Open Letter to Joe Biden: Imagining a New All-American Dream

Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

We need new thinking to fix our current problems that our shameful history of slavery and bigotry uses to haunt us. Our thinking and policies must embrace everyone from all walks of life. We need to find ways to lift up and embrace all Americans. Yes, we have tons of work to bring real and meaningful changes to the lives of our oppressed minority citizens. But those policies also need to find ways to mend fences with Republicans who increasingly see our divide as us versus them. Neither of these things can stand if we are ever able to get the reforms necessary to improve the lives of all Americans.

Everybody needs to learn to listen, to give a little, and be tolerant, and kind. Some people can’t go there, we know. I think most people have this in them if they can see the good all around that will come of it. That’s where the vision thing comes in. We can get a majority to understand we need reform, but to get an unstoppable supermajority we need a vision of prosperity for all. It’s possible if we paint a plausible picture of how much better life would be if all Americans could prosper. It might be the hardest thing we ever do. If a brave, wise leader brings in all the best minds with no restraints and all opinions invited, we have a start.

What if minorities earned and had housing and homeownership opportunities equal to whites? How much more money would those actions put into the economy? How much less crime, prison, and police action? Sounds crazy, right? It’s precisely the kind of thinking we need. We must upend the status quo in a peaceful but determined way where the power of the people becomes a reality instead of the shame and sham, we have today with politicians bought by big money.

Finding that fine line between helping one constituency at the expense of another is crazy hard, but we must believe it can be done. Everyone must see it is possible. Everyone needs to understand there will be some sacrifices to get to real equality and justice for all. But it can be done. It will take a grand plan as we have never seen before — a program with input and buy-in from all ends of the political spectrum. We must imagine American life in new ways that are genuinely inclusive and don’t favor one person or party over the other. When there are disagreements, they must be played out in public and adjudicated fairly and transparently for all to see. They must come with the option to review and modify when needed. Tolerance and justice beget kindness and understanding.

It’s well past the time to just talk about Dr. King’s dream. It is time to make it a reality. We can’t just legislate to create such a reality. We must imagine it for everyone to see in its fullest expression and then do it. Vision passionately and plainly articulated is how to get a supermajority of people behind it. All people need to see clearly how they and society will benefit in new and meaningful ways.

Racial injustice is a 400-hundred-year problem in America. Slavery is a despicable crime against humanity. The residue of the brutality of slavery that stains our history and continues to create great divides in the principles of freedom, equality, and justice must end.

So long as racism hides and aggravates and is sometimes boldly displayed among those in power, no one is free. True freedom can only work when all people can live freely in a society that is devoid of hatred, mistrust, and inequality.

We can do this. We haven’t come close to fulfilling the promise of America for all, but we can, and we must start now in earnest. Elon Musk was asked about the enormity of the challenge to land a booster rocket back on the launch pad after takeoff. He replied if the problem doesn’t break the laws of physics, it can be done no matter how difficult. That’s how we must look at breaking the cycles of racial injustice and social inequality in our great country. We know it’s not impossible and, therefore, it can be done.

The time to act and to act much differently is now. We can’t let another day go by where being black means being afraid just because you are black. It seems a fitting metaphor that we must stand on the broad shoulders of George Floyd, who was an imperfect man born in an imperfect land. What we must do now is strive our mightiest to be a more perfect union where we make Black Lives Matter definitively.

If you look at our history and all that we have done and how far we have come, it’s easy to see we’ve not done enough and that we have much further to go. It’s also evident that past efforts are not where to look for how to make changes that stick and work.

Essentially, we need a new paradigm of the highest order. Yes, we need legislative and executive action from the top down. But we need more than that kind of institutional support. We need a commitment as we have never seen before from leaders in every part of American life. We can’t rely on the tools of the past. We need so much more than anything we have done before.

WE NEED IMAGINATION!

We need the best thinkers to give us their sharpest ideas on how to make changes that are real, and that get an authentic buy-in from blacks in particular, but all minorities, and from political and business leaders, and the American people in toto. We can’t afford to leave anyone out. Everyone must want crucial changes. Everyone must see what these new changes are and understand how they are going to make things different and better for everyone now and future generations.

We can’t make it happen until we can see it. No leader or politician has ever projected the fulfilled vision of blacks with equal rights and justice in my lifetime. Everyone is stuck in the process. We need more. We need to know what a healthy, thriving black population looks like. What would such conditions add to the strength, stability, and prosperity of our country? We need to show and convince blacks and all minorities that they have the power and the means to do great things unrestrained by bigotry and inequality.

We need to imagine “What if” blacks and other minorities were participating as full and equal partners in business, education, housing, politics, and more. What would true equality do to drive our economy, our military, our security, our pride, and prosperity? Where would that take us? We need to see it. White nationalists stoke that blacks and other minorities are taking jobs away from whites. It needs to be explained, so it is abundantly clear that a thriving black community would create jobs. They would be pumping the economy and creating new jobs due to demand and minority business ownership.

