Brooks: We’re Experiencing ‘a Climactic Shift’

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that the United States is in the midst of a “climactic shift.”

Brooks began by saying Ferguson, terrorism, and the 2016 election started opening up riffs in American society, then the coronavirus pandemic and George Floyd’s killing exposed those divides further.

He continued, “And then you get this generational turnover. You’ve had a generation of people under 35 who’ve seen the financial crisis, who’ve seen a bit of the war in Iraq maybe, but who’ve seen nothing on global warming. And so, this is a generation that is fed up. And, frankly, a lot of people in the African American community are fed up. The word I keep hearing is exhausted.”

Brooks concluded, “And so, I do think, when you calculate the depth of the ravines that are being exposed, with the generational change, with a sense of America finally turning to race as maybe the central storyline in our history — or our story right now, these are just big, epic shifts. And I do think it’s like one of those big shifts that happen periodically in American history, ’68 or 1890 or 1830. And I think we’re in the middle of something…I think it’s not just a moment. It’s a climactic shift.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett