Regardless of your political leanings, this is no time to celebrate. In fact, it is time for a period of national mourning. Why?

For the first, and hopefully the last time, a former president of the United States of America has been arraigned for crimes committed against the country’s foundational constitution.

The horror of it has further divided the country and strained the edges even further; chaos reigns preceding a presidential election in less than two years.

The stakes? Some say democracy itself.

And now we have the spectacle of a former president facing an arrest and possible incarceration for multiple felony counts, already filed, and the potential of more to come.

The debates over the efficacy of the charges against Donald J. Trump, also bring up a long list of just-under-the-surface ills that have plagued the country for over most of its history, e.g., constitutional ambivalence about institutional racism, enduring classism, sexism, and the misogyny bred into our dominant patriarchy informed by Judeo-Christian philosophies and teachings.

I have said on numerous occasions how much I love a train wreck, as much as the next person, and I have often joked about getting my popcorn out to watch the 24hour cable news, but this time feels different.

I fear that there will be blood.

History must not repeat itself, yet the potential for more violence is real. The drumbeat of revenge and retaliatory rhetoric is being loudly pronounced in media outlets from folk who are aligned with Trump who believe he is being illegitimately persecuted, not legitimately prosecuted.

The divide is palpable. It is ugly. Tense. Raging with hatred. From both sides.

The ubiquitous trials and tribulations of Donald J. Trump have stained and shamed the pristine profile of the nation; the bedrock of the country’s constitution has been shaken from its foundation, and the democratic principles upon which the country has operated may be brokenbeyond repair.

The litany of charges against Donald J. Trump are so numerous, it staggers the imagination. And, if a new rule is adopted, the subsequent courtroom drama will be live-streamed here as well as abroad.

Have you seen the headlines of the BBC, Al Jazeera, or other foreign news outlets?

Let’s face it. The so-called beacon that was the USA has been dulled into a pinpoint of light; nearly snuffed out by a series of political shenanigans perpetrated on its citizens, since 2016.

No one is innocent in this debacle. The dominant political leading parties, Democrat and Republican, are both hosts to a bevy of players who would rather see the country collapse than to lose their elections; conceding their sense of right versus wrong to winning, at all costs.

Power does corrupt. Individual morals, principles, integrity, loyalty, and any modicum of decency suffers in the pursuit of more and more power and control.

And where are Black folks in all this? Collectively, we have an opportunity to be on the right side of history. Yet, we have fallen into the traps of being in political camps rather than supporting a Black agenda. Somewhere after the civil rights movement, we seem to have lost our taste to vigorously pursue our full equal rights, fair and equitable treatment in every public venue, and total inclusion in all governmental doctrines (laws, policies, and procedures) affecting our daily lives.

Too many Black folk have been hoodwinked into thinking that we are premium players and full participants in the fabric of our society, rather than still being on the bench or standing on the outside looking in on the promise of America, a promise that many immigrants and other newcomers to this country seem to enjoy more fully, too far more often than those of us who have been here since 1619, if not before.

This delusion is upheld by a few Blacks who have "made" it, by their own bootstraps they will say- or who have been tapped to march in the front of a parade of achievement for the entertainment of the masses, especially of the ruling class.

These false notions must be smashed.

The unraveling of democracy, which many fear is happening nowgives us an opportunity to “Bogart” our way to the room where it happens, to redesign the guiding principles before the cinders cool.

But we cannot show up as Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, Christian, Muslim, agnostic, other, but as Black.

Malcolm and Martin found a way. Can we?

In the meantime, we must continue to Vote. Vote, vote.