It’s Winter in America

Elon Musk and Gil Scott Heron share a dire refrain

R. Wayne Branch PhD
Thought Thinkers
Published in
6 min readNov 14, 2024

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Photo by Filip Zrnzević on Unsplash

One side, cause! On the other, effect!

Fifty years ago, in 1974, Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson recorded a song entitled Winter In America (released in 1975). And though I’m a huge fan of Crosby Stills Nash and Young’s “Ohio” and Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind,” Heron’s rap vocals hit closer to home. Their lyrics depict a country with a deep history of attitudes and behaviors at odds with its lofty ideals. To me, Winter In America could have easily been the anthem for the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign. Linking, in such vivid and stark imagery, the genocidal effect of European settlement and westward expansion inflicted upon Native Americans to the struggles of many gives the song universal appeal.

Winter In America was released in the wake of Nixon’s resignation, soaring inflation, rising gas prices, widespread counterculture protests, and the Vietnam War tragic debacle. Yet Heron’s vocals crystallized questions many were asking at the time. Questions, many feel still have gone unanswered. Chief among them, in a nation of such immense wealth and global power why are so many people disenfranchised, poor, and disregarded? I hope you will listen to Winter In America if you don’t know it! And listen to it again, if you do!

From the Indians who welcomed the pilgrims
And to the buffalos who once ruled the plain
Like the vultures circling beneath the dark clouds
Looking for the rain
Looking for the rain

(Verse 1, Winter In America)

Elon Musk has promised that short-term pain to achieve long-term gain is the answer to the country’s financial problems. “’ Everyone,’ he said, ‘will be taking a ‘haircut’” were his words to supporters last October on a telephone town hall.” (Market Watch) Admittedly, Musk predicted the deep federal budget cuts, austerity, and economic pain he saw as being likely during a new Trump administration would send the markets crashing. And his austerity measures would bring many people hardship.

Photo by Sonder Quest on Unsplash

The gap between those causing pain and those feeling pain

When President-elect Trump said he was going to protect women, whether the women like it or not I think people on the political left thought it was just another reason for women to dissert him. It did not go as they thought. The statement was political “red meat” to White women caught between the things they need they cannot afford and the promise of a life better by the person their communities feel gave them a better life before.

His words also affirmed his stand against people who want more than black jobs, people from shit-hole countries trying to get into the U.S. (Black, Brown, and Muslim specifically), Haitian cat and dog eaters, Puerto Ricans from their garbage country, and more. His promise, that you’ll be safe in my hands (as opposed to Kamala Harris’) hit the mark. As fear usually does. More than 52% of White women voters voted for Trump (The New Republic Nov. 6, 2024).

It should also be noted that many did not have to wait long for their reward. According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index Election Day 2024 saw the biggest daily wealth increase since the Index began in 2012. The net worth of billionaires led by Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, surged by $63.5 billion the day after Trump was declared president-elect. Many others, mostly White men, enjoyed major trickle-down benefits, seeing their bank accounts grow also.

Photo by Deny Hill on Unsplash

“And now it’s winter”

Winter in many parts of the world demands our ability to adapt to change. It’s a time for fun and play for some. For others, it’s a time of hibernation and survival. “I’ll just focus on my stuff and close my circles a bit.” a friend told me recently. His motivation to do so lay in his response to the presidential election. The expanse of his property, his temperament, and his lifestyle make that way of being a bit easier for him and his family. For some of us going inside of ourselves, putting our hopes in a place of dormancy, may not work so well.

Winter is a time of vulnerability, coldness, and whiteness for many. It’s a season that separates them in actuality or imagined isolation from others. If resources, financial and mental, do not permit escape staying closer to home is a wiser choice to sloshing around in dismal conditions. Many seek to protect themselves from illness. Shots, gear, and cabinets full of tea and toddies become normal. Lots of us simply slow ourselves to endure that which is inevitable. Some incorporate regimens of fitness and health instead of yielding to comfort food and increased screen time. Though many hunker down, comfort food and screen time becoming a nice way to await the renewal of Spring’s promise. I’m into a bit of both.

Winter is also a time when trees become bare. And some feel it’s also time for them to depart. A dear friend left us about a month ago, too tired, it seemed, to continue her journey. Over the years, her house had become cluttered. The way a hoarder’s house does. We’d tried to help. But like some in depression, she got some renewal only to slip back to a place which we could not reach her. A place from which she would not again emerge.

The same, metaphorically, also happens to social justice advocates. Or as Gil Scott calls them, our healers. They see the tide of inequity rolling in and feel there is no end in sight. They also give up! Succumbing to, as Civil and Voting Rights Activist Fannie Lou Hamer famously said, being “…sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

Al Fin: Nobody knows what to save

Many characterized the 2024 elections as a “democracy vs. fascism” decision. Well, we see the way the country went. Those with the ability to survive and thrive in winter are now controlling the resources and decisions affecting millions who may not thrive or survive at all. It seems eerily prophetic that Musk’s promise of pain and Heron’s lyrics are bound together by a belief that democracy has run its course. Specifically, the stanza, “And now Democracy is ragtime on the corner. Hoping for some rain” (Winter In America) seems even more foreboding.

Democracy’s promise, however, to the survivors of protests are profound ideals not to be considered lightly. They are ideals that held heads high when unyielding hands were transparently disguised as police, elected officials, bankers, white supremacists, and more. In contrast to their ballots, however, stood many voting-age youth who make up the most diverse citizenry this country has known. For many of today’s youth, democracy’s ideals are broken promises and demands for sacrifice with meager rewards.

Both points of view are valid. And also no longer the point, to me. The decision has been made. Winter is coming. And it’s time to become more like the ants in Aesop’s Fable “The Grasshopper and the Ant “ than the grasshopper. It’s time to save that which feeds us, and our families, and gives us the ability to realize spring’s promise. And though we work to ready ourselves for growth and renewal, emerging from winter in good health and great spirits, it’s not given to those without shelter and the means to sustain themselves. For me, now is the time to gather around us those who affirm us and feed our souls. This winter will be a time to share stories and songs that teach us how to adapt to change, like Winter In America.

But the people know the people know
It’s winter
Winter in America
And ain’t nobody fighting
’Cause nobody knows what to save
Save your soul, Lord knows
From winter in America

Verse 3, Winter in America

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Thought Thinkers
Thought Thinkers

Published in Thought Thinkers

A community for readers, writers, poets, satirists, creatives, and thinkers of thoughts

R. Wayne Branch PhD
R. Wayne Branch PhD

Written by R. Wayne Branch PhD

Social Psychologist/Educator; passionate about thoughtful discourse, magical moments, and my twins. Healthy stewardship are my windmills. Creativity is breadth!

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