We need to build models that show how this is possible. Beyond the best and most innovative thinkers in the arts, business, science, education, politics, we need the participation of voices we never hear and never call on or recognize. It must be a full and detailed vision looking far into the future. Don’t tell me. Show me how good it can be. Give me the details make it so real and so possible I can’t resist being all-in on a new positively radical way of life in America for all its citizens.

Prosperity for all is how to remove fear on both sides. Imagine if the oppressed and their oppressors could see a more rational and more rewarding way to let everyone live their best lives. The amount of good that would happen out of karma alone is immeasurable. Adding in the wealth of tangible aspects would make the prosperity prospective astronomical for all.

We have so much untapped talent in so many areas. We have so much wasted human capital that has been marginalized in devastating and often brutal ways. We need to hear them, inspire, and encourage them to come forth with their ideas and help them make their dreams come true. We need to gather the grandest most magnificent ideas from across the spectrum and give them light in the most transparent ways. We need to protect all ideas from those who fear them and would work to put and keep them in the dark. We must let the ideas and the people be heard and then implement the best of them no matter how painful to the powers that be.

I believe part of the reason we have failed at making headway with efforts to force change is we always focus on the change item, e.g., “How to pass the Voting Rights bill?” That movement was put in motion to try and end hundreds of years of racial inequality at the polls. It was sold as a righteous thing to do, which is but much too little. But we stopped there as if a law would fix things. History has shown us the poor results of stopping too soon. You need to demonstrate the full outcome of revolutionary change. How will America look when we become a land of equality for all? Give me the details. Excite me about the future of an America that lives up to its ideals.

We must figure out innovations to bring about real change that comes fast. That is a tall order unto itself, but it is not nearly enough. We need to think it through and project the positive, breakthrough results in the most dramatic and believable ways. That’s how you get people excited about the future. You show it to them and invite them to come along for the ride.

Joe, you must be excited about the changes that will come because, for like no other time in your life, you can make real monumental change happen. George Floyd did not die in vain. His brutal murder happened to ignite a cause for massive change. He died to create this moment, and you are here to help make the change possible. It’s your time to lead us and show us a future few ever thought possible.

The pandemic has made it hard for you to gain your voice and present your message. You’re human. You struggled and stumbled along the way, but as the pro that you are, you always revert to form. You are likable and capable. But we are still seeking something more from you. It’s time to become the beacon you can be. If you believe what I’m saying and can put these ideas into your words and deliver them with passion, then you’ll have us in the palm of your hand.

To get the most profound commitments to your candidacy and presidency, you’ve got to paint the picture. It must be conceivable and believable, so we, your followers, can know in our hearts and minds it is achievable. Make your journey a journey for all people. Make it irresistible to ignore you.

There will be devils, details, and demons aligned to keep massive change from coming about. Entrenched politicians and businesses with built-in advantages paid for with enormous political contributions and backroom scheming. Certainly, racists, terrorist groups, both internal and external, organized crime, gangs, foreign actors, and many others, will do their best to derail revolutionary plans that don’t benefit them.

The singular power that all of them together can never overcome is the united will of a supermajority of the US population. A unified front of enormous proportion is your unbeatable tool. If the masses vote in harmony at the ballot box and vote with their wallets in matters of commerce, they will prevail. They can elect leaders who put the people first. They can put on notice and chill out businesses that fail to align the ideals of a greater good. Power to the people must become our reality because divided we fall.

In the wake of George Floyd’s death, we witnessed something new. Blacks and minorities were joined in the mostly peaceful protests by people of all colors and ages. They came to protest and to demand change. You can see they are ready for change as never before. They have signaled the birth of a new power erupting into American life. There are so many young people marching. They have seen the future through the lens of the present and past, and they reject it. They want something better and believe it is possible. You have the power to give it to them and the world. We are waiting.

WE NEED VISION AND IMAGINATION

It’s time ideas once thought to be too radical such as reparations and paying a living wage, and more, be taken seriously. We must learn and project how valuable, such modifications could be in getting us to a new and better place. But all those changes are features. We won’t climb Martin Luther King’s mountain on features. Features won’t change the minds of those who fear a difference in the status quo and more. We won’t bring about the change that is needed now if we focus on the features, which is the old school way of doing things. Those days are over.

We need the benefits, the outcome, the vision, and imagination to show everyone what is possible and how they will prosper and be safe and happy when things do change. The plans must be as simple to explain as they are massively complex to figure out and administer. We must believe you believe and are all in to make things happen as never before. You can do that. And when you do, you will win in November in an epic landslide.

The unrest is not there just because people want to show they are angry. They epitomize the “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired” cliché. Chaos and uncertainty have become their lives and their reality. Increasingly, from Tiananmen Square, the 1% movement, Hong Kong protests, and now the pivotal George Floyd protests, we see human desire and longing for systematic change. Protesters are individuals, real people, who desperately want to live their lives in a better world. But how long can we expect them to stay peaceful protesters if they are ignored consistently?

