In lieu of the Donald Trump becoming our new presidential elect, many celebrities such as Miley Cyrus and Gigi Hadid have come out in support of Hillary Clinton’s concession speech. Their message? America should give Trump a chance. On one hand, Trump’s presidency is inevitable. On the other hand, it’s unfair for people to expect anyone who didn’t vote for this man to give him a chance.
For one thing,Trump’s policies don’t benefit anybody but rich, white males in America.
He wants to build a wall to prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the country and he’s pro-life (with exceptions such as the life of the mother, rape, and incest). He has a history of being xenophobic, he wants same-sex marriage laws to be determined by the state, and he wants to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. It’s incredibly hard to remain positive about our future president when he’s given us absolutely nothing to be positive about. I understand that it’s easy for privileged white Americans to remain positive when this likely won’t affect them very much, but this is one of those times when privileged white Americans should step aside and let minorities and marginalized people mourn.
Nothing has changed, no one gets to dictate how people of color and other minorities react to a situation that will harm them or that has harmed them. Already a new record number of transgender people have turned to crisis and suicide prevention hotlines after this devastating election and yet “be positive” is everyone’s favorite remark? Sure, I would love to keep my generally positive outlook on life but it’s kind of hard when my mother cancels our college tours to Virginia because she fears for our safety. Or when my college counselor comes to school with a binder full of international schools for minority students to look at.
I would love to be positive except my friend’s newly engaged moms now fear that they won’t ever be able to get married. Tearful apologies and heartfelt “stay positives” aren’t going to change anything. It’s passive, and passivity is exactly what got us here. Hillary Clinton has to encourage the public to stay positive, and so does President Obama. But GiGi Hadid? No. Miley Cyrus? Nope. The celebrities who are telling minorities to stay positive all have one thing in common: privelege. So if you have that privelege then yes, be a Positive Polly. But don’t be passive and don’t try to dictate the reactions of people who aren’t as priveleged as you.
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