Man. This is what it feels like when we stave off fascism for just a little moment. That’s what we just did. It feels a bit surreal. A part of me is filled with joy — because we overcame. Another part of me is sad because we still have to overcome.
I’m proud of Black People. I’m especially proud of Black Women. I’m proud of Indigenous People.
I’m proud of how we showed up again in spite of the system. I’m proud because even when we must participate in a system that is acutely designed for us to not prosper, we still prosper. I love us. I’m not going to get into every single detail about the ways voter suppression has tried to stop us, because the evidence is around every corner. However, if I must point to an example, let’s look at Detroit. Trust, it is not lost on us [Black People], seeing a bunch of white Trump supporters rushing a ballot counting facility screaming at a majority of black ballot counters to ‘Stop The Count.” Can you find clearer symbolism of voter suppression than that?
And we still prevailed. I love us.
Let’s not get it twisted though: for us Black people, this was about survival. We’ve BEEN known how this country treats us, so we knew what we had to do. I’m not surprised by our resilience. That’s a given.
I’m still deeply disappointed and apprehensive though. There were what, 70 million people that still voted for DJT? I think the stat was 53% of White Women, and 54% of White Men still voted for that man? This tells me a few things. There weren’t nearly enough white allies out there working hard enough to clearly steer us away from fascism. 70 million people still decided to stand by a man who is revered by Nazi’s and white supremacists. White allies: you know these people.
Some of these people are your family. Some of them are your friends. You’re in group chats with them. You follow each other on IG and exchange emojis😍🥰💯 in the comments. You get coffee together. You talk about sports together.
If anything regarding politics comes up, you probably exchange a few sentiments about your perspective before avoiding the conversation altogether in order to save face. Any topic regarding racism, sexism, xenophobia gets obfuscated to ‘taxes’ or ‘the economy.’ The conversation ends there, and you go back to your friendship again. Then, Election Day rolls around and you vote Democrat, and your Republican friend votes Republican. You tell yourself, “well, their family leans Republican, so it was going to happen anyway. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.”
If you’re shocked and wondering why 70 million people still voted for the man who made Nazis popular again, this is why. You’re still maintaining these amicable relationships with people who endorse the invalidation of humanity of marginalized people (and that’s a light way of putting it). If this was purely about ‘taxes,’ this would be a different story, but you and I know this is not the case. People will say it’s complicated; my human rights are not.
I remember tweeting over the summer that if my white friends really wanted to be allies, they’d need to be willing and able to sacrifice some of their privilege and social capital amongst their white counterparts in order to help affect change. It’s clear a lot of y’all [White allies] did not do that. We have to call a spade a spade.
I’ve ended friendships with a lot of white people over the past four years. Some were just straight up racist, while others had not done enough self-reflection to understand how their inaction helps maintain white supremacy. It was hard, man. I had to mourn a lot of friendships. That shit is never fun. It was necessary though. I left a group chat with a bunch of former Hope Basketball guys because I knew there a couple of Trump supporters in there. On my way out, I let them know I could not be acting all cool in there, knowing there are people that still support a man who embodies racism (amongst a myriad of other things). I’m not saying it’s easy to do, but the solution is simple.
Many of you have reached out and saying that you’re disappointed in how seemingly close this election was (I say ‘seemingly’ because fuck the EC). I agree. I too, was disappointed, yet I was not surprised. Years of dealing with the ugliness of American racism has prepared me for this. For a lot of y’all, the past 4 years has finally illuminated this for you. You’re now starting encourage you to reevaluate the relationships with your friends and family. Obviously, if you have the energy, take time to help educate others and listen with compassion, but also recognize when and where you need to disengage. A lot of you have been doing the work, but are tired. Trust me, I am too. There may be people you need to cut out of your life.
Part of me is sad because I’ve accepted the fact that most of you likely still won’t do this, and in the coming years my relationships with some of my white friends will have likely faded away, especially whenever the next fascist movement comes around. It’s not that I want that to happen, but I know it will. I’ll hold on to a tiny bit of hope that maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Okay, back to this Election shit. You may have noticed that I did not mention Biden throughout this entire post until now. That’s because this Election wasn’t about him. It was about survival. Yes, it was about dignity, integrity and all that — but before anything else, it was about survival. We were celebrating in the streets because we got another chance at survival.
When you see the people on the streets across the country screaming ‘FUCK YOU DONALD TRUMP,’ it wasn’t about him. Well, yeah maybe a part of it was because he’s a piece of shit; but the reason people were saying ‘Fuck You’ with their chest was because they were rejecting the people working a system that continues to disenfranchise, marginalize, and murder us. They were rejecting the people who have been tirelessly working a system to take away our human rights. That ‘FUCK YOU’ had extra spice in it yesterday because we were saying “AHT AHT, not today.”
Lastly, I’d assume we’ve learned from these past four years that this victory does not mean we’ve ‘ended racism’ but just in case people forget, this victory does not mean we ended racism. We merely bought ourselves a wee bit of time until the next fascist movement comes around because, let’s be honest, it’s going to come back. 70 million people still voted for it, and you know who those people are. So, if you’re really down, let’s do this shit.
Now, I’m going to get involved in this Georgia senate runoff, so please join me as I figure out where to send my coins.
