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The contentious 2020 election and the current state of U.S. democracy were topics discussed last week during an Ohio State University-hosted event titled Race and Democracy in America.

Tina Pierce of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs moderated a conversation between faculty experts Rachel Kleit, associate dean of faculty affairs in the College of Engineering; Wendy Smooth, associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the College of Arts and Sciences; and Winston C. Thompson, associate professor of philosophy of education in the College of Education and Human Ecology.

The discussion was part of the universitysEducation for Citizenship dialogue series.

It has been the great struggle of our national history to recognize the rights of a democratic society apply to all Americans, said President Kristina M. Johnson as she opened the conversation. Yes, we have made progress. However, after more than half of a century since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, we still witness corrosive racial injustice.

Pierce began the discussion with a question about whether or not America is closer to becoming a post-racial nation. The idea seemed possible following the election of Barack Obama as the first black president, she said, but appeared less likely after President Donald Trump.

The people I think who are saying we are post-racial were not necessarily people from communities of color, Kleit said. Its not as easy as simply treating everyone the same, but really understanding that there are deep structures in society that still function, even if we want to give everybody similar opportunities.

Thompson agreed. He said fulfilling the promise of America as a society where people are not marked by race, gender or class takes effort.

What I find really interesting about the ideal, the move towards a post-racial society, is that I dont often hear people talking about the difficult work required to move towards the more utopian ideal, Thompson said. When you have a promise, a promise is a commitment. Its not a magical invocation. It requires hard work.

Smooth said the concept of moving to a post-racial nation isnt an objective to be supported if it comes at the cost of erasing the history and experiences of minority groups in the country.

The discussion also turned toward solutions to build a fairer society and a more robust democracy. Increased civic education, a commitment to truth and empirical data, and acknowledging the nations troubled racial history are important.

We as citizens need to recognize that the problems that we have in this country arent problems for one community or for another community, problems that are separate from us, distant from us, Thompson said. We have a shared responsibility for addressing these problems and, perhaps with that approach, to think of ourselves as citizens, to address problems that are affecting members of this larger community, we might move towards some greater cooperation in the service of democracy.

Smooth said faculty at Ohio State can play a role by teaching students to respect facts and critical thinking and take their education back to their communities.

We have got to figure out how to help [students] translate that learning, that classroom practice, into everyday conversation. Because when they go out across the 88 counties of Ohio, and they go around the world as Buckeye alums do, they have to be ready to have the conversation in an applied space, Smooth said. But in the open space of the everyday world, we have to make sure that they can do that kind of translation, so they can go to the Thanksgiving table and hold their own in a conversation and not a fight.

The Education for Citizenship Initiative aims to inspire the university community to engage deeply, with integrity and respect, when expressing ideas and beliefs, be it in word or action. The initiative reflects the university motto, education for citizenship, and the mission to develop informed citizens who are able to integrate what theyve learned in the classroom into their community.

Details are available on theEducation for Citizenship Initiative websitealong with resources for respectful and productive dialogue.

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Ohio State hosts discussion on intersection of race and democracy - The Ohio State University News

WASHINGTON (AP) Less than two weeks in office, President Joe Biden is facing two critical tests of whether the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol has damaged Americas standing as a beacon for democracy.

Protests in Russia and a military coup in Myanmar come as American credibility on the world stage has plummeted after last months storming of the Capitol by a pro-Donald Trump mob looking to stop the certification of Bidens election victory.

That adds to the weight on Biden as he seeks to fulfill a campaign pledge to dramatically reposition the U.S. as a global leader following four years of a Trump foreign policy driven by an America First mantra. That policy was marked by the frequent disparagement of democratic allies and the occasional embrace of authoritarian leaders.

MORE ON BIDEN'S FIRST 100 DAYS

Bidens top diplomat, Antony Blinken, acknowledged the difficulty.

I think theres no doubt that the attack on our own democracy on Jan. 6 creates an even greater challenge for us to be carrying the banner of democracy and freedom and human rights around the world because, for sure, people in other countries are saying to us, Well, why dont you look at yourselves first? the secretary of state said in an interview with NBC News.

Blinken added, The difference, though, between us and so many other countries is that when we are challenged, including when we challenge ourselves were doing it in full daylight with full transparency.

