(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pLCDnbBEk0)
(once again, clicking on the pictures makes them bigger)
In the wake of the 2016 election, I found myself trying to escape
through music. I had my ipod on shuffle,
and a song came on that I haven’t heard in years, but listening to it brought
tears to my eyes in that moment (that moment being walking to get kerosene from
the home center. Whoops). The song was “God Help the Outcasts” from the
Disney movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pLCDnbBEk0).
I’m not a religious person, I haven’t been in years, but then again, neither
was Esmerelda in the movie, so in a way, I suppose it’s fitting.
The people who support Trump are, generally, not the people
that any policies his administration will put into place will be affected
by. The people who will be affected will
be people of color, women, LGBTQA individuals, indigenous peoples, immigrants, the
poor, people with disabilities, students, people suffering from mental illness,
non-Christians, soldiers, the press, and the children who will grow up in the
world that he will destroy with his greed and ignorance. If you do not fit into even one of those
categories, congratulations, but I guarantee someone you know, even one of your
loved ones, does, and that I guarantee that person no longer feels they can
fully trust you knowing you voted for someone who would gladly take away their
rights. The president doesn't have all the power, true, but he is backed by an administration of like-minded people -- just as greedy, and unfortunately far more experienced in the world of politics -- and was elected into Republican-majority congress. That is cause for worry.
I feel like these past few months have been like something
out of a dystopian novel. I’ve heard
serious discussions from so many people that sound like they’re straight out of
a work of fiction, or a history book.
One friend’s synagogue was vandalized, another black teenager shot or
beaten to death by police officers, more than one friend seriously considering
getting a concealed carry permit to protect themselves and their loved ones,
people having to arrange to get married to their friend in order to stay in the
country… and here, abroad, myself and so many others wondering when it will be
safe to go home.
I don’t live in America right now. If I had to, I could very well finish up my
five years in Japan and stay here, or move to another country. I am not worried about me. I am terrified for my friends and loved ones,
who do live in America. So many people I
care so deeply about cannot leave. I have
never felt so helpless in my entire life.
I feel like this is one of those situations where people often pray or
ask god for help, and I have never wanted so badly to believe in a loving god
who can and will protect people.
Instead, I can only face tomorrow with a grim sort of determination; an
over-inflated bully has somehow ended up as president of the United States of
America, and this is going to let every other bully – from the highest of
lawmakers to the lowliest of schoolyard bullies – believe that it’s okay to
treat people with disrespect (after all, a man did that all the way to
presidency, so why shouldn’t they? They
will say). These things are going to
happen, and if they do not happen to you, I urge you not to turn a blind eye when they happen to others. Stand up to them; stand up and
take the hands of the outcasts and stand together with them. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
"... I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection…” (letter from a Birmingham Jail - April 16, 1963)
I have faith that the American people – the true American people, made up of a sea
of diversities in race, religion, gender and sexual orientation, age, heritage,
and ability – are strong and kind enough to make it through these trying times. Already I have seen this love among people in so many ways, from people pitching in to raise money for a friend or even a stranger in need, a good cop saddened and outraged by the fear that the institution of law enforcement has instilled in young people of color, posts circulating the internet about what to do if you see someone harassing a woman in a hijab, a priest quietly and calmly engaging in discussion with a genuine smile on his face while so-called Christians toted neon signs preaching hate a mere fifteen feet away, friends opening their homes to friends who need a place to stay for one night or far longer, people offering their ears to listen, their hands to hold, and their hearts to love.
Perhaps we will come out of it with scars, but we will come out of it together.
Perhaps we will come out of it with scars, but we will come out of it together.
For now, and the next four years, #NotMyPresident
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(fourth picture drawn using the photo of Ieyasha Evans in “Unrest
in Baton Rouge” as reference, credit Johnathan Bachman, July 9th 2016, http://www.jonathanbachmanphotography.com/portfolio)
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