We're Riding Backwards On The American Roller Coaster

If you’re from the Washington, DC area you’ve probably spent an entire summer day at Kings Dominion. For those of you who may not know, Kings Dominion, which opened in 1975, is an amusement park ninety minutes south of DC. Many of us who grew up here remember taking that trip down I-95 with pure excitement while thinking how the drive was taking forever.

For two decades, the park’s most famous ride was arguably, the Rebel Yell—renamed Racer 75 in 2018. Still a mainstay at the park, the clickety-clackety roller coaster has twin tracks. Two trains run parallel, racing side-by-side and hurling riders down a ginormous 80-ft. hill at almost 60 mph. The trains then hit a series of other slopes and steep drops, carrying passengers for over half a mile before curving around and returning to the starting point by way of lesser hills.

Then, something interesting happened in 1992. The folks at the park decided to take one of the trains and position it backwards. Passengers could stand in the “Go Backwards” line and take the entire ride back-facing. Because, why not?

This roller coaster story is the best way I can visualize what’s going on in America right now. While I’ve previously described social and racial progress as being a “tortuous ebb and flow,” the backward movement has often been slow and subtle, at least in my lifetime.

But now? That ebb is flowing back at full speed, and everyone is about to feel its effects in one way or another. And just like those people who willingly chose to go backwards on a ride that was originally named after a Confederate battle cry (you can’t make this stuff up), thousands of Americans voted for this.

The picture below is one I shared almost two years ago on my social media accounts after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions.

L-R: Mom, Dad (with me standing in front), and US Commerce Secretary Pete Peterson, 1972.

I posted this picture in July 2023 because I (and many others) sensed the Court’s ruling was going to be the beginning of shameful actions taken by the MAGA Monster, should he take the White House again. Unfortunately, I was right. Just this week, the White Nationalist Republican regime rescinded Executive Order 11264—an executive order that had been in place since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it in 1965.

Executive Order 11264 barred discriminatory practices, based on race, gender and religion, in the hiring and promotion of federal workers and in the process for awarding work to government contractors. Under the umbrella of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which was born out of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11264 mandated that the Department of Labor enforce these nondiscriminatory policies.

So why am I sharing this photo again?

Well, the year was 1972, and there I was, all of five years old, standing in front of my father, Alonzo Smith Jr.—with my mother, Betty, on the left and the then Secretary of Commerce Peter G. Peterson on the right. We’re at a recognition ceremony where Dad was given an award for his outstanding work as the first Chairman of the NOAA/National Weather Service’s Equal Employment Opportunity Committee. Keep in mind that Secretary Peterson was a Nixon appointee. With all of his misguided actions and bigoted language, not even Nixon touched EEOC.

As Chairman, my dad made significant strides in ensuring that men and women of color received fair treatment within NOAA and were included in recruiting efforts. He was described as being persistent, courageous, and as one who had a “special talent in promoting tranquility.”

In the picture, as I, his youngest daughter helped to hold up his certificate, I’m sure my father anticipated real progress in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as great promise for the future of his children (my two older sisters and me).

He must be turning over in his grave.

I’m certain Dad never imaged that five decades later, the fight for equal opportunities would suffer significant blows at the moneyed hands of the country’s highest court and the small hands of an insecure orange man. Dad couldn’t have foreseen that his children and grandchildren would have fewer rights now than before 1965.

In trying to carry the mantle forward, my father was not alone. Far too many people have fought and sacrificed everything so that America could live up to her greatest ideals. I want to jump in and do what I can. And I will, even if some days I can do nothing more than write and try to educate others. But today, I’m just sad . . . and tired.

If there’s a silver lining, revisiting the roller-coaster analogy, those backwards rides ceased in 2008 because they were deemed unsafe for the passengers. The train was reset and returned to its forward-facing position.

I hope soon, I can say the same for what’s happening right now.

    My debut book, THE WEATHER OFFICER, is almost here . . . More news coming soon.