Someone is going to lead this new movement, and it needs to happen now. It’s the right time in history to make the most significant changes this country has seen since its founding. If the movement’s leader doesn’t appear, anger and unrest are going to continue to simmer at plus 200 degrees waiting for another tipping point to boil over. If that unfortunate thing happens, then anarchists, foreign actors, splinter groups, and others will be there to fan the flames of hatred and seek to add the disgruntled to their causes, leaving turmoil and division in their wake. We, you, can’t let that happen.

It took 70 plus years for me to ever conceive of the thought that our democracy was not a rock-solid given. I mean who could ever imagine of the United States of America being overtaken by an authoritarian leader who brazenly broke the law and squelched its defenders, trashed the Constitution, attacked our institutions, rejected our allies, and cozied up to dictators. Yet here we are at this very moment where such thoughts of our democracy lost are written about in leading publications and discussed by learned thought leaders who are aghast at the idea. It’s not coincidental that this is happening at a time of enormous social unrest and a raging pandemic.

We are in peril. Joe, we need you to step up and transform yourself in front of our eyes. I want to follow you, but you need to earn that from me. Beating Trump is not enough. Show me your best stuff. You’ve been through the wringer, and you’re old. But that only makes you more real, and more capable. You’re more than you’re showing us now. It’s time to lay bare and bring your true highest self into view. Give us truth and reality, and we will crawl on broken glass, carrying you on our backs. We will help you revolutionize America, so it adheres to the principles for which it stands.

We need plans as we have never heard or had before to enlighten and motivate us. They must be well thought and thorough to include how we will fulfill the best expression of American ideals by including minorities. They don’t need a seat at the table. They need to own their fair share of the table and the building where it sits, and the land it is on. They need to know they can drive or walk on any street without fear of being pulled over, beaten, and choked to death. They need to know their worth is equal in every way without question. We need to prove it because we know talking doesn’t work.

Put out a call for visionaries, futurists, artists, writers, screenwriters, academics, creatives, dreamers, and more. Have them tell us how America would look if minorities were flourishing in business and politics. Show how bright the future can be when pulling weight from our whole society. Give us the vision and the details. Encourage that things once thought impossible are the plans and outline for a better future for young and unborn Americans.

Reverend Al tells blacks can run corporations and be leaders if we take our knee off their necks. Who could George Floyd have been one if he weren’t marginalized his whole life and reduced to street hustles to get by? Don’t tell me about Floyd’s character. Not when we have an amoral president who has cheated on three wives, abused women, and flimflammed thousands of honest contractors. He has defaulted on his bankers, didn’t pay taxes for a decade, bilked his students for millions, abused his charitable foundation, and blatantly uses national assets and his position to enrich himself. A liar whose vanity and lack of sanity have periled us in an epidemic health crisis of monumental proportions. To suggest injecting bleach as a cure and then pretend COVID has gone away is lunacy in full sight. To order the Armed Forces against peaceful protesters is most worrisome.

I want to know what happens when you reverse centuries of oppression and start to find ways to bring out the best in a part of the population that has been neglected? What does that do for everyone? How does it make America a more robust, safer, and more prosperous place to live? How much can a free and equal black society contribute to our nation and the world? That’s what we need to hear and see!

I’m not talking about fantasy and Utopia. I’m asking for the best possible outcome of making changes to help blacks and all minorities that, in turn, causes a ripple effect across the US and then the globe. We want to lecture other countries about human rights. Do this now so we can show them how tapping into the unused and powerful resources of downtrodden people elevates everyone. We take away the fear and give hope and a genuine opportunity to people who are only looking for a chance for a decent life.

Give us that vision, and you will have the greatest stump speeches ever. I believe in you. I think you were made for this moment. I believe you, Joe Biden, can start a peaceful revolution. You can elevate yourself and your message to give us all hope, so we genuinely believe there are better days ahead now and for your children and grandchildren. Do it for America and for people around the globe who are hungry for freedom and opportunity.

Joe, if you can see that these ideas are right for the times and are necessary for us to heal and grow and prosper, then please use your resources to find the talent to help give you the vision and imagination for a New American Revolution for All Americans.

We are eager to be brought into a movement to bring about a better America. We are desperate to be led by someone with passion and vision who is unafraid to bring on the best and brightest who will light a path to the new paradigm we need and want.

The status quo is going fight you for their entrenched positions, but the people will be with you in numbers that make the crowds who came out to protest police violence and George Floyd’s death seem small.

You sir, Joe Biden, are sitting atop the opportunity of the ages. This race is more than making Donald Trump a one-term president. You are not just running to be the leader of the free world. You are running to make this time momentous in the modern history of the world.

The reputation of the US has taken many body blows in recent years, but we are still the country and society that oppressed people around the globe look to for inspiration. You’ve got to win in November. Then you can turn on the forces for good and for changes that will make you go down in history. Be that guy, please. They’ll make monuments for you that will never be taken down. Go for it with gusto. Godspeed, Joe, and the USA!