Under the baobab: In a time of transformation, State College must unite to move forward

Camille Dungy once wrote, “Who can know what the next day will bring. It is like that, here, in spring.” Like many of our neighbors, we used the recent warm sunny days to put the tomato plants in the ground. Over the last few weeks, we had been putting the potted seedlings outside so they could catch the sun and then inside so they could avoid the cold. Now it was time to plant them. It was an act of faith. A late May chill could devastate our fragile plants. So far so good.

Having children is also an act of faith. Faith that we will be able to make a better world for them. During the pandemic the country’s birth and fertility rates dropped. Many were surprised, believing that being sheltered together for so long would naturally lead to an increase in friskiness. People do not create children because of convenience or proximity. We make and nurture our children because of love and hope. The year of the pandemic did not engender hope. Living through the deaths of over a half million Americans demanded a different kind of love.

Exercising our right to vote also requires faith. By voting we demonstrate our belief in a government that unifies us as a people. It is how we validate that we still care about our community. Casting our ballots, we willingly commit our support and fealty not only to the winning candidates but to the system that elected them. Democracy has survived because we abide by the will of the majority, until now. Joe Biden is the president because he clearly won the popular vote and the electoral college. However, a significant plurality of our fellow citizens has decided not to accept the will of the people. They have declared the election process itself to be fraudulent. They have anointed their own president. This undermines our collective faith in a fundamental pillar of our democracy.

There is a difference between undermining and transforming. We are in a time of transformation.

In our recent local primary, three people on the Democratic ticket were nominated to the State College Borough Council: Gopal Balachandran, Divine Lipscomb and Richard Biever. They defeated three former and current council members. Also, Ezra Nanes won the mayoral primary. If these four are certified by the Board of Elections, they will run in the November election. If victorious they will serve in public office for the first time. No one can recall such a sea change in our local political scene. Balachandran, Biever, and Lipscomb were supported by Central PA United, a progressive organization. They did grassroots organizing the old-fashioned way, knocking on doors, making phone calls, hosting town halls and personal appearances.

Nanes shares their progressive platform. Balachandran may become the first Indian American to serve on Borough Council and Lipscomb may be the first African American. Working together with progressive members of the council they can build a movement for change, to address the inequalities in our community.

Several of the other candidates ran for Borough Council on a platform of preserving the good traditions of our town. The voters disagreed. They said it’s time for a change and nominated potential change agents, but they cannot do it by themselves.

They need us, all of us. In these changing times we need to come together to listen, to learn and to teach. As Marvin Gaye said 50 years ago: “We can rock the world’s foundation, Everybody together, together and holy will holler love, love, love across the nation.”

Strap in, sisters and brothers, it is going to be a bumpy but glorious ride.

E pluribus unum.