Hoping that love will truly trump hate

Trump protesters. Illustration based off of a photograph by Benjamin Hager of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (here).

I did not expect my second post on this blog to be about politics. But in light of recent events I feel I must say something.

My emotions tells me to write a lengthy think piece on Donald Trump and his proposed policies, yet logically I know otherwise. I have yet to fully gather my thoughts on the subject. Right now I feel the same as many other Americans: hurt, angry, shocked, disappointed, and numb all at the same time. Such strong emotions do not make for a very coherent and educated piece of writing on my part (see my ig post if you need proof). Instead of launching in to a rant about our newly elected president, I would like to throw out just a few quick statements:

I am proud of the millions of Americans who voted for Hillary. I take solace in Hillary winning the popular vote and, as a result, the proposed examination of our electoral vote system. I am proud of the people in Denver, New York, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Oakland, Las Vegas, and other cities, who flooded the streets to peacefully protest Trump's presidency (and yes, I will acknowledge some of those protests did end in violence). I am proud of all the Americans with the ability to vote who did so, even if it was not for the candidate I believed in.

But I am also tired.

I am tired of misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic, ableist, rhetoric.

I am tired of hearing middle class, heterosexual, cis-gendered, white males claim the entire country needs to work together, listen to one another, and move forward as a whole. It is a blanket statement; those words settle across the protests of others and muffle out their concerns. Trump's presidency will have a far lesser impact on the rights of white males in comparison to those of minorities, women, the GLBTQ+ community, undocumented citizens, non-Christians, and more. We cannot just
"move forward." There's much more to it than that.

I hold out hope that we–as in minority or marginalized groups within this country–can come together and support each other through the next four years. I believe we can, and will, peacefully fight for our collective rights and protect each other's liberties.

I suppose we, as a country, must move forward; but we, as the marginalized, will not let our words, rights, and actions, be smothered.

- G R A C E

P.S. This NYTimes article does a great job at explaining election frustration but also where the media and democrats went wrong: "The Deomcrats Screwed Up."

P.P.S. If you're still mourning the loss of Clinton, I highly recommend the Stuff Mom Never Told you episode, "Election Hangover." It's heartbreaking and inspiring all at the same time.