CW: rape, sexual harassment, conversion therapy, AIDS, serophobia, homophobia, misogyny, racism, transphobia, mention of vomit, war, forced pregnancy, guns, tear gas, bombs, violence, alcohol, drugs, family, homelessness, abuse, ableism, terrorism, suicide
Well. I thought it was time to address this. Some things are important enough to break hiatus for.
For those of you who didn't know: the United States had its presidential election last Tuesday. There were two main candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Clinton, an amazingly progressive longtime politician and possibly the most qualified presidential candidate in history, lost to a racist, sexist, homophobic cheeto (I'm serious - if you somehow haven't seen Trump in the news, look him up on Google Images) with no political experience whatsoever, who has admitted to sexually assaulting several women, has a running mate who wants LGBT kids subjected to electroshock therapy, is planning to build a wall between the US and Mexico and force Mexico to pay for it, is endorsed by the KKK, and wants all Muslims (and probably Sikhs, because everyone fucking knows that racist bastards don't know the difference) to register in some kind of government database because apparently all Muslims and only Muslims are terrorists. Somehow.
And on the same day, I realized that I probably should have called in sick to work because, the entire time, I was so scared that I felt like I was going to throw up and couldn't focus on anything, which resulted in my register ending up six dollars short because I fucked up giving people their change. I'm not going to be fired, but I might be written up.
Ahem.
If you don't know much about American government, the good news is that Trump and his vice president-elect, Mike Pence, are far from dictators. The American government is run by three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, and each branch keeps the power of the other two in check.
The bad news is, Trump will, come this January, have access to nuclear codes, be the Commander-in-Chief of the US Military, and be able to appoint justices to the Supreme Court. Who can do shit like maybe overturn Roe vs. Wade and who will be in power for the next several decades. The other bad news is, the presidency isn't the only political position that was chosen last Tuesday. And thanks to the results of the election, Republicans (the political party known for destroying the economy and hating poor people, women, non-Christians, LGBT people, disabled people, immigrants, and people of color) now control all three branches of government.
Also, the US president can be reelected once. That means that, in most cases, the president will be in power for a maximum of eight years. However, if the vice president takes over halfway through the president's second term, they can be in office for a maximum of ten years.
And since Trump, who is more than repulsive enough on his own, is a political buffoon, Pence will probably be running things from behind the scenes. Which means that we will have a maximum of sixteen years with Mike Pence running the country. Anyone who's old enough to remember Reagan? Imagine that happening again, and that's what the US - and the rest of the world - is looking at.
Our only hope at this point is the members of the electoral college. They don't officially cast their votes until December, and while they rarely vote against the majority of the people they represent, they're technically allowed to do so. But I have two concerns about that:
Well. I thought it was time to address this. Some things are important enough to break hiatus for.
For those of you who didn't know: the United States had its presidential election last Tuesday. There were two main candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Clinton, an amazingly progressive longtime politician and possibly the most qualified presidential candidate in history, lost to a racist, sexist, homophobic cheeto (I'm serious - if you somehow haven't seen Trump in the news, look him up on Google Images) with no political experience whatsoever, who has admitted to sexually assaulting several women, has a running mate who wants LGBT kids subjected to electroshock therapy, is planning to build a wall between the US and Mexico and force Mexico to pay for it, is endorsed by the KKK, and wants all Muslims (and probably Sikhs, because everyone fucking knows that racist bastards don't know the difference) to register in some kind of government database because apparently all Muslims and only Muslims are terrorists. Somehow.
And on the same day, I realized that I probably should have called in sick to work because, the entire time, I was so scared that I felt like I was going to throw up and couldn't focus on anything, which resulted in my register ending up six dollars short because I fucked up giving people their change. I'm not going to be fired, but I might be written up.
Ahem.
If you don't know much about American government, the good news is that Trump and his vice president-elect, Mike Pence, are far from dictators. The American government is run by three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, and each branch keeps the power of the other two in check.
The bad news is, Trump will, come this January, have access to nuclear codes, be the Commander-in-Chief of the US Military, and be able to appoint justices to the Supreme Court. Who can do shit like maybe overturn Roe vs. Wade and who will be in power for the next several decades. The other bad news is, the presidency isn't the only political position that was chosen last Tuesday. And thanks to the results of the election, Republicans (the political party known for destroying the economy and hating poor people, women, non-Christians, LGBT people, disabled people, immigrants, and people of color) now control all three branches of government.
Also, the US president can be reelected once. That means that, in most cases, the president will be in power for a maximum of eight years. However, if the vice president takes over halfway through the president's second term, they can be in office for a maximum of ten years.
And since Trump, who is more than repulsive enough on his own, is a political buffoon, Pence will probably be running things from behind the scenes. Which means that we will have a maximum of sixteen years with Mike Pence running the country. Anyone who's old enough to remember Reagan? Imagine that happening again, and that's what the US - and the rest of the world - is looking at.
