By Emil Guillermo

The NBA Finals/Game 5 was on primetime TV on Monday, and I have to confess, I was relieved it didn’t conflict with the Jan. 6 hearings on the “Big Lie.”

Because I would have had to make a choice. Democracy or basketball.

But the gods arranged for the story of our imperiled democracy to be on in the morning. And that gave primetime to the Dubs, who dutifully put the Celtics away. Can they win Game 6 in Boston on Thursday, or will a Game 7 be forced on Sunday?

I think they can.

Now what about our democracy? Why don’t we care about the Jan. 6 hearings enough to make it must-see TV?

The hearings require your absolute attention, as they lay out how the twice-impeached former president, No. 45, created the “Big Lie” about the 2020 election being rigged or stolen.

That would be quite enough, but small lies snowball into mega-lies and create the frenzy that led to the insurrection by MAGA followers to riot on the Capitol on Jan. 6. 2021.

This is nothing less than hearings on the future of our democracy. Everyone should be watching.

Twenty million people tuned in to the Thursday prime-time preview last week, which is about five times the number that tuned into Trump’s “Apprentice” in prime time.

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But there are 300 million in this country impacted by the “Big Lie.”

Everyone needs to see the former attorney general Bill Barr call Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen, “Bull—-.”

Let that be emblazoned in our collective heads.

Here’s the man who was Trump’s chief enabler during his administration. And he is saying in no uncertain terms there was no election fraud.

And then there’s Trump’s own daughter, Ivanka, who said she believes in Barr.

This is Trump’s inner circle telling the truth under oath. They know how the rule of law works. But Trump still held on to the idea that the election was rigged and stolen. From day one, Trump continued to push the lie and even fund-raise a quarter of a billion dollars from the public.

And as Barr’s testimony continues to remind us, it was all based on Trump’s embrace of “bull—-.”

If you don’t care because the system is rigged against people of color, I have news for you. You not caring assures that the system will be as indifferent to us as it ever has been.

I urge you to watch in real time if you can. Or to watch on C-SPAN later.

And if you still don’t think it matters, just think on Jan. 6 Committee Chair Bennie Thompson’s opening statement last Thursday. A respected representative from Mississippi, Thompson put it on the line at the start:

“I am from a part of the country where people justified the actions of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan and lynching. I’m reminded of that dark history as I hear voices today try and justify the actions of the insurrectionists on January 6, 2021.”

Thompson and his colleagues are under oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The sad thing the hearings reveal is that sometimes the enemy may include an outgoing president and his cronies (Rudy Giuliani, the former NYC mayor chief among them), hellbent on ignoring the will of the people.

If you still are lukewarm, maybe you’re one of those rare birds, a BIPOC diehard Republican. Clarence Thomas is one. Michelle Steel, an Asian American member of Congress representing Orange County is another. Many continue to run for office and somehow are fine with the “Big Lie.” They must be rooted out.

Just remember how Thompson hears anyone who defends Trump. They have the same tone as those who would defend and justify racism, slavery, and the Klan.

I tell my Asian American readers to think of our mothers and fathers and their early experiences when they arrived in America. They didn’t come from China, the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, India, etc., because of the Big Lie.

They came to escape the lies in their ancestral homes and came to America because the truth and the rule of law means something.

The hearings show us how low a president was willing to go to diminish that something into nothing in our democracy.

And the real fear is that without a savvy, informed electorate, it could all easily happen again.

That’s why we must pay attention.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. See him on www.amok.com

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