The Elephant has left the room,

in more ways than one.

I am not only referring to the two choices than spring to mind: the defeat of the Republican Party, and the departure of Trump, whom viewed from certain angles, and due to poor sartorial choices, uncannily resembled a tired pachyderm.

No.

After two weeks of bingeing on the news of the riots, the counting of Electoral Votes, Trump’s pathetic send off -although I must say his playlist to the tune of “And now the end is near” was priceless; you cannot make this up- and the inauguration of Joe Biden, I have been trying to make sense of all this. I needed for the dust to settle down before I could see where the horses were going.

I can now, at least in part. What unleashed this rage upon the most solid democracy in the world and attempt a coup to form a rogue government? We know that some were unhappy people and that a disgruntled and border-mad President put a match to their rage, but there had to be something else brewing there for a long time. What was the common thread linking it all? As often it turned out to be racism, the eternal elephant in the room.

The election of Barack Obama did not end racism; on the contrary it probably opened a fresh wound that festered for 8 years.

A large segment of Middle America loathed the idea of a black man in the White House running their country; it made them angrier, not more accepting that “The Times They Are A'Changin'”*.

I am White and have never experienced racism. For a short while, while visiting Japan some 30 years ago, I felt what it is like to be conspicuous and looked upon with open mistrust. But I have lived a whole life surrounded by people with different degrees of racism and have fought to distance myself, to forge my own principles and act accordingly.

We are not born racist, same as we are not born brave. We learn to overcome fear just as we learn to overlook our visible differences. The brave are not fearless; they feel scared but relaying on principles and values take action in spite of fear.

Those who are not racists still see color and differences; it just doesn’t matter.

When we approach a human being of a different race or ethnic group our first impression is to take in the difference. At the beginning of the world we were programmed to fear those from a different tribe and to eliminate them. Now we know so much more and our subsequent reaction should be to take in that which is not apparent: values, empathy, intelligence and kindness; look for the common traits that unite our common humanity.

In fact once we get past that first hurdle just plain decency will do.

I had a black nanny. Once we travelled with her to Chile. Years later my mother told us that a white American woman approached the flight attendant and vehemently refused to sit next to her on the plane. My mother, bless her heart, was shocked and said it was fortunate that Paulina spoke no English and would not be hurt by the words spoken; she could not fathom that Paulina had sufficient understanding to perfectly grasp the situation. She was a child of her times, unaware of the latent racism she lived in.

Setting up gallows and parading the Confederate flag do not in a vacuum happen; they happen when we don’t see the other onefor what he or she is: a fellow passenger on this journey, flying in the same plane.

Coming out of the 50’s the notion of beauty in black people worked better the more they resembled their white counterparts. Icons came from the entertainment world, politics was not an option. Lena Horne and Harry Belafonte look just like lightly-suntanned white folks.

Then came the 60’s which introduced the concept of Black is Beautiful and celebrated people’s color instead of sweeping it under the rug; clear examples were the huge afros and novel African fashion. The 60’s also introduced the first black women activists like Angela Davis who were both sexy and smart.

We’d come a long way until Jan 6 happened and all of the sudden the symbols brandished by the rabble brought back lynching and segregation.

That history and America can turn on a dime brings renewed hope.

Only two weeks later, on Inauguration Day, the balcony of the Capitol steps -the place where mayhem occurred and blood was spilled- offered a mosaic of colors. Blue-eyed Biden next to the 22-year old black Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, the Obamas and the Bushes old rivals and good friends and of course Kamala who changes everything -sworn in by Latino Justice Sonia Sotomayor, sung by J-Lo -laughing with lily-white Lady Gaga.

None looked alike, but they don’t need to. The elephant is gone.

*Song by Nobel Prize Winner Bob Dylan (1963)

We’d come a long way until Jan 6 happened and all of the sudden the symbols brandished by the rabble brought back lynching and segregation.