Tag Archives: Local vigilance

Benicia CA, Democracy under attack, Donald Trump, Local vigilance

Stephen Golub: Humble and Kind

A reminder of the gentler sides of this country and our shared humanity.

A Promised Land, by Stephen Golub, February 24, 2026

One of my favorite songs is “Humble and Kind,” popularized by country star Tim McGraw and composed by Lori McKenna (who herself performs a great version). I’ve been thinking longfully about it lately because the tenor of our times cuts so deeply against the song’s spirit.

The song is of course best appreciated if you actually listen to it; even better, I urge you to view the McGraw version’s surprising official video (which, with all due respect to country music’s great variety, isn’t typical of that genre). But I’ll try to get by in simply describing and quoting the composition…

Hold the door, say please, say thank you
Don’t steal, don’t cheat, and don’t lie
I know you got mountains to climb but
Always stay humble and kind

Even if you’re a fan of the guy currently occupying the White House, can you imagine him uttering anything at all like those lyrics?

On the national level, we’ve strayed so far away from such sentiments in this contentious and even cruel age, what with a president who promises his supporters that “I am your retribution” and who broadcasts so many other hateful messages.

“Humble and Kind” is not about America, per se. But it’s still a reminder of the gentler sides of this country and our shared humanity. Though I’m not religious and my grandparents are long gone, I still find its homespun opening comforting:

You know there’s a light that glows by the front door
Don’t forget the key’s under the mat
When childhood stars shine
Always stay humble and kind
Go to church ’cause your momma says to
Visit grandpa every chance that you can
It won’t be wasted time
Always stay humble and kind

This is not to dismiss taking pride in who we are; pride and humility are not mutually exclusive.

Nor am I asserting we shouldn’t be angry, even furious, about what each day’s headlines bring; we can in fact channel our anger into productive action.

And I’m certainly not claiming that humility, kindness, courtesy and compassion are always my own daily calling cards.

I’m instead saying that in these times we stay sane and positive partly by cherishing these kinds of qualities. They’re of course valuable all the time. But they become even more so when our national leadership is so coarse and corrupt.

One of the things I love about Benicia is that we see such virtues on display every day, from our daily interactions to the way our city’s leadership conducts itself.

Yes, there are some intense differences of opinion, some clashes among the diverse personalities that constitute our community. “Kumbaya” is not the civic anthem. Sadly, this town has not been without its displays of hate.

But all in all, Benicia is a pretty polite, warm, welcoming and civil place to be. There’s a humility and kindness to it.

Which brings me back to “Humble and Kind.” In some ways, its message is as simple as a parent’s advice to their kids. It’s about how to live life.

It’s also about humanity. Check out that McGraw video to get a full sense of that.

Its closing lines additionally speak to displaying a generosity of spirit toward people in general and especially the less fortunate.

Finally, when I hear those final lines, they also bring to mind whether and how we welcome America’s immigrants, who – like all of our families if we go back far enough – made their ways here from somewhere else:

Don’t take for granted the love this life gives you
When you get where you’re going don’t forget to turn back around
And help the next one in line
Always stay humble and kind

Benicia resident and author Stephen Golub, A Promised Land

Stephen Golub writes about democracy and politics, both in America and abroad, at A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country.

…and… here’s more Golub on the Benicia Independent

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Benicia High School, Democracy under attack, Donald Trump, Justice Peace & Freedom, Local vigilance

Stephen Golub: Here’s to the future and to the Benicia High students who embody it

Crowd of 400 Benicia HS students protest ICE at City Park

By Stephen Golub, February 8, 2026

This past Wednesday, February 4, 400 Benicia High students walked out of class to protest the Trump Administration’s immigration policies and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency enforcing those edicts.

At a time when hope and inspiration get crushed on a daily basis, these teenagers brought plenty of both to their demonstration at City Park.

Over the years, I’ve taught and worked with many hundreds of fine college, law and graduate students from across the country and the globe. I’ve never been so proud of any as I am of the kids in my hometown. It’s just one demonstration. But  it demonstrates that these students care deeply about the immigrants in their midst and those around the country.

