Come on America. You vote for, perhaps, the most loathsome excuse of a human being ever born in the Milky Way, then have the nerves to talk a lot of bullshit about how Kamala Harris gave the election way. Stop it, I say. You’re way the hell off base, as this election was, aside from being laced with strong traces of sexism, mostly about race. As is just about everything else in these here United States. And Donald J. Trump, who considers himself a member of the Master Race, rallied, at an historic pace, massive numbers of racist White folks, especially the poorest and most hardworking among them, people who have been drowning in rage ever since the civil rights movement of the 60’s gave Black people and other people of color a little uplift, a wee rise from our country’s cellar. And, oh, America, you can’t imagine how nice it has been just having these yahoos quieted and subdued for more than a decade or two. And then comes along a Grand Dragon of a man who gives these bigots the oxygen they needed to once again be able to act like they used to when displays of racial antagonism were common place, “The Good Old Days” when America, according to them, was great, going backwards in time to when Africans were enslaved in the colonies before the nation’s inception, times that gave birth to the idea that has been ingrained in poor struggling White people’s minds that no matter how bad life was for them, they’re better off than the people with dark skins, even though they were held as slaves and indentured servants too, and because they were so into such thinking they avoided taking a part in endeavors such as trying to abolish enslavement, marching for jobs and freedom, working to end anyone having to sit at the back of the bus. If they had ridden with the Freedom Riders all of our citizens would be living more hopeful lives. And now, here in the 21st Century, they’ve committed their latest sin, rallying behind a madman’s fantasy to make the world bow to him, vowing to them that he will subject immigrants in our nation to mass deportation, keeping them from being replaced, from being the minority, an assurance they covet because they know how inhumanely folks in this category have been treated for centuries, not the least bit of the understanding that we people of color have been and still are way too busy trying to make it in this society to even consider seeking revenge, especially when what we’ve tried to achieve has always been grounded in love, love of ourselves and others and our country. And I can’t help but wonder how these folks are going to conduct themselves when their boy, very soon, begins making all of our citizens’ lives hell, thinking of only himself, leaving citizens of our nation of every stripe the task of making things right. Will they finally, then, since they, essentially, hold the key to what, eventually, happens to us as a citizenry, cast aside their racist ways, and help seekers of freedom keep our democracy alive? The way matters are right now, this might be the question of our lives.
Ernie McCray is an activist for love and peace who acts and sings and writes both poetry and prose, a man who rises each day to do whatever he can, no matter how small or grand, to make the world better in some way.
Unapologetically.