Trash Talk of 2020: The Year in Quotes

-- By Tom Phillips 

 America survived the Civil War with the gravitas of Lincoln's speeches and the caritas of  Whitman's poetry to bind up our wounds.  We fought World War One -- "The War to End all Wars"-- egged on by Woodrow Wilson's visionary slogans.  We slogged though the Great Depression and World War Two heartened by Roosevelt's radio chats, and First Lady Eleanor's newspaper columns.  Kennedy and Reagan pictured castles in the air, and Obama could be stirring, when stirred.   

In 2020, we were on our own.  Rhetoric was barely a memory, giving way to the grunts of combat:   Curses and challenges, defiance and dares; trash talk, mayday calls, last gasps and pleas for mercy.     

What they said:   

"It is what it is.."  Donald Trump on August 31, downplaying US deaths from Covid-19 ".. because you are what you are."  Joe Biden, blaming him in the first presidential debate September 29.

“I can’t breathe.”  George Floyd, as he lay dying under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin May 25.  When Biden was declared president-elect November 7, CNN commentator Van Jones broke down on camera, weeping for his children and friends.  "It wasn't just George Floyd," he said through a flood of tears.  "A lot of people …felt they couldn't breathe."

 "Kill me!"  Luis Vasquez, a neighborhood resident who fired gunshots into the air in front of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, following a Christmas concert on the Cathedral steps December 12.  Police shot him dead.  The gunman's sister said he'd been "damaged" by prison time in the 1990s, and his mental state had worsened in the pandemic. 

"Please, call the cops." Spoken and recorded by Christian Cooper, a black man birdwatching in Central Park, on the same day George Floyd was killed in May. Cooper had asked a woman to put her dog on a leash. She responded by calling 911 and telling police that an “African-American man” was threatening her. The birdwatcher knew such white lies have meant prison or death for many black men.  Still he challenged his accuser and was vindicated by the video.

"I am someone’s daughter too.”  One flash of eloquence came from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in response to a congressional colleague who called her a “fucking bitch” on the Capitol steps.  Rep. Ted Yoho cited his daughters in a half-hearted apology, which Ocasio-Cortez rejected July 23. “Having a daughter does not make a man decent,” she said, but "treating people with dignity and respect."  

“White bodies up front!”  Unidentified protester in Black Lives Matter. The cry went up as unarmed demonstrators faced police in riot gear moving to break up a protest in Brooklyn June 4.  Young white women and men surged to the front, using their white privilege as a shield to protect those of color.    

“We demand change. Sick of it.”  Lebron James, as NBA teams walked off the court August 26 to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.  In 2016 Colin Kaepernick was booed and vilified by fans and NFL owners for kneeling during the national anthem, and his career effectively ended.  In 2020 NBA owners supported the protests, and cancelled playoff games.    

“I do not believe you are a racist.” Kamala Harris, to Biden during a Democratic presidential debate June 27.  Harris then took Biden to the woodshed, castigating him for opposing school busing in the 1970s, citing her own experience as a girl being bused to integrate California schools. Six weeks later, Biden named Harris his running mate. In the vice-presidential debate, Harris refused to yield when Mike Pence interrupted and talked over her.  Repeatedly she told him, “I’m still speaking." 

“Numbers don’t lie.”  Republican secretary of state Brad Raffensberger of Georgia, certifying on November 20 that Biden won the state’s electoral votes. Facing death threats and calls to resign, Raffensberger said as a conservative he was disappointed by the result. But he called it “the verdict of the people.”

“I don’t want to die.”  Lady Gaga, at the end of the video to her song “91 1.” The four-minute film bursts with images from American hip-hop to Armenian iconography, beginning in a desert strewn with broken pomegranates.  Their scattered red seeds evoke the myth of Persephone, and the life-or-death choices facing the human race. 

More to come in 2021. 

--- Copyright 2020 by Tom Phillips 

                                                              

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