The nation does need healing but we need to be clear about what that means. It does not mean forgive and forget. It means recovering the rights lost and moving past the collective trauma of those of us who were victimized by the fascists. It means real work on COVID.

It means moving forward, finally, on the issues that have been allowed to fester. It means cleaning out the gangrenous wounds left by tear gas cannisters and rubber bullets on our national psyche.

The establishment I celebrate is still too, too far right of what is needed in this nation, but Biden is giving those of us who need to heal the very first step in that process, which is that he is showing that he will acknowledge these wounds.

This is what the center is, of this healing. The rest is politics, and work.

Instead of calling on us to feel bad for Trump supporters, why not call on those sobbing bigots to reflect that this is what they did to every minority in the country 4 years ago, except that we were actually in danger.

Healing doesn't mean me extending unlimited sympathy to those who aggressively call for my destruction. Healing means asking those people to reflect on the damage they did.