Much of this blog has been dedicated to my own personal journey–but I would be remiss if I did not speak about the toll that the latest political current events are taking on my life.
I am an educated, well-informed, white American woman.
It is because I am an educated, well-informed, white American woman that I say: I cannot sit back, in the comfort of my own, middle class home, and watch while scores of people are blatantly discriminated against. I have privilege–and it is my duty to recognize that and speak out against those who are being racist, prejudice, and ignorant. I cannot normalize it.
I won’t lie. November 9, 2016, was a very, very hard day for me. I felt–literally–ill. Sick to my stomach. Disbelieving. Scared.
As a woman who has–twice–survived sexual assault/molestation, I, for one, could simply not wrap my head around the fact that America voted for, and elected, someone who so clearly has zero respect for the dignity of women.
As a mother, I felt absolutely lost on how to explain to my children that the BULLY won the election. In our everyday lives, we constantly teach our children that the bad guy never wins. This time, we were wrong.
The days leading up to Inauguration Day were spent in denial. I would listen to NPR in the mornings, but I would often tune out as soon as I heard the words, “President Elect Trump.”
I just, still, couldn’t believe it.
I let myself hope. People around kept shouting, Just give him a chance! He might be different in office than he was on the campaign trail!
However, here we are, a mere 11 days after Inauguration Day, and I am in denial no more.
Nope.
Now, I am on fire.
In 11 days, Donald Trump has done many things that are, in my opinion, pretty damn scary.
He has banned refugees from several countries in need. Because they are Muslim. He says he will consider letting in Christians from these countries. Let that sink in.
Our president–the freakin’ leader of the free world–the leader of a country with a very clear boundary between church and state, is refusing to allow people fleeing from WAR enter our country. Unless, possibly, they can prove they believe in “our” God.
This isn’t protection. It is discrimination.
Trump has said that he is considering hand picking the reporters who are allowed into the White House press corps. Do you know what that is?
That, my friends, is censorship.
We know Trump is a narcissist. That much seems clear. He has very little regard for anyone other than himself.
But, is he also planning to become a dictator? Because that is the foreboding feeling looming in the air around me.
It cannot stand. I cannot stay silent. There is too much at stake.
For the sake of our country, our people, our Nation’s very soul, we cannot allow our democracy to shatter.
We are welcoming. We are home to many. We are a land, built on immigrants and refugees.
This, my friends, is what democracy looks like.
A Brave Mess 