To the People Saying We’ll Survive Trump

Image Description: Crowd of people standing and a few are holding signs. One sign reads, “this is not okay,” and the other sign reads, “fear…” and the rest of the sign is unreadable.

[TW: discussions of, and references to racism, Islamophobia, colonization, xenophobia, racialized violence, transphobia and other queerphobia, misogyny, sexual violence, ableism, and various types of hate crimes and bigotry]

This is to all the people telling members of various disadvantaged and oppressed groups to “calm down,” that we all just need to “come together,” and that if conservatives “survived Obama,” we’ll “survive Trump:”

SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP.

Do not fucking tell us to calm down. We’re entitled to feel however the hell we feel. Do not tone police our reaction to President Toddler Hitler-lite. You have no idea where we’re coming from, and you clearly are not bothering to try to understand our very precarious situation. You’re blinded by your own privilege, so shut it.

And don’t you dare tell us we need to come together with Trump and his supporters. We are not obligated to unite with people who hate us, are bigoted toward us, and who terrify us. Trump and his supporters don’t get to be raging xenophobic, misogynistic, racists for a year and a half and then expect everyone they hate to be all hunky-dory and just fall in line. Fuck that!

How hell do you not understand that asking a person of color to set aside their own rights and well-being to make peace with a white supremacist is a giant slap in the face? Or how expecting Muslims, immigrants, or refugees to forget about all the hate and discrimination they faced from Trump and his supporters for the sake of your personal comfort is just plain heartless? Or how simply asking the LGBTQIA+ community to overlook the fact that Mike Pence and many Trump supporters think it’s perfectly acceptable to torture the f*ggot out of queer kids may cause actual trauma? Seriously, where the hell do get off asking these things of people?

Do not tell us we’ll live or we’re overreacting, because here is a list of people who will literally not survive the Trump-Pence administration:
1. Black folx and other PoC who will face increased racialized violence from police and white p*wer groups.
2. Native North Americans and Indigenous people whose land, water, and other resources will be polluted and stolen by the government and corporations.
3. Latinx people who will be racially profiled by ICE, many of whome will be illegally detained in inhumane facilities.
4. Undocumented immigrants who will likely be hunted down, rounded up into concentrated areas (does this sound vaguely familiar?), and deported.
5. Muslims who will be stigmatized even further, face an increased threat of violent hate crimes, be racially profiled by law enforcement, and who may have to register as Muslims (you know, like Jewish people in pre World War II Germany).
6. Refugees who will not be granted asylum in the U.S. Refugees who are running for their lives and have no where to go.
7. People with mental illnesses, disabled folx, and those who otherwise depend on state assistance for lifesaving healthcare.
8. People with pre-existing health issues and anyone else that relies on the regulations set forth in the ACA to obtain lifesaving health insurance coverage.
9. Any person who needs, or will need, access to affordable reproductive healthcare, including contraception, abortions, STI testing, reproductive-related cancer screenings, etc.
10. Trans and genderqueer folx who need accessible, legal avenues to change the gender identity on their legal documents (birth certificates, passports, state-issued photo IDs, etc.)
11. LGBTQIA+ folx who need access to safe transitional housing, to mental healthcare, to legal protections for their civil rights, and who will face increased rates of hate crimes.

If you don’t believe me, check out the links below. There are reports of trans suicides, racial violence, and violence against Muslim women.

And do not compare our terror and protests of Trump’s presidency to people’s animosity toward President Obama. Most people were angry about Obama’s presidency because they were racist. A few people may have simply been upset their candidate didn’t win, but let’s be honest, most of them were just racist assholes.

Those of us freaking out about Trump aren’t doing so because we’re sore losers, or because we’re bigoted assholes who are scared of losing our privilege. We’re freaked out because we know we’re about to face a living nightmare of hate crimes, police violence, and a loss of civil rights. We’re not shitty because other people might take a few steps toward equity and social justice, thereby narrowing the gaps in our social hierarchy and reducing our own privilege. We’re shitty because we’re about to take a giant step backward.

