Congratulations White America, you just elected a president who is on trial for rape, has been proven to be racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, and an all around disgusting human being. I hope you all our proud of yourselves. While you’re at it, I hope you are ready to explain to every Black, Latinx, Queer, Muslim, and immigrant “friend” how you care more about your white privilege than you do about their lives. Good luck with that. We will all be waiting.
I am a first generation American. My parents came here in 1989 from Rwanda to this country that boasts about being ‘The Land of the Free’. There are no two people in my life who worked harder to get where they are than my parents. I have listened to my dad talk about the racism and obstacles he faced going through his PhD and teaching at different universities. I have watched my late mother go through her Bachelor’s and Master’s while raising kids, only to be turned down for jobs and be discriminated against. I have seen the judgmental stares, heard the condescending questions, felt the hostility that this great country has offered to us. But yes, this is the land of the free. The melting pot. The most diverse and accepting country of the world. And yet I hear many people mocking immigrants and disrespecting them when they all just want the same opportunities that were given to you so freely.
I am a black women. A category that has been the most disrespected for as long as we’ve been around.
I’m not going to even list every single instance where I’ve been made to feel like I don’t belong. But from the time I was 6 years old, I was made very aware that I am black, and I do not belong. 6 years old. I have been judged for everything from my looks, to my hair, to the ethnic clothes I would proudly bring to elementary school for show and tell. And to this day I still face judgment and discrimination no matter where I go. And let’s not even factor in the fear I have for my two younger brothers that have also experienced as much if not more than I have. Constantly looking behind our backs wondering if we’re next.
I am bisexual. I have never really announced it or felt the need to project it, but I cannot continue to hide a part of myself when I see what’s going on. So let’s add that to the list of things working against me. I watched with the rest of the world on June 12, 2016 as 100+ of my fellow LGBT members were either killed or wounded because of who they are. I have heard how my life and others lives are a sin, how we are going to hell, and how we don’t deserve the same rights as others. I watched us finally get the same basic right you all have to marry who you choose. Yet here you are electing a President and Vice President who will destroy all of that.
From the age of 6, I have watched how this country really treats minorities. How one thing is being said, the but images really speak for themselves. How justice never works in our favor. How we are ridiculed for being proud of our cultures and religions, but are used as costumes, as new trends, as props. How misguided youth and millennials laugh in our faces and make jokes out of our lives for social media. I watched as a local mosque was vandalized with the words ‘Trump’ and people feared for their safety. This was this election has done. This is what Trump has done. The true colors of America have been shown. All those lies you spewed, about my life mattering, being an ‘intersectional feminist’, caring about POC, wanting LGBT to have equal rights, we have seen the truth. To those of you who voted against your own interests, specifically white women, shame on you. You just voted for somebody who wants to grab your p***y and think it’s okay to sexually harass women. I’m really seeing the feminism you all were spouting.
You cannot begin to understand the amount of fear millions of people are facing. Whether they are Black, Hispanic, LGBT, Muslim, undocumented, etc. there is that same fear for our lives every single day. And the fact that we now have somebody who has disrespected all those categories multiples times as our president, the fact that we have somebody who thinks shock therapy should be used on gays and has done so many other horrible things as our vice president is disheartening. White America you just gave the biggest slap in the face to a lot of us. While you smile in our faces, and tell us that we matter, you went ahead and voted for the two people who really don’t care about any of us. You voted for someone who thinks there should be a wall. You voted for a rapist. You voted for someone who thinks blacks have “nothing to lose”. You voted for someone who from someone to wants to remove people who have come here hoping for a better life. You voted from someone who has voiced how he really feels about women on multiple accounts. Congratulations. Thank you for telling us that we really don’t matter. And for those of you who think we are overreacting, when you’ve dealt with half the things some of us have dealt with, then we can talk. But until then, enjoy the fact that you just told us we don’t belong, and our lives don’t really matter.
