Life, it seems, is like a bad comic book plot.
I'm angry. And a new day goes by and I think tomorrow I won't be so angry. And I get angrier. Because every day that has gone by this last week I see more people dismissing Donald Trump like this is just any other election. Like people who are upset, or hurt, or scared are overreacting.
I'm angry that there are so many people unwilling to recognize that this election was a win for racism, religious persecution, and hate. I'm furious that good people put the shortsighted promises of a career conman ahead of basic human decency.
This is not a regular election. People aren't sad because their candidate lost. This isn't Mitt Romney. This is not John McCain. This is not about disagreements on economic policy. Donald Trump and his entire cabal represent the worst of American bigotry. Trump opened his campaign with a sweeping declaration of Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals. He continued with a promise to ban all Muslim immigrants.
Replace "Muslim" with "Jew." Replace "Mexican" with "Black." Does any of that sound familiar? This kind of speech is intolerable. It is cruel. It is unconstitutional. It has whipped a small but despicable group of people in our country into a frenzy, it has empowered white supremacists to spread their message of hate. And not just in words. But through violence.
I'm angry because today, the Ku Klux Klan is happy.
I'm angry because so many people are incapable of empathizing with those minorities that are the target of these hate groups. Just because your rights are not in danger, just because your world may not change, does not mean these hate groups do not exist, and it doesn't mean the inconvenient truth of racism and hate isn't festering just because you're not looking.
Our country was founded on the backs of slaves and murdered indigenous peoples. We as a society have failed to reckon with it, and that makes me mad, too. Any time some small progress is made, we celebrate, clap ourselves on the back, and ignore the deeply-rooted injustice that still goes on. So for a moment, if you are still not realizing just how incendiary and horrible a Trump presidency is, just imagine you're a Mexican mother who fled a town ravaged by drug cartels to save the life of your daughter and son. Imagine seeing the president of this country--the country that you dreamed would save you--tell you that you do not belong here. That your very presence in society is a crime, and that you and your kids are going back to the town you came from, where you very well may die in the crossfire.
This isn't an abstraction. It's the honest to God truth.
Imagine you're gay, and you are already afraid of coming out to your parents, who may not understand the reality of who you are. Imagine that you wake up and find out that your new Vice President thinks that who you love makes you worthy of electro shock therapy. Imagine your Vice President is repulsed at the idea of you having a family, of adopting a child that you know you would love and care for.
Maybe you didn't know that Donald Trump's campaign manager and top choice for cabinet position was a raging anti-semite who published articles with headlines like this:
I'm disappointed that we have not learned lessons from countries like South Africa and Germany, who instead of trying to pretend that they have just moved on from the painful truth of their nations' pasts, forced themselves to confront it. We are not brave enough as a society to do the same.
So no, you're not a racist. You're not a homophobe. You don't hate Muslims. But your acceptance of Donald Trump and Mike Pence and Steve Bannon means that you are willing to let those things go. And don't you see the problem with that? They have no problem with defying civil liberties for the many non-white, non-straight, non-male people in our country. You have the obligation to be angry, too.
I'm so incredibly angry that a human being who bragged about his wealth affording him the privilege of sexually assaulting women, who boasted that he would walk into the dressing rooms of beauty pageants he hosted to spy on the undressed contestants, who constantly body shames and makes women feel bad for their appearance, now gets four years to remind us of how little he values half of our country. I'm disgusted that little girls who lived through this election now have to grow up knowing that a person who thinks and acts this way gets to be the leader of the free world. I'm in shock that now young boys are getting the message that it's okay to treat women like garbage, because they can still get everything they want without consequence.
I'm genuinely scared that the Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act will negatively affect my quality of life. That one day I won't have my insurance anymore. That I won't be able to afford the medicine that has helped to give me a normal life. That if I need another operation some day that might save my life the doctor will look at me and tell me there's nothing we can do. And I'm furious that you are giving them the chance to do it.
I'm angry at the Catholic Church, an institution that I have dedicated the better part of the last five years to. I'm mad that they spread so much fear over a single issue that more than half of American Catholics voted for Trump--a man who defies every value that Catholics claim to uphold. I am angry that there was no condemnation for Donald Trump's unabashed hatred, while there was plenty of condemnation for anyone who dare step out of line when it comes to their pet issues.
But I'm not just mad at Donald Trump, a sexist, racist, narcissistic lying conman, and the Republicans.
I'm mad at the United States and all of our politicians who have ignored the reality of poverty in this nation. I'm mad as hell that America has the worst income inequality of any major developed country. I'm mad that the gap between the rich and poor is worse than at any point since the 20s. I'm furious that 58 percent of all wealth generated since the '08 Wall Street crash has gone to the top one percent. I'm sick that Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, and countless numbers of our fellow citizens are working below the already laughable minimum wage.
Do I sound familiar?
The Democratic Party ignored this reality. They ignored the very valid and very real anger that, ultimately, won Donald Trump the presidency.
I'm angry that the working class can't afford to put food on the table. That jobs are getting shipped overseas and that as manufacturing jobs and jobs in the coal industry have shut down and automated, there has been no investment in the infrastructure and education that could have helped these communities stay afloat.
I'm enraged that the situation has gotten so bad that the working poor throughout this country were so desperate that they let themselves get manipulated into believing that a man who was born into privilege, who blew his first million, who has never wanted for a damn thing in his life, who regularly stiffs his workers, who proudly shipped jobs overseas, who pays less taxes than the hated "illegal immigrants," was going to save them.
Because, let's be honest, we both know the manufacturing jobs aren't coming back.
I'm sad for every immigrant kid and family I got a chance to briefly know in my time in Los Angeles. I'm heartbroken that their struggles are deemed as less important than traditionally white manufacturing hubs. I'm sick about every LGBTQ friend and mentor I've known in my life who now sees in this country a place of rejection and hate.
I am disconsolate that governors and congressman of coastal states said, "Yes, please," to a man who denies climate change--a catastrophic danger that poses very real threat to their constituents' safety and the livelihood of their tourist industries, and thus, the economy of their states. I cannot believe that our politicians deny science and forsake my future, and the future of any children I might have.
I'm mad at myself for doing nothing but smugly thinking that America was "better" than this. That we were smart enough to see through Donald Trump.
I underestimated the real anger, and real hurt that so many in this country feel. I was as blinded by my privileged place in American society as anyone else. And I was blinded to the depth of hatred of minorities and women.
But I refuse to believe this election is a referendum in favor of the worst of America. Yes, the white supremacists had their voices heard. Yes, they got the man they wanted--a puppet who would do and say anything to grovel at their feet just so he could win and stick it to all those people who never gave him his Emmy. But I believe when they realize that Trump doesn't care about them, when they all realize they got conned by a two-bit carnival barker, they'll feel as sick and angry as I do for the thing that they helped give birth to.
So if you are not angry, if you are rejoicing today--just know that I and all the others like me are not going to "get over" this. I am not going to stop being angry.
And we should not stop being angry.
I am not going to stop fighting against hatred and fear and the blatant lies peddled by this national disgrace. I am not going to stop being a voice for the marginalized, who now risk being even moreso. I will be a voice for compassion, and not just for them--but you too.
I'm going to stay angry, and I won't forget that we are all in this together--and that we must find a way to heal all of our gravest national sins: poverty, racism, sexism, and hate in all its forms. If this election has taught me anything, it is that I can not be complacent in the assumption that things will work themselves out on their own.
