In the wake of the recent election, many are ecstatic, full of hope and excitement for the future. There are also many of us that are fearful, disheartened and disgusted with the results. I side with the latter, and I envy those who are full of hope because I am also afraid.
One of my best friends from my hometown, who happens to be LGBT, was verbally assaulted in my local Wal-Mart Thursday Nov. 10. I know what you’re thinking: “Yeah, well it’s Wal-Mart.”
That’s not a valid excuse. You cannot just tell me that because it’s a Wal-Mart, people don’t deserve respect but I digress. A woman probably in her mid-thirties, tailed by a couple children, had the audacity to look at this boy, this human being, and said: “Stop being a faggot and be a man.”
The election may be over but the fight for equality and humanity is not. This recent election has left many people of color (POC), Muslims, LGBT people, Latin@s and women in fear. There have already been reports of harassment both verbally and physically towards minorities. Progress has taken a hit, and our society has been set back a number of years but do not be discouraged. I am not saying that our president-elect is racist, sexist, xenophobic, etc., but the things he says make me wonder what goes on in his head. I hope for the sake of this country that he is just a bad speaker and not a bad person.
It took women nearly a hundred years of fighting to win the right to vote. Women were not respected as people for an incredibly long time. Feminism is growing and the highest glass ceiling was cracking. However, because America elected Donald Trump, a man who has been documented saying, “Grab them by the pussy, you can do anything,” we have set women back.
One in six women have been a victim of attempted or completed sexual assault, and if our president can grab women by the pussy and do anything he wants, then everyone else can, too. Our president-elect also wants to defund Planned Parenthood, which provides more than just abortions for women, a thing you can be sure that Trump will make illegal. Make sure to stock up on your birth control and get an IUD that will last, because we all know that’s going to be a pain in the ass for the next four years.
African Americans were denied rights for over a hundred years after being released from slavery. Our president-elect refused to denounce David Duke, a member of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) who endorsed him. It goes without saying that the KKK has committed mass atrocities against POC in the past.
The Islamic community has had a hell of a time trying to prove to this country since 9/11 that they are not terrorists but that they are people, too. They are people who want to live the same boring, uneventful lives as everyone else. Because you elected this man, a man who has said that he supports making Muslim Americans register with a government database, or even forcing them to carry a religious identification card with them at all times, you are setting Muslim-Americans back.
The LGBTQ rights movement dates back to 1924, a 91 year battle ended in 2015, when the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was overturned and same sex marriage was legalized in the United States. One of the first things your new president plans to do is overturn President Obama’s executive decisions as president and appoint Supreme Court justices that oppose same sex marriage.
The results of this election may have many of us afraid for the future but do not be fooled; our fear is not a weakness. Our next president, the House and the Senate and the majority of the country’s governors are all Republican. It is believed that this is the most power the Republican Party has held since 1928.
There are many things we can do to fight. Do not forget that there are mid-term elections in 2018 that offer up a chunk of House and Senate seats. Other things like LGBT rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, equal pay and minimum wage are decided on a state or local level and may possibly be on the ballot in 2018. Above all, we need to support and stand up for one another. Do not be a bystander if you see someone being disrespected. Speak out. Rise above the things that this country now seems to believe in. Show love for your fellow Americans, let them know that you stand with them.