This admittedly out-of-touch old fogey previously hadn’t had a clue regarding what the students were thinking about Trump’s immigration crackdown crisis. Frankly, with the exception of a couple of great kids on my block, my previous awareness of them flowed partly from the “La Migra” (slang for ICE) game played by some Benicia High students until very recent years. That exercise involved older students chasing younger ones around town and “capturing” them in imitation of immigration raids. I knew that most of the kids weren’t racist, but the game certainly was.

I now have a clearer, promising sense of where many of them stand. And it’s not just for the future, as vital as that is. They stand with the better angels in America’s past: the central, essential fact that America is a nation of immigrants, built by immigrants.

More than anything, immigration is what distinguishes this country from all others. If Trump had been in power when our parents, grandparents and ancestors came here, they likely would not have made it and we wouldn’t be here today.

Yes, there have been prior periods in our history when we’ve locked immigrants out and locked them up. Yes, we can’t afford to simply open our borders to everyone; our jobs, housing and social fabric can get seriously strained by an endless flood of foreigners. No, I’m by no means defending the flaws in Biden’s approach.

But there are practical, humane ways to handle this, and there’s Trump’s way: It bizarrely features falsely accusing Haitians of stealing and eating people’s pets – during a nationally televised presidential debate, no less – and more broadly portrays immigrants as massively fueling violent crime here.

In reality for at least 150 years, immigrants have committed crime at lower rates than people born here. Undocumented immigrants have lower felony arrest rates than legal ones or native-born Americans. Only five percent of people detained by ICE have violent criminal convictions; 73 percent have no convictions (not even traffic violations) at all.

Sadly, though, Trump’s violent anti-immigrant stances reflect broader agendas aimed at building up a domestic paramilitary force and attacking minorities. White nationalist, pro-Nazi and antisemitic messaging is emanating from various branches of the Administration, not least the White House, partly to appeal to disgruntled young men who are potential ICE agents. Trump himself recently posted a blatantly racist video depicting the Obamas as apes; it’s now been deleted after an outcry that the White House initially resisted.

But back to the positive, for other valuable lessons flow from the City Park demonstration. As reported in an excellent Vallejo Sun article, a Benicia High junior’s Instagram post prompted the event; classmates helped spread the word.

In a related vein, we should recall that another local hero, Sheri Leigh, played an instrumental  role in illuminating and halting the racist La Migra game. And of course, Minneapolis community resistance to brutal ICE raids has been facilitated by online communications.

One point, then, is that individuals and small groups can still make a big difference in Benicia and America, by taking steps to battle the nation’s worst impulses and to bring out the best in us. Another is that as much as social media can be a cesspool, it also can serve productive purposes.

We similarly  saw the positive power of social media, individuals’ initiatives and collective action on display last Sunday, when a couple of Benicians organized a post-Minneapolis Walk for Peace and Unity down First Street. People quietly came together to share the life-affirming features of our community and our country.

So, thanks to Benicia High students, our local heroes, for educating this uneducated fellow Benician about where you stand and for reminding our city about what’s at stake. There are still dark days ahead. But with people like you lighting the way, I’m looking toward the future with hope.

Benicia resident and author Stephen Golub, A Promised Land

[sta_anchor id=”below” /]Stephen Golub writes about democracy and politics, both in America and abroad, at A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country.

…and… here’s more Golub on the Benicia Independent

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Democracy under attack, Donald Trump, Justice Peace & Freedom, Local vigilance, No Kings!

Stephen Golub: From the Streets of Minneapolis to the Streets of Benicia

Candlelight Peace Walk –
….this Sunday  Feb 1 at 6 pm

By Stephen Golub, Jan 30, 2026

Download – click to enlarge.

A “Candlelight Walk for Peace and Unity” will take place Sunday, February1  at 6 pm, starting at the City Park Gazebo (at First Street, near Military West). As the informal group of Benicians organizing the event put it, in emails and online:

We’ll gather at the gazebo and stroll together down to the water and back, creating space for reflection, connection, and shared intention for peace and unity in our community.

