I'm not writing this to simply add to the meaningless cluster of thousands of articles and blog posts about what went down this past Tuesday night. My intention is not to simply state that our country is royally screwed over for the next four years. It's to gain attention, create an active community, allow people to see that everyone is affected. Here it goes.
It's also about to get pretty liberal here, but know that this isn't about politics. It's about human decency. It's about the safety of millions of people.
I've been extremely upset, disturbed, depressed, angry, afraid, simply confused by the results of this election. Basically, every negative feeling is circulating in my brain right now, as it should be in every person who currently resides in this country and plans to for the next four years. It's been very difficult to come to terms with what has happened. Extremely difficult. I've been attempting to come to terms with who will be controlling our country for the next four years, and it hasn't been easy.
I feel like everyone should be feeling the same way I do. An openly racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic sociopath was elected to be our next president. A man who has allegedly sexually assaulted people on several different occasions. Someone who's father was an active member of the KKK (didn't expect that one, did you?) and who has been endorsed by this organization only a few weeks ago. A man who has called Mexicans rapists, who has openly made fun of the mentally disabled, who wants to "kick out" all Muslims living here, who does not believe in climate change, who wants to take away the rights of the LGBTQ+ community (no more anti-discrimination laws!!), who wants to defund all of Planned Parenthood. This is just the surface. This man is ungodly (I'm using this word in a non-religious context, considering he backs up a lot of what he says with the Bible, shedding such a negative light on Christianity), selfish (he doesn't even care about the lives of white, rich, straight, cisgendered males), and now extremely powerful -- and I'm scared. Frightened. Terrified. Mike Pence openly supports conversion therapy for queer individuals and the defunding of Planned Parenthood (to the point of reaching an HIV outbreak in Indiana); is against same sex marriage, anti-discrimination laws provided for the LGBTQ+ community, and fair pay for women and minorities (source here). The idea of impeaching/convicting Trump out of office is even scarier because we'll have to deal with yet another nightmare. This is America's nightmare, becoming a reality.
This is our chance to stand up. Fight against this awful man who is only in this position to hold power over the patriarchy and White supremacy ideals. The people voted, and the majority voted for Hillary. But a system that was produced because of slavery (don't believe me? read this) has allowed a man who is treating minorities in a sense that's similar to a modern-day slavery to lead our country for the next four years. So where do we start?
- Know that you are not alone. You are valid. This man's goal is to invalidate everyone who is not a white, rich, straight, cisgender male, but you are valid. Your feelings are valid, too. You might have more privilege than others who are affected by this, but you are allowed to mourn. You are allowed to feel terrified. You are allowed to feel angry. Everyone is in this together, and I believe that's the one positive outcome from these results -- it has created a strong community that is all fighting for the same thing. It has connected people from all over the country, from different backgrounds and races, to mourn together and to fight together. Maybe this is what we needed to wake America up.
- Today we mourn, tomorrow we fight. This is something I said and tweeted on November 9th. Mourning is good, great actually. It's extremely crucial to mourn in these situations -- it's a depressing, scary time, and sometimes all we can do is cry. I've been crying for the past 72 hours. I'm still mourning, and I think this will last for at least the next few weeks. But let's use this mourning and sadness to fight this system. Use our anger in a positive energy and attend protests, write posts like me, and express your feelings in a progressive manner. I have the privilege (and discomfort) of living in D.C. where I can simply walk to the White House and protest. But I also live one block away from Trump's transitional office, which is terrifying. I'm going to use this fear to fight back. He is not my president.
- Donate. Almost every minority group is being invalidated and marginalized by this man. We need help more than ever. Donating to any of the below groups is extremely important, especially now, because his goal is to take away the rights of these groups.
- Resources are available. As I said before, everyone probably feels invalid right now (me being one of them). These results might only lead to feelings of sadness, despair, or even suicide. Know that you are not alone, but also that there are resources for you. Look below:
- Apathy is worse than support for Trump. Saying that you don't care about this because it does not affect you is far worse, to me, than actually stating you voted for Trump. The latter is a crime in my opinion, but at least it's not cowardly. It's similar to how many white people did not get involved, or even spread the word, about the BLM movement because of their whiteness. Apathy is poisonous and will only feed Trump's power complex. Also, the concept of not being affected is not really a thing in this situation. Everyone is affected, directly or indirectly. The only people not directly affected are white, rich, straight, cisgender males, and this 1% probably has wives or mothers or friends in minority groups or even just coworkers who happen to not be identical to their privileged situation. And if you don't accept this concept, you should still be affected. It's just human decency. As I said earlier, far simpler than politics.
- We will become his worst nightmare, as Bernie Sanders said recently. Role reversal should do the trick. We think he's our worst nightmare, but that's what we will become to him. We will fight. We will protest. We will not accept him as our 45th president of the United States of America.
All photos shot by me at the White House, the night of the election. Instagram posts by Rowan Blanchard, the actress and active feminist.
If you need anyone to talk to about this current situation, know that I'm always available. Feel free to email me at geisel.natalie@gmail.com.
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