I woke up this morning at 3:42 wide awake. It was a weird to me as it must sound to you.
So here I am, laying in my bed staring up at he ceiling and thinking- if the sun were up, I could easily start my day... so I grab my phone and realize the time- and after going to the bathroom, I check out my messages.
I decide to go to Twitter to find out the election results.
Low and behold- I woke up in a different time, an alternate reality I swear. It's Opposite Day, I swear. But after scrolling and seeing tweet after tweet... video after video. I realize this isn't an alternate reality. This is not a dream.
This is my- erm, our new normal.
The most qualified person we have ever had... ran for president. No I'm sorry, ran for President of the United States of America. SHE ran against not just an unqualified opponent but an UNDER-qualified male opponent. I can't even say counterpart, because that would be untrue. A lie. Something this lesser being is known for- but I digress, and get ahead of myself.
I want to talk about what this means... These past 8 years with President Barack Obama, while perhaps not perfect- have been the BEST of my lifetime. The progress we have seen as a nation seems to be easily forgotten, and that's because of racism.
Which is one in the same with the misogyny that cost Hillary Clinton the election.
There's a diagram that shows how different the election would've been if only millennial had voted. It's a sea of blue. Some might see it as validation. It however makes my heart hurt.
This election cycle has truly been the nastiest one of date.
I can't speak for the country or anyone rather, but I can speak for myself ...
I'm mixed. My mom is white and my 'dad' is black. I am a college educated woman. These past 8 years I've changed a lot. Graduating high school, graduating college, entering the work force- but I think my biggest accomplishment was learning how to love myself for my blackness and my femininity- learning to fight the voice in my head telling me, 'you're not good enough,' 'you're not a black enough,' 'you're not white enough,' 'you're not feminine enough.'
I thought I had silenced those voices. And yet- this morning, when I heard the news- all that came rushing back to me.
What does this mean? Am I as a minority in a mostly white town safe? This is what they think of women?
Followed by: What about the LBGT community? What does this mean for my reproductive rights? What's going to happen to Muslims in their communities? How will this effect not only Mexicans but other Hispanic people that people will lump together?
Who's gonna tell our story?
We had been told that the racist, bigot, misogynistic, seedy underbelly of the country that was President-Elect Donald Trump's base- was a slim minority. That ultimately we, the American people- had nothing to worry about, how could a candidate with more than 30 years of public service under their belt lose to a real estate 'mogul'- a morally and fiscally bankrupt one at that.
I'll tell you- because in 2016, we still hate black people and women.
There I said it. Try to argue with me. I dare ya.
After a progressive Barack Obama, how do we move on or rather backwards to Donald Trump. I'll let you in on a not so secret revelation, because in 2016, Barack Obama is a black man, first and one of the greatest Presidents of our lifetime, second.
You can tell yourself whatever you want. But after having our first Black president, our first Female president was pushed aside because she was just that... a woman. We couldn't buck 'tradition' and keep progress going. The 'seedy' minority wouldn't let us.
President-Elect Donald Trump attacked ANY and everyone to get to this point: POWs, President Obama, The Khans, immigrants, women, Muslims, Mexicans, black people, the LBGT community, and so many more.
The issue NOW... now that the election is over, is- "now what?"
Now what? When we are now faced with the knowledge that our neighbors, our friends, our family- don't value us as much as they value ... what? Being white? Being male?
I'm not sure what solisce we're supposed to take in this? Knowing that our time with Jeezy's classic, My President, has an expiration date of January 20th and that soon our president will be Orange. I guess knowing that HRC will never give up on children, women and families. That we still have Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the Senate. That we have made it as a country for hundreds of years, on the back of the people we just nullified - but we will continue to move forward even if it's at a slower pace than we had hoped.
For now, I suppose I'll enjoy my last few months with The Obamas and The Bidens, and remember the way people that called themselves friends and family, pushed me and countless others aside in the search of making America 'great' again, when that just meant making it white and male again.
So while we try and pick up the pieces from this nightmare, remember at least Election commercials are over.
xo,
KJB
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