Refresh.... refresh... refresh... Are we safe from tyranny or are we not? Are the marriages of my friends going to be delegitimized or not?..... Refresh.... Do women have the right to their own bodies, or are we handmaids?....Refresh.... Are we done being the laughing stock of the world, or not?.... Refresh.... Is the acceptance of hatred and rampant racism going to come to an end, or just expand?... REFRESH....Is anyone going to do anything about the rising number of COVID cases again, or not?.....
Each time the tiny map pops up on my phone, I hold my breath, hoping to see the angry red dots fading into a cool, calm blue, but so far there's rarely any change. I know there are other elections that have taken a long time to decide, but at the moment, I can't recall ever having cared. (Hanging my head in shame.) I never had a ton of interest in politics. Since the very first time I could vote, I have always voted Democrat. My experiences of moving away from home, working with a hugely diverse group of people at Disney, and living my everyday life had taught me to be pretty open-minded and for my beliefs to align more closely with liberals than conservatives. I knew voting was an important right to exercise, and I did, but honestly, I was never super invested. And yes, since my young adult years a lot has changed that would increase my level of interest in politics and the economy. I'm now married. I am now a mom. My kids go to school. Safety is important to me. I pay taxes and worry about my future and hope I can one day retire. I hope to hand down to my kids a healthy planet that is cleaner than the one they entered into. My kids have special needs that require governmental services and support. I worry about my family's health and the type of care we would get if we need it. But the number one factor that concerns me in the United States today and makes me passionate about politics, is race.
Time for another shameful confession... I was not nearly as concerned about racism as I should have been prior to adopting two Black children. Yes, I have always been against racism and have always wanted equal rights for all, but the subject of racism and inequality was never one that was all-consuming in my life. I did not know quite how deeply racism guts a person, how dehumanizing it is, until it touched the lives of my children. That's not something that is ok by any means. I am ashamed of that. The 'If-It-Doesn't-Happen-To-Me-I-Don't-Have-To-Do-Anything-About-It' attitude is one that is destroying America as we speak. I am thankful to be able to say that my husband and I are doing the work and learning more and more about using our position of privilege for good every day, (and are more than happy to help educate others around us, whether they ask us to or not!), but it shouldn't have been the burden of my Black children to be the reason that we started learning more. It shouldn't be ANY person of color's job to make you care. To make you into a decent human being. You just should care about your fellow human beings. Your fellow Americans. Just cuz. You should trust their lived experiences and their truth as though it was that if your own child's and you should help make things better with the same vigor and passion.
But, ya didn't. Almost HALF of the country decided that the lives of Black Americans weren't worth as much as those of already-privileged White Americans. Almost HALF of the country wanted to re-elect a tyrant. A bully. A racist bigot who's Islamophobia, homophobia and sexism is only trumped (pun intended) by his rampant hatred toward people of color. He showed his racist colors over and over again, for the past four years, calling Black Lives Matter members terrorists, singing the praises of White Supremacists, and calling on the Proud Boys to 'stand by'.... directly threatening the lives of all Black Americans. And still... or maybe because of that... Almost HALF of you still voted for him. Ok, ok. You don't like Biden. That's cool. I get that. You have strong feelings about the economy, or being pro-life, or our borders, that you just can't agree with a Democrat on. Ok. But you also knew what your were consenting to when you checked that Republican box in this election. You knew this wasn't a Democrat vs. Republican race. Not this time. This was a Right vs. Wrong, a Good vs. Evil, a Dictatorship vs. a Democracy race. And Almost HALF the country made the WRONG choice.
But now the race is over and Good has won, thanks mostly to Black Americans, who came out in droves to elect a new leader, and to elect the first ever female Vice President. So now what? We win, right? Battle over. Stop your whining. Let's all be friends now, right? Well I can tell you this: These were not the results I was hoping for. I wanted to see a shut out. I wanted Americans to raise one, harmonious voice to say "no more"! I wanted the numbers of people that voted against 45's hate to be undeniable, but the bumbling idiot is on camera spewing about voter fraud, law suits and not leaving the White House. You can see from the hideous smirk on his face that he is pleased with how close the race was and how many Americans are still his blind followers, even though he knows he has lost. We did NOT shut down hate. Far from it. Almost HALF of us condoned it and that kills me. In an attempt to not be a total Debbie Downer, I will of course acknowledge the massive numbers of voters that got to the polls this year. We successfully engaged young adults in politics, bringing the largest number of 18-25 year olds into the voting arena than ever before. We have taken the House and are super close to flipping the Senate. We elected Representatives and Senators of varied ethnic backgrounds, religions, sexual orientations and genders, including our first ever openly transgender state senator. And the second-in-command for our whole country is a woman. A multi-racial, kick-ass woman. That is HUGE! We did a lot of good work. There is much to be proud of.
While the race toward the Presidency is over, the race toward equality and the end of racism is just starting. We are at least playing on a more fair course that we were over the past few years, but we still have plenty of battles ahead of us. And while I too dream of a country where people can disagree on policies and politics, but still get along and still respect one another, that concept is just smoke and mirrors until we make some major strides toward racial equality. Give your Black friends and family and their White allies time to be mad. Let them be heartbroken that the race was so close. Let them feel the weight of that, and then remind them that you are there for them. Don't know how to be there for them? DO THE WORK! Learn. There are plenty of articles, books, support groups, websites and so many resources to help you learn to be the best ally you can be. Follow Black activists and artists like @ShaunKing on social media. Most importantly though, LISTEN. When your Black friends and colleagues speak and share their experiences, listen. Take it in. Don't "not ALL white people" them. Don't "well I voted Democrat" them. Don't "not me" them. Just LISTEN. Listen and learn. You don't need Black children, grandchildren, in-laws, cousins, coworkers, partners or even friends to have racism be a relevant issue to you, because the fact is this: Racism is NOT a Black person issue. It's a White person issue. It should be YOUR issue. And if it hasn't been in the past, good news!!! You can still make it your issue now! We are counting on it.
There is much to celebrate tonight. I love seeing people dancing in the streets and honking car horns, waving Biden/Harris signs in triumph. But I also know that for every person in the street celebrating, there's another one in their house somewhere, upset that the Liberals won this time and determined to slap them back down into place. Stay safe, my friends. Stay vigilant. Get in some good trouble and get to WORK. We've come so far, but we still have SO far to go.
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