At a time when many are feeling uncertainty and division, this walk offers a simple way to come together and remember our shared humanity.

This is a family/dog-friendly event. Electric candles are encouraged. Feel free to bring signs with your favorite peace quote.

All are welcome.

Electric candles will be available for free at the Gazebo, shortly before the walk.

We may each view the Walk in our own way. I see its inspiration as the need for our community to come together and do something positive, in the wake of the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis at the hands of federal agents.

As I contemplate the gathering, I’m also  considering another message, one that went out to America a few days after Pretti’s January 24 death: Bruce Springsteen’s angry anthem, “Streets of Minneapolis.” It commemorates not just Good and Pretti, but the people of Minneapolis marching in near-zero temperatures to stand up for their neighbors and to stand against Donald Trump and his militarized occupation of their town.

Yes, occupation. It’s correctly characterized that way by virtue of the government dispatching 3,000 federal agents to a city whose police force numbers 600 and to state where a dozen police chiefs’ press conference reported “endless complaints” concerning federal officers’ behavior  and “that city employees and off-duty officers had been illegally stopped on the basis of their skin color.”

Clearly, the threat is not confined to one city. As  summed up by one account of the mushrooming expansion of U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE):

“Trump has turned ICE into a sprawling paramilitary that roves the country at will, searches and detains noncitizens and citizens without warrants, uses force ostentatiously, operates behind masks, receives skimpy training, lies about its activities, and has been told that it enjoys ‘absolute immunity.’ He more than doubled the agency’s size in 2025, and its budget is now larger than those of all other federal law-enforcement agencies combined, and larger than the entire military budgets of all but 15 countries.” [Emphasis added.]

But don’t take my word for what this is all about. It’s about the  opinions of thousands of leading principled conservatives, including one appointed by George W. Bush and who served during Trump’s first term: “I helped to establish DHS [Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part] in 2002 and 2003 and later had the homeland security portfolio as a White House Counsel and served as General Counsel of the Department. I am enraged and embarrassed by DHS’s lawlessness, fascism, and cruelty. Impeach and remove Trump—now.”

It’s about a conservative federal judge, who was appointed to the bench by W and who clerked for a Republican judicial hero, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He’s decried the fact that ICE’s  violations of nearly 100 federal judicial orders this month has been more than “some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.”

Which brings us back to Bruce and the “Streets of Minneapolis”:

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice crying through the bloody mist
We’ll remember the names of those who died on the streets of Minneapolis

Yet, piercing that bloody mist, there’s also angry inspiration, pointing to what we can do to push back:

Their claim was self-defense, sir, just don’t believe your eyes
It’s our blood and bones and these whistles and phones against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies

Sadly, there will be plenty of opportunities to decry and combat those lies down the line.

But this evening, we walk for peace and unity on the streets of Benicia. True to the organizers’ admirable intentions, our community can come together to share our humanity in a respectful manner that even kids can participate in and appreciate.

Tonight, I’ll walk  with these words from a different Springsteen song in my head and heart, and in honor of Good, Pretti and the brave people of Minneapolis:

May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love give us love

Benicia resident and author Stephen Golub, A Promised Land

[sta_anchor id=”below” /]Stephen Golub writes about democracy and politics, both in America and abroad, at A Promised Land: America as a Developing Country.

…and… here’s more Golub on the Benicia Independent

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Democracy under attack, Donald Trump, Local vigilance, No Kings!

NEXT NO KINGS DAY – Saturday, March 28

SAVE THE DATE.
BUT DON’T SIT BACK AND WAIT!

https://nokings.org

MEMORIES: BENICIA’S JUNE 2025 NO KINGS RALLY:

In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.

Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Born in the streets, carried by millions in chants and on posters, it echoes from city blocks to rural town squares, uniting people across this country to fight dictatorship together.

The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings, and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty. Grow our movement and join us.

A core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.

More at https://www.nokings.org/