Toward a Fresh Start

Americans, friends and colleagues around the world, and the international students and scholars who want to study in the United States might ask, which America will prevail?

On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, an insurrectionist mob invaded the U.S. Capitol building in a brazen assault on our democracy and the republic that expresses it. The attackers, enflamed by the president’s rhetoric, sought to replace the rule of law and debate among duly elected leaders with the will of the mob and fealty to one man. 

The significance of the moment was symbolized for me by the live television images of an invader trying to lower an American flag and raise an alternative banner stamped with the name of the incumbent president. They prefer the dictates of one man to the choices of elected representatives. Through years of coddling extremists and condoning hate, the president has fueled dangerous groups that divide the world into “us” and “them” and has sought to eject voters from the political process. Having gained a platform for leadership, the president used it to sow division. 

The invasion of the Capitol further revealed disparities in our society. In the June 2020 issue of this magazine, I wrote, “We see again how far the United States is from the ideal of ‘Equal Justice Under Law.’” As I noted then, “Police used tear gas to break up the gathering of peaceful protestors in Washington, D.C.’s, Lafayette Square to facilitate a presidential publicity stunt.” 

In a bitter contrast, 6 months