"It's not hard to like a guy
when he's doing well. The measure of a man is how does he behave when things
are otherwise?" - President Josiah Bartlet
I am glad everyone who didn't
vote for Obama accepted him as their next president. I am glad that you
continued to say he wasn't your president and emphasize his middle name repeatedly.
I am glad that you continued to share racist cartoons depicting President Obama
as a monkey or an ape. I am so glad you took the high road and obstructed every
piece of legislation he put before you. I am so thrilled for all that you did
to show that it was just ridiculous that we elected a black man, twice, to the highest
office of the land. The difference between Obama and Trump is staggering. You
can gloat and talk about coming together all you want but you don't know what
this means for people of color, for women, for the LGBTQ community, for
immigrants, refugees, for the poor and disenfranchised. Obama may have been a
problem for you because he was black. Obama may have been a problem for you
because he supports a woman's right to choose what to do with her own body. He
may have been a problem for you because he lives by a message of Hope, Love,
and progress. Obama may have been a problem for you because he was black (yes I
said that twice) but he is not a problem.
Obama is a great president. He
will go down in history as a very good president. His presidency will be talked
about in history classes for years to come. Donald Trump is not Obama. He is
not just a guy trying to get some hard policies through congress and senate to
make life easier for Americans. Trump spits hate and isolationism (building a wall,
& identification for Muslims). He is okay with marginalizing minorities and
assaulting women (grabbing them by the pu**y). He is okay with ripping away
people's basic inalienable rights as set forth by the founders of this country
(opening the libel laws & picking Mike "Fuck-The-Gays" Pence as
his VP). So, you can talk about taking the moral high road when Obama won and
how everyone should just shut up and accept it already but when you say that
you shut out the voices of the millions of people who said no to Hate. The
millions of people who said no to sexism. You are marginalizing a majority of
the country because you are giddy as school girls your racist godfather won.
I am hurting right now and I am
not grieving so much as disgusted at these kinds of statements. You didn't have
to like Obama and we all know you "accepted" him as your president,
even though you talked about him not being born in this country and being a
closet Muslim and wanting to take away all your guns (which he never did by the
way). You can speak of your Christian high ground but at the end of the day you
voted for a bigoted, hateful, sexist, racist, old white guy. While I did not. I
am not mad at you and I am not going to say he isn't my president (although I
would like to) but I will be ever vigilant. I will continue to push against his
hate speech. I will preach to the world a message of love and acceptance but
first I am going to be angry. I am going to cry. I am going to fear for the
future of our country on a national and international level. I have that right
because I voted with the majority and I watched as my vote was cast aside for
yours. I have the right to be upset and just like the electoral college
stealing the vote away from the people you want to steal my pain from me and
then preach bipartisanship and togetherness.
Your statements do not come from
a place of bipartisanship or togetherness. You are mad that people won't just
accept it like you did oh so gracefully 4 and 8 years ago. So, instead of
talking about your high road accept a little fact for me. We are not happy. We
are in pain. We feel like our country just told us it prefers hate, racism,
sexism, and fear over love and acceptance. Our country let us down on Tuesday.
Not because we didn’t vote for the first female president. Not because Republicans
won. Our country let us down because it prefers to believe that the biggest
threat to our country is people fleeing in fear from a fascist regime. Our
country let us down on Tuesday because it chose to build a wall instead of a
bridge. So, don’t tell me to accept him as my president like you “accepted”
Obama as your president. Don’t tell me to shut up and be okay with that fact.
You can gloat and you can be
giddy and you can be jubilant that your racist candidate won but I do not have
to happy about it as well. Do not, and I repeat, do not delegitimize the pain
and suffering people are feeling right now. This was not the same kind of
election that we had in 2008 and 2012. McCain and Romney were not political
outsiders with bombastic personalities born of a reality television show. They
were normal politicians and while I did not agree with their platform I would
not have felt so bad about their winning. Yeah I would have been upset and I
would have grumbled but the next day I would have gone about my business. This
was different on a completely different level. This was not a moderate
Republican going right to win votes. This was not a conservative Christian
going even more conservative to get more votes. Trump started out strong on the
right of right and never moved, anywhere.
So, I make a request of you. Shut
up! You won. We lost, spectacularly and we have a right to be very upset about
it. We have a right to complain and question your choices just as much as you
did in 2008 and 2012. I will take the words of Dylan Thomas’ ‘Do Not Go Gentle
Into That Good Night’ to heart;
“Do not go gentle into that good
night,
Old age should burn and rave at
close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of
the light.
Though wise men at their end know
dark is right,
Because their words had forked no
lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good
night.
Good men, the last wave by,
crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have
danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of
the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the
sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved
it on its way,
Do not go gentle into hat good
night.
Grave men, near death, who see
with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like
meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of
the light.
And you, my father, there on the
sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your
fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good
night.
Rage, rage against the dying of
the light.”
We must rage against the dying of
the light. We must not go gently into that good night. We will come together
and we will make sure he does not get to build his wall or stop Muslims from
entering our country, or you know living in it. We will rage, rage against the
dying of the American light. So, thank you for your recently renewed thoughts on
bipartisanship and how you feel we should be with you. Well we will be upset
and we will continue to be upset but in the end, we will accept it but you need
to give us time. Your blatant disregard for over half of Americas feelings is
exactly why we are upset.
“There is a sacredness in tears.
They are no the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than
ten thousand tongues.They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep
contrition, and of unspeakable love.” – Washington Irving