The Ruins

The Ruins america in transition - three

For two years I lived in Washington, D.C.

I lived in Northeast; one Metro stop from the Capitol, a short walk to Union Station, next door to National Public Radio and an uphill bike ride to school in the Georgetown section of the city. It was during the Obama administration. One morning, during what I called "the three branches run" - which took me past the Supreme Court, the Capitol and the White House - I saw the first dog, "Bo," being walked just on the other side of the iron fence that surrounds 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I could have reached between the bars to pet him, but I didn't want to break my stride. But it is worth noting that as an average American I could have stopped right there and touched the president's dog.

On another morning, a weekend as I remember it, I was walking my own dog when a man approached me with his wife, near the Capitol, and boldly hollered with out-stretched arms and in a southern accent, "Good morning fellow citizen. Could you point us to the Lincoln Memorial?"

That is one of the things I remember about my time in Washington. The pride of being there. The sense that no matter how long you lived there - a few months, years, or your whole life, it was to be shared with everyone. Citizens and those visiting from other countries. With all its monuments and official buildings, it can seem like the Disneyland of democracy, but there is no mistaking that the symbolism of the monumental architecture is supposed to be a point of pride for the country and a beacon to the rest of the world.

On January 10, just three days after Trump extremists tried and briefly succeeded in taking over the Capitol building, I stayed in Washington, D.C. for one night as I returned home from a cross country trip. What I saw was heart-breaking.

The city looks not like a citadel of freedom, but like a military base preparing for a tropical storm. Security barriers ring the White House and the Capitol. Sites like the Washington Monument are closed. And what is even more distressing is the sight of privately owned buildings, throughout town, boarded up with plywood, as if it's hurricane season on the Gulf Coast.

This is not how it is supposed to be. Yes, the architecture of Washington, D.C. was designed to be imposing and even intimidating to foreign adversaries, but it was also supposed to be approachable for Americans. It is the center of a government by and for the people and we are not supposed to be kept from it.

Above: Three days following the January 6 insurrection, extra security rings the U.S. Capitol.

As I walked inside the four block security perimeter surrounding the White House(which is allowed) I could not help but think the destruction of the city has been caused by one man who chose to divide the nation and drive his own ambition based on the prejudices some Americans hold against other Americans. Much of it racist.

Many weekends, he has been driven in a twenty-car secure motorcade, that we pay for, to his golf course in Virginia, past the high security fencing, past the boarded up windows and through a great American city he has destroyed and it is of no concern to him at all. He does not care what he has taken from us he only cares about what he has. The same can be said for his family. They too are cared for by the Secret Service, because ironically, they are considered high-value targets - symbols of the American government - who must be protected from anyone who might harm them as a means to make a political point.

As they cruise through the city in their black, up-armored SUV's, do they understand that the city did not always look like this? It is not supposed to be boarded up. The plywood is not an architectural statement. The city is supposed to be open and free like the country itself. The North Korean chic is a new thing made necessary by the out-going president's cynical mis-use of power. He is not leaving the country in better condition than he found it and Washington, D.C. is the best example of all the damage that has been done.

The saddest part of this scene is knowing that the barriers, the plywood, the heavy police presence; is not a patriotic war-time effort to guard against some foreign threat. It is all necessary - at this moment - to protect Americans from each other.

I am hopeful that as the new administration gets underway, President Biden will make re-opening Washington, D.C. to the American people a top priority. In a city of symbols, this would be an important signal to all Americans and the world.