When I announced that I planned on voting for Donald J. Trump this election year, many people thought I was joking. How could an 18-year-old, mixed-race girl from Louisville, Kentucky support a man who thousands believe scowls ignorance and hatred every time he speaks? It is simple; I am tired of being made to believe that I am oppressed by society.
I grew up in what is considered far from a perfect home. A single mother in an urban area with barely enough money to keep the water on sometimes, but I did not end up being what many people call a "project baby." I did not end up selling drugs, dropping out of school, or even pregnant at a young age; which is a reality that could have easily been mine if I believed what people said I would and should be because of where I lived. Instead of engaging in the activities that would have enabled me to blend in with my peers, I often engaged in ones that would set me apart.
The first of these activities was engaging myself in schoolwork. School was the place where I learned about racial issues such as slavery, Jim Crow laws and systematic oppression. I even wrote a research paper on systematic oppression one year. I used to believe that systematic oppression was real—it is not.
Earlier this year Trump made a speech where he pointed out the issues that are failing minority communities, African American communities especially. Trump said, "You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?". The answer is nothing. In struggling minority communities, we have nothing to lose because we have nothing.
Every time I have heard a political speech targeted at minorities, they have talked about increasing food stamps, providing free medical care, or even building more government housing projects. We have nothing to lose by voting for Donald Trump; we have more to lose by voting people who promise to allow our communities to sit in self-loathing and be dependent on others incomes to make our own.
When Hillary Clinton said:
"I will call for white people, like myself, to put ourselves in the shoes of those African American families who fear every time their children go somewhere, who have to have ‘The Talk,’ about, you now, how to really protect themselves from police, when they’re the ones who should be expecting protection from encounters with police."
No one recanted this statement and praised Clinton for being a new ally for African American communities. Is it because the same community that harbors Black Lives Matter is scared to admit that maybe the government and the Democratic party is perpetuating the idea that African Americans can not take care of themselves?
My main question to Hillary supporters is how can you support someone who once protested racial integration, and who protested gay marriage until it was politically dangerous for her not to be the face of the same groups she used to oppress?
I myself can not live under this false idea anymore; I am not oppressed and I am tired of being made to believe that I am. I can not stand behind a woman who chooses when she is and is not for minorities. I will be casting my vote for someone who wants to better minority communities by teaching them hard work and not giving them handout as soon at things get tough. This November will change America either way; it is our duty as Americans to make sure we choose a president who is seeking liberty, justice and equality for all.