Our only hope at this point is the members of the electoral college. They don't officially cast their votes until December, and while they rarely vote against the majority of the people they represent, they're technically allowed to do so. But I have two concerns about that:
- Even if every single elector votes against Trump, will it be enough to deny him the presidency?
- Clinton conceded already. I'm fairly new to voting, but doesn't that mean she basically forfeited? Would she even be able to be president now? This is a serious question.
What all of this means is that we might be looking at World War Three and also America turning into a sci fi dystopia, possibly reminiscent of Panem from The Hunger Games.
And even if Trump and Pence can't do any of the disgusting, mostly illegal things they intend to, their supporters are going to - and, only two and a half days after the election results were revealed, already have - see that Trump won the election, even against popular vote. They're going to see that they can sexually harass and assault women, that they can physically attack and institutionalize LGBT and disabled people, and that they can shoot and tear gas and bomb Muslims and Jewish people and PoC. They're going to see that they can get away with it, because half the country is behind them.
Until Trump is sworn in, our biggest enemies are the people around us. The cishet white male classmates I kind of want to punch because it's so infuriating to me that they don't understand why people are protesting and are angry and afraid. The neighbors who made racist jokes about Obama when he was elected, then tell us that we have to respect the new president. The grown men who catcall underage girls while they're walking home from high school, still wearing their backpacks or uniforms. The special ed teachers who claim to support disabled people (or "people with disabilities" as one of them once corrected me when I referred to myself as disabled), but then donate to Autism Speaks. The cis men who make rape jokes, think that women who drink or do drugs or wear skimpy clothing are "asking for it", and voted for a rapist for president, but have the nerve to stereotype trans women as sexually predatory. The straight cis people and cis aroaces who sexualize everything LGBT people do or say. The cishet aces, cishet aros, and cis aroaces who see LGBT Americans facing the possibility of being shocked into cis heterosexuality and arrested for applying for a marriage license, and yet still dare to appropriate our slurs, take up space in our community, deny our history, demand usage of our desperately needed resources, and insist that a Trump victory will harm them the way it will us.
Ever since I found out that Trump won, I've been making plans to protect myself and others. Tomorrow, I'm going shopping for pepper spray. Since my appearance is pretty stereotypically butch, I'll wear hats when possible to cover up the shaved side of my head. I'll volunteer at a soup kitchen or warming center or homeless shelter. I'll be very careful about who I come out to, how I talk about women, and where and when I wear my binder. Maybe fake a crush on a guy to avoid suspicion. Force myself to make eye contact and not stim in public, if necessary. Since most of my friends are PoC, disabled, female, GNC, LGBT, Muslim, Jewish, or some combination of the above, it might be a good idea if we got together and set up some sort of system to keep in touch. If I have a girlfriend by January, I'm going to call her my friend and not kiss her when we're in public. And I'm definitely not introducing her to my family, not when most of them are Republicans and several think my gender and sexuality are sinful and evil.
After all, roughly half the adults I encounter voted for a president who opposes my right to get married and who thinks I should be punished if I have an abortion and who used a mass shooting against my community as a chance to spew islamophobia and who has said that some of the best people I know are rapists and drug dealers and terrorists, and for a vice president who thinks I should be subjected to electroshock therapy until I'm straight and cis.
If they would do that, why should I believe they wouldn't do worse?
To conclude:
If you voted for Trump, fuck you. If you voted third party or willfully didn't vote, fuck you. I hope you'll remember this election when your undocumented neighbor is deported and forced to leave their five-year-old kid behind or your gay nephew is forced through conversion therapy or your HIV+ cousin is denied healthcare or your partner is forced to carry a pregnancy to term (something that the UN defines as torture) or your disabled sibling loses their healthcare or your Muslim coworker stops wearing her hijab because she's afraid of being killed for it.
If you're thinking of harming yourself because you are the undocumented neighbor or the gay nephew or the HIV+ cousin or the pregnant partner or the disabled sibling or the Muslim coworker, and you know very well how fucked you are, please don't. You are precious and deserve to live and love. Donald Trump is in his seventies, he's got thirty years left at the most. Outlive him, if only out of spite.
Look at Republicans pulling hijabs and turbans off Muslims and Sikhs and grabbing women's asses and screaming at Latinxs to go back to Mexico. Look at how utterly disgusting they are, and show radical kindness to people in pain because you are so much better than they could ever hope to be.
Save each other's lives. Give money to the homeless man on the corner and don't worry what he's going to use it for. Intervene when someone is harassing a trans woman. Sit next to a Muslim or black person on the bus when it looks like some white fuck is about to get in their face. Volunteer. Donate to charity if you can. Even if all you can do is smile at a stranger, do so. Anything helps.
Show radical kindness to yourself too, and engage in self-care.
