The 45th president of the United States has been chosen to lead this growing nation of America and “make it great again.” The slogan alone carries enough of everything Donald Trump represents. "Make America Great Again" insinuates that there was a point in history where America was great again for its people. I have seen many arguments that proposed the idea that America was never great but the reality is for straight white males it always was. Since Columbus “found” America, it has been shaped to benefit the white male’s ideas, beliefs, superiority, racism, sexism, bigotry… and any slight change to that unbalanced ‘Great America.
Over many years there have been a lot of changes - the idea of seeing women as equal to men, the concept that people of color are equal to whites, the idea of sexual victims demanding justice instead of being ashamed they were assaulted, the fact that there could be any other religion besides Christianity, the concept of multiple sexualities and sexual identities, the idea that people with disabilities are just like any other person. In short, the idea of growth threatened ‘Great America’ yet America continued to struggle to grow. Then came Donald Trump.
Many people have tried to come up with multiple different reasons why Donald Trump won the election. I have heard the reasoning that focuses on Classism which discussed not acknowledging the working class regardless of race, as well as their needs. I have heard the reasoning that maybe Trump is what America needs to recognize her faults and expose the hate. I have heard that Trump tricked his voters by giving them what they wanted to hear but he has good intentions for everyone in American…. And so on. Which may all be true or not, but who knows? So how about we focus on the real facts.
A white straight male ran for presidency with the mentality of a dark time in America. He normalized sexual assault and bigotry. He encouraged bold; racism, sexism, xenophobia and homophobia. He made fun and found humor in the disability of a reporter. He even went as far as mocking veterans who risked their life to protect this country. And he won. There lies the sad reality of the real problem, one I refuse to spend any further time explaining.
Many republicans who voted Trump have tried to explain severally that they have friends who are people of color, Muslim, LGBTQ+, sexual assault victims, and females, therefore they are not in support of Trumps hate. Feel free to call them out on their bullshit. Voting for someone who has expressed hate towards all this people you are “friends” with is proof of your lack of care towards them. You may not hate them, but you definitely do not care about them either. When I shared this with a friend he brought of the fact that some people in this category also voted for Trump, and I told him, self-hate is not something that surprises me anymore.
Just in the few day that Trump has been elected there has been reports of verbal assaults and bullying centered on hate towards people of color, Muslim, LGBTQ+, sexual assault victims, and females. The Ku Klux Klan, one of the most notorious and hateful group in history is on the rise and organizing rallies. Trump has encouraged the idea that hate towards this group of people is some sort of justified opinion and many are taking advantage of that. Hate is wrong, not some opinion that should be respected, you can encourage people to show love to hate, you can encourage people to come together and be there for one another… But do not tell anyone to respect hate.
Dear people of color, Muslim, LGBTQ+, sexual assault victims, woken females and males. You have all right to be upset, scared, hurt, angry, and sad. Nevertheless, we must all learn to channel that energy into making change and making America better for ourselves. Now more than ever is when we have to stick together and promote unity, love and peace amongst ourselves. Now we need to emphasize the part of us they refuse to see. We will not be silenced and we will not be broken.