Biden, in the early days of his presidency, has sought to send the message in a series of calls with foreign leaders that America is back.

Hes reassured Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that the U.S. has its support in an ongoing territorial dispute with China over islets in the East China Sea. Hes sought to reset the relationship with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was belittled by Trump as dishonest & weak. And hes told Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador that the U.S. would send $4 billion to help development in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala nations whose hardships have spawned tides of migration through Mexico toward the United States.

The United States remains a country in the world that is looked to for leadership, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. Its going to take some time, but hes certainly committed to doing that.

But the crises in Myanmar and Russia present Biden with difficult tests of his promise to reestablish global leadership that are likely to be far more complicated than mending fences with traditional allies.

Biden on Monday threatened to slap new sanctions on Myanmar after a coup that saw the military arrest the civilian leaders of its government, calling the episode a direct assault on the countrys transition to democracy and the rule of law.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who for years has taken a special interest in Myanmar, on Tuesday complimented the Biden administrations initial response but urged it to quickly follow through with meaningful penalties against the nations military leaders. Later Tuesday, the State Department announced it had determined that the military takeover was a coup, setting the stage for the Biden administration to move forward with sanctions and other measures targeting military officials.

In his first call with Russian President Vladimir Putin as counterparts last week, Biden raised concerns about the detention of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the crackdown on supporters backing his arrest. The mass arrests have only accelerated in the days since the two leaders spoke as protests have continued across the country.

For Putin, he looks at the Capitol riot and sees it as more evidence of his worldview, a continuation of the degradation of liberalism in the world, said Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration. The Biden election doesnt mean much to him about his theory about liberal democracy. Whereas Putins opponents are very encouraged by the election of President Biden because it shows that American democratic institutions were resilient.

To that end, Navalnys supporters wrote to Biden over the weekend urging him to take meaningful action with sanctions against members of Putins inner circle to demonstrate that hes serious about reclaiming the U.S. role as a champion of democracy.

Their argument is, If you just sanction a bunch of no-name, low-level colonels ... thats exactly who Putin is expecting, McFaul said. They want the Biden administration to sanction the economic actors in the Putin regime, and theyve made it easy for the Biden administration in theyve named them all in their seven-page letter.

But Moscow chided the criticism of the Navalny verdict, with Russias deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky tweeting, A Russian citizen sentenced by Russian court in accordance with Russian laws. Who gave US the right to judge if it was wrongful or not? Wouldnt you mind your own business, gentlemen? Recent events show that there are a lot of things for you to mend!

Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and chair of the House Intelligence Committee, drew a line from Trump to the coup in Myanmar. Trump had made baseless accusations of widespread voter fraud that were rejected by multiple courts as well as Trumps own Justice Department.

An announcement read on Myanmars military-owned Myawaddy TV explained that the seizure was necessary because the government had not acted on the militarys unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the Southeast Asian nations recent elections. The military claimed the takeover was legal under the constitution

When America speaks and acts, the world watches, and when our leaders propagate conspiracy theories and subvert democracy here at home, it sets a dangerous example for the rest of the world, Schiff said.

Adversaries such as China, Iran and Venezuela pointed to the Capitol riot as evidence of the fragility of U.S. democracy. Even some allies said the scene was unsettling and has caused them to reconsider the United States position as the self-proclaimed beacon of democracy.

After something like this, I believe it would be very difficult for the world to see the United States as a symbol of democracy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy said in an interview with Axios on HBO.

___

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

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Biden tries to show US as democracy beacon post-Capitol riot - The Associated Press

In 2001, nine days after terrorists attacked the United States and its federal government, a Republican president stood before Congress with the overwhelming support of a terrified nation, as he presented a stark choice to the world.

Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists, said George W Bush to loud applause in September 2001. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.

Thus was born the post-9/11 era, which survived for the best part of two decades, costing trillions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives, and realigning American diplomacy and politics in stark terms.

Republicans fought and won two elections on the basis that they were strong and unequivocal in defending the nation, while Democrats were weak flip-floppers who tried to have it both ways.

Today Washington is staring at something like a new dawn the start of the post-Trump era and Republicans dont know which side of the war theyre on. Are they with the United States or with the insurrectionists?

The early answers are catastrophically weak in a world where the threats are not distant or abstract. This is not a risk posed to American officials halfway around the world, or a potential threat that might one day materialize in a foreign capital.

