“Fuck.”
.
.
.
The text I woke up to this morning, November 9th, 2016. It takes me a few seconds to register, then I feel cold, sad, angry at no one and everyone, and fearful… so very fearful. No one thought this would happen, everyone joked, we had a party last night and watched SNL until votes finally started coming in and then still, we were optimistic. Trump couldn’t win… he just couldn’t.
How could the United States do this? How can a majority of the population openly embrace such extreme levels of racist, misogynous, xenophobic hate? Obviously I’ve been privileged to be raised in such a blue state- I never saw the extent of the damage and degradation of the rest of the country. I never realized the extent the American public were sheep to the media- doesn’t everybody know that it’s false and corrupt?
I’m done with trying to be understanding, trying to not openly hate other humans, but what else can I do? I hate those who voted for Trump, every single one. I wish them pain, insecurity, and fear. I want them to risk losing everything they hold dear- land, education opportunities, money, family. You know why? Because that is how they have made my friends feel. All across my Facebook feeds are posts of fear and sadness, and anybody who causes such pain on my friends will face my wrath tenfold.
If this doesn’t hit home enough, think on this. If you’re reading this you know me, you might even consider me a friend, or family. Well, I’m a bisexual female and a sexual assault victim. Pence wants to have conversion therapy, severely limit women’s reproductive rights, and Trump has sexual assault claims in the double digits. I am afraid.
However… fear, anger, feelings of betrayal, confusion… use these. These feelings are our weapons. Protest the bad changes. Keep fighting the patriarchy, the binary, the unjust justice systems. More than ever, we cannot be quiet, we cannot let tyrants destroy the little success we’ve fought for for hundreds of years.
I can’t understand everything everyone is experiencing… I have the privilege not to, and I recognize that. But if you need to talk, yell, punch, I’m here, I’ll listen. If you want to debate my views in any way, get the fuck out, you are the problem.
“What a world this will be when human possibilities are freed, we discover each other, when the stranger is no longer the potential criminal and certain inferior!” -W.E.B. Du Bois