have not been supported and empowered by the leadership. So the energy of the outrage and anger has been dampened, has gone underneath and moves in an indirect channel and does not go directly towards its target, does not address the correct situation. It mumbles and moves from day to day with eyes cast down, sinking angry teeth into stories that are fed on a daily basis by the mainstream media, which has long left the event of betrayal. And yet the sense of betrayal is still sensed. In millions of hearts there is anguish being dealt with, there is pain and anger being written, sauntering back and forth through the internet, through letters and conversations, but not finding its way to the power and force of the major media. There it quietly lives as a groundswell of opposition. There it lives as rebellion and protest against that which has occurred to this nation. We must find a way to deal with this. We feel as if there is no power to deal with this situation. First, we must deal with it individually within ourselves and come to some sort of resolution that enables us to arise above the plight of a victim, that is, to explore fully our sense of outrage and uncover the strength that lies beneath our anger and discontent. The full potential of our position is blocked, corked as it were, by our unexpressed, unresolved anger. The power of our opposition is not integrated within our stance, our daily position. So there is no posture of strength to fight or withstand the continued aggressive agenda, which is being thrust upon us. There is no teeth-sinking opposition to this administration from our leaders. That outrage and opposition will then only be lived in passive aggressive resistances, in a weakened whining of that which is going on. In this position we will not stand resolute before the other side, remembering daily the knowledge that this situation has come about by the use of incorrect means. This opposition needs a voice, this power needs to be integrated. If it does not come from the leaders, new leaders are needed. A platform is needed to showcase those who are presently carrying the torch - beginning with the Congressional Black Caucus. These souls need desperately to be listened to at this time. It is their communities, their brethren and sisters, who will incur (and have already incurred) the most suffering from this administration. And their own senators will not lend them an ear, or sign their protest, or back them in the big game. They, the CBC, project the right juice, the right stuff, and they should be fully empowered by their own party. Their outrage is right on, their passion is eloquent! I'd place them in front of anyone in the democratic party at this moment. The senate appears to me to be the firewall for the status quo, for the big collusion. Those players know all the rules. They know the consequences for not abiding by them. Thus, Senator Edwards could reply to my letter of outrage by stating that the election brought up strong feelings from both sides and that now it was time for our great nation to move on and accept the new presidency. (This was written shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court's verdict on Bush vs. Gore). Those words echoed nothing in my heart. This is one instance where it does not take more integrity to be gentlemanly and silent. When people have been trespassed, when their rights have been betrayed, demands a response full of assertiveness, of power. This response need not be destructive or violent, but it does need to be infused with the fire of indignity and anger, and with the clarity of mind that arises when one defends human integrity. As we allow these grievances to remain ignored, then we remain passive and asleep, victim to our own lack of participation. We need to remain awake and alert to the facts and remember the story. This election is not the first time something has gone wrong in this country. Our country was founded with trespassing, with aggression, by a desecration of a whole nation of Native American people, by the enslavement of a whole nation of African American people. So unconsciousness is by no means new. But when egregious events occur, such as this past election, it cannot just be swept under the carpet, hoping that it will go away. It will not go away. Slavery did not just go away. We are still working that one out as so poignantly portrayed in the Florida election.