WS Chronicle

By Dr. James B. Ewers Jr.

“Although we’ve come to the end of the road” are popular lyrics from a song by Boyz to Men, this refrain is squarely tied to the current president. Last week, the Electoral College certified that President-elect Biden had indeed won the election.

We are at Christmas with an election that was held weeks ago. The problem was that Trump and his un-merry men and women did not want to accept the results. And with the courts in some strange way, they thought they could get their way.

Instead, America’s court system, including the Supreme Court, told them they had no standing and to get out of the way. Justice and right prevailed. We knew that Mr. T did not have a case. The sickening part of this is that we had a tyrant in the Oval Office for four years.

The good news is with the vaccines and our outlook. We have now both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines to fight the coronavirus and healthcare workers have already started to receive them. I believe brighter days are ahead and we are slowly coming out of a dark and tragic period in our history.

There are many who would say we are still in that dark period. To some extent, that is true. The difference is that we have a medication that will counter COVID-19. For months, we were struggling and fearing the coronavirus. At least at the end of this year, we can say with a bit of confidence that next year will be better.

As we point to the year 2021, the question at the inquiry desk is: what will next year look like? There are multiple answers to that question depending upon your view.

If you are not in a political bubble where alternative truths rule, then you know next year will be like Alka Seltzer. Oh! What a relief it will be to see right overtake wrong. Arguably, we have been living in a fog of fear. Our days have been a quagmire of chaos.

If you are Black like me, leaving your house and coming back to it has been trauma-filled. Some of us made it back, while others of us perished. Sadly, but factually, we are not safe even when we are inside of our homes.

Why not ask Chicago citizen Anjanette Young. Police in that city stormed into her home with guns drawn and arrested her. This incident happened almost two years ago. Ms. Young wanted the world to know what happened to her.

The Chicago police finally had to show the truth. Anjanette Young said, “I feel like they didn’t want us to have this video because they knew how bad it was. They knew they had done something wrong. They knew that the way they treated me was not right.” 

Well, I believe the police there will not fare well and will face some severe consequences.

If you are a student at any level, you have one request and that is to return to school. Students have been in and out of school since March. Learning for them has ceased to be fun. Virtual learning has been the substitute and critics say that it has hurt many students. I agree.

College students have also been at home as classrooms and residence halls have been empty. You cannot sit in the student union and play bid whiz, nor can you sit on the block and tell stories.

So, the vaccine if it goes according to plan, will allow us to get back in the game. The vaccine will change things, so make your plans for next year. Our new year will be a better year. Let us get ready!