This is a clear and present danger for the very members of Congress who must now decide between protecting their own careers or protecting the lives of the people working down the hall. With the second impeachment trial of Donald J Trump starting next week, theres no escaping the moment of decision for at least 50 Republican senators: are you with the United States or not?

In every single other working environment, this would not be a hard choice. Given the chance to save your own job or save the lives of your co-workers even the ones you dislike the vast majority of decent people would save lives.

Just listen to the first-hand accounts of representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Katie Porter. Ocasio-Cortez gave a chilling account of hiding in her office bathroom to save her life as insurrectionists stormed the Capitol last month.

Theres no question that she, like many others, feared for her life. Porter recalled her friend desperately seeking refuge in her office. She gave Ocasio-Cortez a pair of sneakers in case they needed to run for their lives.

The mortal threat was not confined to high-profile Democrats. Mike Pence, the most toady of Trump loyalists, was hiding from the mob with his family, while terrorists chanted about hanging him. If anyone needed confirmation of their murderous intent, there was a makeshift gallows outside the Capitol.

It is long past time to admit the blindingly obvious: the Republican party has been hijacked by fascist extremists. It is now a far-right organization in league with neo-Nazis who have made it painfully clear they want to overthrow democracy and seize power, using violence if necessary.

Every decision the so-called leaders make at this point defines which side they are on: the United States as we know it, or the white supremacist mob.

In these few weeks since the mob trashed the Capitol, leading to five deaths, Republican leaders have bathed themselves less in glory than in the sewage of fascism. Given a choice between the conservative Liz Cheney and the fascist Marjorie Taylor Greene, House Republicans have shunned the former and hugged the latter.

Its Cheney whose position as part of the Republican leadership is under threat, while Greene is only coming under pressure from Democrats who for some reason find themselves alone in feeling horrified by Greenes advocacy for the execution of Democrats and white supremacy in general.

Republican leaders now find themselves in a prisoners dilemma of their own making. Both Mitch McConnell in the US Senate and Kevin McCarthy in the House of Representatives could escape the worst public punishment if they act together to take back their own party. Instead, they are ratting on each other.

McConnell said in a statement on Monday that Greene posed an existential threat to the party. Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican party and our country, he said, while also supporting Cheneys leadership.

Technically this is McCarthys mess to clean up, in the House rather than the Senate. But McCarthy cant bring himself to say something in public about the QAnon cultist Greene, or what she represents.

Instead he traveled to Florida at the weekend to kiss the ring of the man who really stands at the center of this threat to our democracy: one Donald J Trump, who is supposedly a Greene fan, according to Greene herself.

There may be rational short-term reasons why McConnell and McCarthy have parted ways on this fascist thing.

McConnell just lost control of the Senate because its challenging to win statewide contests even in conservative places like Georgia when youre trying to overthrow democracy at the same time. McCarthy, meanwhile, deludes himself that he can get closer to power because House districts are so gerrymandered that Republicans are only threatened by the cannibalizing power of the mob.

But in reality, there is no choice. This isnt about loony lies or conspiracy theories, as McConnell suggests. Its not about Republican primaries or Trumps disapproval, as McCarthy fears.

The choice in front of Republicans is whether they support democracy or not; whether they want to live and work in fear of the mob, or not. QAnon may be loony but its goals are to murder elected officials, and its supporters include heavily armed insurrectionists. The 1930s fascists were also unhinged and proved themselves deadly serious about mass murder.

Next week Republicans in Washington have one more chance to turn their backs on fascism. They could reject the laughable claims from Trumps lawyers that he was merely exercising his free speech rights by telling his mob to march on Congress and fight like hell. Apparently such conduct does not constitute incitement to riot, because the word incitement has lost all relationship to reality.

Nobody expects Republican senators to vote in enough numbers to convict Trump of the obvious charges that played out on television. Nobody expects enough of them to reject the violent overthrow of the democracy that put them in the Senate.

They represent, to use Bushs language, a hostile regime inside the nations capital. Until Republicans split with the insurrectionists by ejecting them from their party or forming their own democracy itself is unsafe.

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Democracy or the white supremacist mob: which side is the Republican party on? - The Guardian

At a time when democracy feels most fragile, in the wake of a divisive election fueled by disinformation and an insurrection at the Capitol, two good-government groups have a new proposal for restoring trust in democracy.

