*********
… Then a
clarification is needed: People are not protesting a Republican win via the
electoral college. People are afraid and their fear is real and
legitimate. What they are in fact protesting is the hate speech, the
bigotry, the racism and the sexism that Trump’s campaign communicated, endorsed
and even promised in policy terms. They are protesting exclusion and acts
of discrimination against marginalized and vulnerable groups (read: women,
African-Americans, disabled people, LGBT, Mexican-Americans, Muslims,
etc). There are large groups of people, huge groups of Americans, who
feel legitimately afraid for the lives, their liberties, their families and
their futures.
That’s ridiculous and overreacting. Why would they feel that
afraid?
Because the President-elect told them, expressly and explicitly,
that those things are all in jeopardy. It’s been pretty spelled
out and continues to be signaled with a white nationalist
Anti-Semite named his chief strategist yesterday. And then,
when his more vocal supporters at his rallies shouted out even nastier and more
hateful vitriol, he didn’t tell them it was inappropriate or not
tolerated. He often laughed and egged them on. Unlike John McCain’s
beautiful example here of
disavowing hate speech and racism from supporters during his 2008 campaign.
So Trump is President. 26% of
America elected him President and that was enough. The protesters, the
people speaking out in pain and fear are not arguing that. We are
in a post-election world now. And it really doesn’t matter who you voted
for anymore.
Let me stop here and
say clearly: If you are in my life and voted for Trump, I don’t believe
you are a hateful bigot or a racist. I don’t believe that the mocking and
demeaning language of his campaign about people of color, women, families with
gay parents, a Muslim veteran KIA, and the disabled totally resonated with you
and made you want to high five Trump. Rather, I think you just overlooked
xenophobic, homophobic, racist and misogynistic rhetoric because something else
must have mattered more to you.
And all that matters
right now is that if you believe in the equal value of all humans, in their
basic human rights and liberties – then will you make your voice clear and tell
them you will stand by those values and uphold respect for other humans?
What does that look
like?
·
It could look like
finding a way to tell a Muslim citizen who has been told they will have
register and carry ID cards because of their faith or a hard-working immigrant
who might face deportation, who fear violence or ridicule, (whose children are
already facing shameful actions in the past week) that you want them
to be safe. Can you agree to stand by their basic human right to feel safe?
·
It might look like
telling my brother who’s on disability and Medicaid and might need a heart
transplant in a few years – but won’t get it if he loses his health insurance –
and millions of other lives that are similarly, truly on the line that you do
care about the health of your fellow citizens, even those that can’t secure it
from private insurance.
·
It might look like
you telling my nephew who is so distraught because he identifies as disabled,
and he watched the video clip of Trump crudely mocking disabled people, that
you find that horrendous too and that’s not your America.
·
It might look you
telling my friend’s neighbor whose crotch was grabbed Thursday by a man while
he told her to “get used to it,” that that is unconscionable and wrong and you
are so sorry it happened.
·
It might look like
you telling my brilliant Indian-American doctor and actress friend, who faces
discrimination in the South, and now says that she gets the message that
America doesn’t want her – that we do want her and need her. … Or another dear
Southeast Asian entrepreneur friend who was told by a yelling passerby on
Saturday to “go home to her own country” … that she is home.
·
It might look like
you telling my friend who is legitimately afraid her marriage will be legally
overturned, her family destroyed, her child confused and brokenhearted that
that is not okay and you will speak out when and if the vote comes.
·
It might look you
telling my African-American friend’s brother who drives around with his license
in the overhead visor so if he’s ever pulled over maybe he won’t be shot for
reaching for his wallet – who now sees KKK celebratory rallies planned in North
Carolina and racial epithets and swastikas painted all over Philadelphia – that
his life matters.
We are not protesting the election. We are not wearing safety
pins because Hillary didn’t win. We are expressing solidarity and
strength and protection for these stories, these many many brothers and
sisters. And for ourselves and our own basic humanity. Do you have
friends like these? I’d wager you do whether you know it or not. Have you
heard stories that have unfolded in the past 4 days? The sharp rise in hate
crimes since the election is being reported. Can you close your eyes
and remove the colors red and blue from your vision and try on any one of these
stories, like pulling on a sweater, to imagine what that kind of fear might
actually feel like? And if you don’t know particular people in your own
life facing these issues, then maybe you could just make a blanket statement to
say that your America is not one of discrimination, hate and exclusion. That
you stand with those who believe in respect and dignity for all.
Please continue this essay here: https://ebeauvaisblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/if-the-protests-have-you-confused-or-irritated/?iframe=true&theme_preview=true
thank you, Molly. So glad it resonated. - Elizabeth
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