This post has been long overdue, but I haven’t been able to write it because I haven’t been able to fully articulate how I feel. Truthfully, I’m still not able to, but it’s been a over a month since the election and I think I need to get it out there.
In a few months, I will be having another baby. A girl. A girl who was supposed to be born during the time when we would elect our first woman president. A girl who was “with her” since she was in the womb. Instead, she will be born a short month after a man who is probably the most UNFIT to be president will take office.
The day of the election, I was pumped. I spent 3 months working on the LatinasVotan campaign with MomsRising, and I knew what was at stake. I was (as many other people) so confident… after all, I thought, how can the racist misogynist win over the most prepared candidate ever to run?
Then, at 10 pm I fell asleep, and I woke at 2am to witness DJT claim victory, and a headline that read that Hillary Clinton, the person who has been the most qualified to ever run for office, had called him to concede. When I read that, I cried. For a few reasons. First, I wanted it to not be true. If he had declared himself a victor without a phone call, there was still a chance. I also wished she would have put up a fight. Because if she had won, I’m sure that’s what he would have done. He wouldn’t have been the bigger person for the country. He would’ve stomped his feet and complained that the election was rigged. So, I kind of wished she would’ve gone out swinging. I wish she would’ve been as obstinate as Republicans have been during the 8 years of President Obama’s presidency, obstructing him every chance they have gotten- whether or not it is good for the people of this country.
I cried because I simply couldn’t believe that in a country that was founded on people fleeing religious persecution and built on immigrants’ backs, a man that could call for banning people of one religion and calling for mass deportations was elected president.
I cried because that man has unleashed the racism that perhaps existed but that people have kept secret. It has allowed them to unleash it on every community in the United States, even in the most diverse counties and neighborhoods across the nation.
Hate crimes are reportedly up 115 percent in New York City since election day. https://t.co/h8eYyBJc4c pic.twitter.com/ildj3yhP7X
— Complex (@Complex) December 6, 2016
I cried because the man has promised to undo all the good things that have been done, and has surrounded himself with racists, anti-choice individuals (mostly men, by the way).
Then… I had a little glimmer of hope– when DJT gave his speech. His tone was much more subdued and he said he wanted to be a president for “All Americans.” So maybe it was just talk? Just a way to campaign and get people out to the polls?
That was on November 9th. Since then, cabinet positions have been announced and all we have seen is a man who is rewarding his “loyal allies” with cabinet positions, regardless of whether or not they are fit or qualified to rule (I guess this seems to be the new trend). He is surrounding himself with “Alt-right” supporters — Alt right being nothing more than a rebranding of Neo-Nazism and White Supremacy.
We have swastikas being drawn in playgrounds, Muslim women being harassed and their hijabs being ripped off… it’s heartbreaking.
Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch playground in Brooklyn vandalized with #swastika https://t.co/DpvoBXXXPR
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) November 20, 2016
The person who is going to become the 45th president is a man who thinks that the campaign and the presidency are a reality show; a man who can’t handle a Twitter account — a man who believes that he can be the Commander-in-Chief and be executive producer to a television show “in his spare time.” A man who chastised Hillary Clinton about not releasing her speeches to Wall Street bankers yet he has named quite a few banking execs to his Cabinet.
A man who is about to take reigns of the most powerful country in the world should be staying up late reading briefs about foreign policy, unemployment and maybe a report on the recent hate crimes across the United States. Instead, he is tweeting at Saturday Night Live because he’s upset that Alec Baldwin’s impression of him is unflattering.
So with a baby girl moving happily in my stomach, I have been trying to come to terms with the fact that DJT will be sworn in as president; a man who talks about having the right to grab women by the p since he is a celebrity.
EXPLAINING THE ELECTION RESULTS TO OUR CHILDREN
What more can I say? I’m still at a loss for words. I can’t even force myself to call this person the “President Elect.” It pains me deeply… but the hardest part, like Van Jones stated on Election Night, is explaining the outcome to our kids:
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So parents, what’s the game plan? We must prepare for the worst and hope for the best. We must keep resisting bigotry and racism, teaching our kids that diversity is beautiful and there is no room in our communities for hatred… because love must always win.