And if that doesn't convince you to live, here are some suicide hotlines:
Suicide Prevention Lifeline
suicide.org
Snopes Crisis Textline
txt4life
Now Matters Now Helpline
Hotline List from dosomething.org
Lifeline Crisis Chat
Until Trump is sworn in, our biggest enemies are the people around us. The cishet white male classmates I kind of want to punch because it's so infuriating to me that they don't understand why people are protesting and are angry and afraid. The neighbors who made racist jokes about Obama when he was elected, then tell us that we have to respect the new president. The grown men who catcall underage girls while they're walking home from high school, still wearing their backpacks or uniforms. The special ed teachers who claim to support disabled people (or "people with disabilities" as one of them once corrected me when I referred to myself as disabled), but then donate to Autism Speaks. The cis men who make rape jokes, think that women who drink or do drugs or wear skimpy clothing are "asking for it", and voted for a rapist for president, but have the nerve to stereotype trans women as sexually predatory. The straight cis people and cis aroaces who sexualize everything LGBT people do or say. The cishet aces, cishet aros, and cis aroaces who see LGBT Americans facing the possibility of being shocked into cis heterosexuality and arrested for applying for a marriage license, and yet still dare to appropriate our slurs, take up space in our community, deny our history, demand usage of our desperately needed resources, and insist that a Trump victory will harm them the way it will us.
Ever since I found out that Trump won, I've been making plans to protect myself and others. Tomorrow, I'm going shopping for pepper spray. Since my appearance is pretty stereotypically butch, I'll wear hats when possible to cover up the shaved side of my head. I'll volunteer at a soup kitchen or warming center or homeless shelter. I'll be very careful about who I come out to, how I talk about women, and where and when I wear my binder. Maybe fake a crush on a guy to avoid suspicion. Force myself to make eye contact and not stim in public, if necessary. Since most of my friends are PoC, disabled, female, GNC, LGBT, Muslim, Jewish, or some combination of the above, it might be a good idea if we got together and set up some sort of system to keep in touch. If I have a girlfriend by January, I'm going to call her my friend and not kiss her when we're in public. And I'm definitely not introducing her to my family, not when most of them are Republicans and several think my gender and sexuality are sinful and evil.
After all, roughly half the adults I encounter voted for a president who opposes my right to get married and who thinks I should be punished if I have an abortion and who used a mass shooting against my community as a chance to spew islamophobia and who has said that some of the best people I know are rapists and drug dealers and terrorists, and for a vice president who thinks I should be subjected to electroshock therapy until I'm straight and cis.
If they would do that, why should I believe they wouldn't do worse?
To conclude:
If you voted for Trump, fuck you. If you voted third party or willfully didn't vote, fuck you. I hope you'll remember this election when your undocumented neighbor is deported and forced to leave their five-year-old kid behind or your gay nephew is forced through conversion therapy or your HIV+ cousin is denied healthcare or your partner is forced to carry a pregnancy to term (something that the UN defines as torture) or your disabled sibling loses their healthcare or your Muslim coworker stops wearing her hijab because she's afraid of being killed for it.
If you're thinking of harming yourself because you are the undocumented neighbor or the gay nephew or the HIV+ cousin or the pregnant partner or the disabled sibling or the Muslim coworker, and you know very well how fucked you are, please don't. You are precious and deserve to live and love. Donald Trump is in his seventies, he's got thirty years left at the most. Outlive him, if only out of spite.
Look at Republicans pulling hijabs and turbans off Muslims and Sikhs and grabbing women's asses and screaming at Latinxs to go back to Mexico. Look at how utterly disgusting they are, and show radical kindness to people in pain because you are so much better than they could ever hope to be.
Save each other's lives. Give money to the homeless man on the corner and don't worry what he's going to use it for. Intervene when someone is harassing a trans woman. Sit next to a Muslim or black person on the bus when it looks like some white fuck is about to get in their face. Volunteer. Donate to charity if you can. Even if all you can do is smile at a stranger, do so. Anything helps.
Show radical kindness to yourself too, and engage in self-care.
And if that doesn't convince you to live, here are some suicide hotlines:
Suicide Prevention Lifeline
suicide.org
Snopes Crisis Textline
txt4life
Now Matters Now Helpline
Hotline List from dosomething.org
Lifeline Crisis Chat
Apparently a new social justice movement is going on called the safety pin movement and you wear a safety pin on your clothes to lgbt ppl/poc/women/disabled people/religious minorities/etc know that they can count on you to help them and intervene on their behalf if they're being harassed or threatened. So if you want a chance to help people, you might want to join in that!
ReplyDeleteUpdate: apparently the safety pin is being co opted by white supremacists and other fascists in an attempt to hurt and take advantage of innocent, vulnerable people. So instead, wear one of those buttons that says "I'll Go With You" on it, or a #blacklivesmatter shirt, or one of those gay pride things that's like two venus symbols or two mars symbols interlocking, or some kind of well-known symbol of feminism. Something fascists would never wear no matter how much they wanted to infiltrate a social justice movement.
ReplyDelete