So yeah, sit your damn ass down and shut the fuck up!
Preston, Dominic. “Reports claim ‘at least 8’ trans youth died by suicide after Trump’s win,” Pink News. Nov. 10, 2016. http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/11/10/reports-claim-at-least-8-trans-youth-committed-suicide-after-trumps-win/

Boyer, Ashley. Facebook Post screenshot via Kat Blaque. Nov. 10, 2016. https://www.facebook.com/kat.blaque.5/posts/1218259301582221

@Toure. Tweet screenshot via Shaun King Facebook page. Nov. 11, 2016. https://www.facebook.com/shaunking/photos/a.799605230078397.1073741828.799539910084929/1195912750447641/?type=3&theater

Processing Trump’s Impending Presidency

Image Description: A photo of Donald Trump, a white man, from the shoulders up. The photo is tinted orange and the background is a fire-y wasteland with thunderclouds looming above.

I have been feeling so many things after November 8th. My head is spinning, I have no idea what I should do, I don’t even know if there is anything I can do, and I’m scared. Writing about it is really the only way I can process my emotions. So, how am I feeling?

I feel simultaneously guilty and betrayed.

I feel guilty that white America did this to Black Americans, immigrants, Muslim Americans, Latin Americans, and Native Americans and Indigenous people. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t personally vote for Trump, or even that my state’s electoral votes went to Secretary Clinton. I know some of my white family and friends probably voted for Trump. While it is conceited to think I can solve racism myself, as a white person, I am partially responsible for maintaining our white supremacist society that allowed someone like Trump to be elected. I didn’t do enough to combat racism. I also realize my whiteness affords me even more protection and privilege than it did a few days ago.

But I also feel betrayed. I feel betrayed as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I feel betrayed as a feminine of center person, and I feel betrayed as a young person who will have to live the majority of their life in a post President Trump world cleaning up this shit. I look around me at the people I know and I can’t help but wonder which of them voted for Trump. Which of them hate people like me and my Black girlfriend enough to elect Toddler Hitler-lite? Which of them have secretly been bigoted toward me? Which of them am I not safe around? I know none of them filled out their ballots specifically thinking about how they were finally getting to stick it to me personally, but that doesn’t really make a difference. I know those in my life who voted for Trump, one of the most obviously racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, queerphobic, sexual predators that have run for public office in my lifetime, hate me.

I feel terrified.

I know I should remain calm and focus on the good things in my life, but I am paralyzed by fear right now. I have this dreadful feeling that my country is turning into a nightmare for people like me. I have a feeling my only options are to fight or flee, and I don’t know if I have it in me to fight.

I feel like I must either become a die hard activist, or move to another country. Honestly, moving to Canada is a feasible option for me, and it’s looking pretty good right now. Otherwise, I feel like I have no choice but to dedicate my entire life to activism. I just don’t know if I’m the kind of person who can make that sacrifice. People lose their jobs for being political activists… People go to jail for being activists… People are killed for being activists.

I know it’s selfish of me to want to take my girlfriend and move to Canada. I know the moral high ground is in the fray with the other activists, protesting, writing, speaking out, and hiding undocumented folx in our attics. But just the thought of such a long, uphill fight for civil rights exhausts me. The self-centered, scared-shitless part of me just wants to run away.

And it’s not just the thought of a Trump presidency that scares me, but the shear number of hateful, bigoted people who evidently live and vote in this country. I don’t want to live in the same county as them; I don’t want to have anything to do with them.

I feel angry.

I’m angry at the people who voted for Trump. I’m angry at the politicians and public figures who endorsed him. I’m angry the media gave him a platform. I’m angry at third party voters and those who chose not to vote (not those who couldn’t vote) for throwing their votes away instead of voting for a woman. (Let’s not pretend sexism wasn’t a major factor in this election.) I’m angry at the men who supported for Trump because he made them feel better about their own sexism and rape-y tendencies.  I’m angry at the white women who supported Trump because they’d rather maintain their white privilege than vote in line with their own interests. I’m angry at the immense selfishness of the [predominately white and/or male] American voter. I’m angry that so many people in this country do not care about disadvantaged minorities, or outright hate them.

And I feel deflated. 

A big part of me just wants to give up. I hate people, and I don’t know where to go from here.