The Alliance for Securing Democracy and the Center for Democracy and Technology released a report Tuesday urging President Biden to establish a bipartisan commission dedicated to restoring the public's trust in elections and democracy. It would build off work done by a similar election commission created in 2013 under President Barack Obama.

Ideally the Biden administration would form this new commission as soon as possible so its members could make recommendations ahead of the 2022 midterms. The report suggests allowing at least six months for the commission to collect its findings, although more time may be needed given the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Our elections last year were remarkably well run considering the circumstances and yet there is a large segment of the population that feels, without evidence, that the election was not legitimate, so we can't afford to dither. We need to get to work right away," said David Levine, co-author of the report and elections integrity fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

The report urges Biden to issue an executive order to create the Presidential Commission on Election Resilience and Trust, charged with identifying best practices "to improve understanding of the electoral process and promote voter confidence so that more people across the political spectrum recognize elections as legitimate."

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The commission's membership would be bipartisan and include representatives from both the public and private sectors. Members would also reflect a diverse set of racial and ethnic groups since marginalized communities are disproportionately affected by election disinformation and voter intimidation, according to the report. It doesn't specify how many people should serve on the commission. (Obama's Presidential Commission on Election Administration had 10 members.)

The report recommends the commission focus on three topics to start:

The proposed commission should also hold publicly accessible meetings, available via livestream amid the pandemic, so that stakeholders and members of the public can provide feedback and testimony, the report says.

Restoring the public's faith and trust in elections won't be an easy feat, but "there are plenty of reforms that we already know we need, like the expanded use of risk-limiting audits," said William T. Adler, co-author of the report and senior technologist on elections and democracy at the Center for Democracy and Technology. "There are other reforms that we need to study and build consensus around. That will take time, and we need to get started right now."

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Biden urged to create commission on trust in democracy - The Fulcrum

The Essence of Democracy is anArts Project ONLINE virtual event series featuring conversations with artists whose work gives voice to those often unheard. AnnLalik, gallery director and arts coordinator at Penn State Lehigh Valley (PSU-LV), will moderate the panel consisting of the artist, PSU-LV faculty or staff and a student whose discipline, life experiences and interests align with the artists message and concept.

Ify Chiejina's "Thrown Off The Boat" acrylic painting.

The webinar series amplifiesvoices that are often stifled throughracism, gender discrimination, homophobia, ableism, etc.Oftenfear or ignorance allowthe perpetuation of suppression through systemic oppression.

The third event in the series will be held from 2 to3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 11. Featured New York City artistIfeatuanyaChiejina(Ify)will be joined byPSU-LV ChancellorTina Richardsonand PSU-LV student Makayla Brown-Paul, in this event. Titled Dying to Dream,the subject mattersymbolically illustrates the black experience through times of slavery, colonialism and racial discrimination.

Ify Chiejina, New York City artist, will speak at the next virtual Arts project online event.

Chiejina is a visual artist born and raised in Queens, New York. Chiejina is a black Igbo female with ideas, thoughts, and truths that are rooted and reflective of different customs and traditions. As a Nigerian-American, Chiejina considers the tensions and complexities that come with being brought up in an African household, in a western society. Chiejina has completed a certificate program from the Caribbean Cultural Center of African Diaspora Institutes Community Arts University Without Walls in 2015. She has participated in residencies at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning. Chiejina has showcased her art for SMO Contemporary Art, Prizm Art Fair, Penn State Lehigh Valleyand her paintings are in the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection.Chiejinahas also completed cover art for the Criterion Collectionand isone of the founding membersofthe Southeast Queens Artist Alliance, (SEQAA).

All Arts Project ONLINE events will be hosted via Zoom and are free and open to the public. Each session will be in webinar format witha Q&A opportunityat the end of the program.Visit theEssence of Democracy registration pagetosign upand receive the zoominformation.

This series is supported by the Dr. Ann Williams Visiting Innovator Program Endowment, Student Activity Fee and the PA Council on the Arts.

Contact AnnLalikwith questions at aal13@psu.edu or by calling 610-285-5261.

Last Updated February 02, 2021

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Arts Project ONLINE continues Essence of Democracy Series with 'Dying to Dream' | Penn State University - Penn State News