Don’t call yourself a friend if you can sit idly while women are degraded, being called disgusting pigs, slobs, dogs, and degenerates. Don’t call yourself a friend if you can allow the same man to tell a woman, on national television “it must have been a pretty picture – you dropping to your knees.” Don’t call yourself a friend you’re are OK with the same man saying “you could tell there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever” when referring to Megyn Kelly of Fox News and the questions she posed – never mind the fact that at 69 years of age one should possess the vocabulary to talk about menstrual cycles without reverting to childish antics. Never mind the fact that some say it was a joke... jokes can be telling when it comes to character.
Don’t call yourself a friend if you don’t get angry at the fact that only thing standing between the leading presidential candidate of the Republican Party and torture is anti-torture legislation and not good moral standing. Don’t call yourself a friend if you are OK with the same man mocking the motions of reporter Serge Kovaleski, who suffers from a congenital joint condition.
Don’t call yourself a friend if you are OK with group of 30 Black students being ejected from a rally because you just didn’t want them there. Don’t call yourself a friend if you can identify with the Islamaphobia that resulted in a woman being kicked out of a rally for standing peacefully while wearing a shirt that reads “Salam I come in peace” and a hijab on her head.
Don’t call yourself a friend if, somewhere deep in your soul, you can identify with the xenophobia that results in Syrian refugees being turned away as they flee a warring nation – equipped with the torture of families and the non-consensual removal of organs. Don’t call yourself a friend if you turn a blind eye to the fact that more than half of Syrian refugees are children.
Don’t even open your mouth the call yourself a friend if you openly oppose the things that Trump stands for, but aren’t voting. You are not a friend or mine. You are operating as an ally for the other side. If you aren't working as anti-Trump you are the truest threat to American democracy. Apathy is the truest threat to democracy, and it will not be handed to us. It will be our duty to vote in democracy's favor.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
