Carol Bergman

The way to secure liberty is to place it in the people's hands, that is, to give them the power at all times to defend it in the legislature and in the courts of justice.     -John Adams

 

A people fired ... with love of their country and of liberty, a zeal for the public good, and a noble emulation of glory, will not be disheartened or dispirited by a succession of unfortunate events. But like them, may we learn by defeat the power of becoming invincible.    - Abigail Adams

 

―  From The Letters of John and Abigail Adams

 

  

Early in the morning of the No Kings demonstrations, before sunrise, before breakfast, I called a dear friend in Bath, UK, to remind myself that as much as I resisted leaving England after a decade, an eventual return to America was inevitable for personal, political, professional and historical reason. In conversation with my dear friend, explaining and complaining about all that has transpired here, I wanted to test my commitment to the American Experiment. I complained more than I explained, and for an instant I felt disloyal, which is a strange sensation for me. I consider myself cosmopolitan and transnational most of the time, and I love London (and Bath) with a heart-stopping devotion.  So why this sensation of disloyalty?

 

I had turned down Austrian and EU citizenship—the  first phase of my self-imposed test—though  I had fantasized often about once again sitting in cafés in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, and London and meeting a cohort of writer friends at the end of each working day. But this was before the implementation of Project 2025, the not so slow-moving fascist coup. Now that we are in the midst of a myriad of day-to-day challenges that have impacted every family in my orbit in some way, I cannot imagine jumping ship, or can I?  And how privileged I am to even contemplate such an eventuality.

 

I put on a yellow headband for No Kings Day. I thought of the British reverence for their still extant monarchy despite the recent disturbing news about Prince Andrew, and an experience I had in the House of Lords when I was called to testify to a committee about an article I'd written for The Times Educational Supplement. And one of the Lords said, "We thank Mrs. Bergman for her article and suggest she return to America posthaste."  If memory serves, and it usually doesn't, I think he also said, "where she belongs."

 

So, America is where I belong and where I set out on No Kings Day to donate a bag of clothes to a local church and dump my compost in the compost pile before attending a celebration sponsored by the Margaret Wade Lewis Center which will be housed in the Anne Oliver House on Broadhead Avenue in New Paltz. It seemed appropriate on this celebration of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech day to show up there to support Esi Lewis after her house had been violated with racist tropes; the perpetrator has still not been caught. She's the President of the Center; her mother, Margaret Wade Lewis, was one of the first Chairs of the Black Studies Department at SUNY New Paltz. The Ulster County Executive, Jen Metzger, was there, as was the Town Supervisor, Amanda Gotto. I chatted to Amanda about the outpouring of camaraderie, the massive turnouts at protests everywhere, and then snapped some photos. It was a mellow, sunny day and everyone was engaged, high-spirited, and optimistic.