Throughout the history of the United States, it's not really a secret, regardless of how hard the American education system tried to hide it, that we live in a country that was built off slavery, racism, Jim crow laws, and systematic institutions created to keep people of color away from success.
I, as an African-American woman, know of all the odds against me because of my gender and my race, however, I was always taught that the sky is the limit and to be proud of who I am. I was taught to be unapologetically black, and in progressive America, I thought, as a black woman, I stood a chance regardless of what has been going on. I thought that we as a country were moving towards something, that something may not have been a utopia for black people, but I never thought I would be afraid to complete a minute task such as buying a bottle of wine from the liquor store at night. However, on November 8, 2016, I became afraid. America scared the hell out of me when they elected a bigot, an Islamic phobia, homophobic, racist anti- women man for president.
I believe a lot of people are focused on Donald Trump as a human and the reflection that he has depicted of America and they are well in their right to do so. But more recently, I personally have taken notice and interest into the evil that one man has unleashed in this country. Racism within our beloved land was already a tense subject, that more often than not, white people stayed away from. Racism was subliminal, and never out right, giving the illusion that we were at least being somewhat progressive. Granted I know, that there was more progress to be made and the utopia of equality we all seek was still not created. However, I never lived in a world where blatant racism and completing a minute task in public by myself was something I should second guess. But, here I am in what I thought was a progress America, as a black woman AFRAID.
Despite the active protests across the country, even one at my very own institution, I am scared. Between the stories of minorities being harassed and potentially physically attacked at a university I attend, and stories at other universities, or even simple graffiti that drastically express the hate many people have for minorities. The evil has been exposed and the illusion has been torn down, and the reality of progressive America is that we are still struggling to integrate and develop any form of unity as one nation. I can only unfortunately speak on my own fear as a black woman in America, but I feel for my LGBTQ brothers and sisters, my Islamic brothers and sisters, and my Latin American brothers in sisters. May God literally help us all. The land that’s known for the free and the brave just became the land of being enslaved. Clearly, the actual act of enslaving black people will never happen again because the factors to do such no longer exist, unlike with our ancestors.
Although my fear is valid I am writing this because it is my voice and in 2016 a black woman should not fear the world she lives in, especially when the world she lives in has a constitution that is supposed to promote prosperity and equality for all. But wait then again equality and prosperity was never supposed to include slaves and their decedents regardless of the fact that the country has literally been built on our backs. So to Donald Trump and his supporters, remember heavy is the head that wears the crown and we, as the minorities of this country, will not be silenced.
