Featured image by Susan Young. Follow the link for more of this artist’s work.
As the results of the election trickle in in painfully slow fashion, I listen to the rhetoric coming from both sides. As it stands now, the Republicans made gains in the house, and will likely maintain control of the senate, but will lose the White House. For the most part, I think that the majority of people will take a sigh of relief and go back to work, and try and move forward. But there are some very vocal folks looking to interpret this electoral win as a mandate for their agenda, when in reality it was the collective rejection of Trump’s attitude and demeanor.
For those who aren’t hearing the news, there is an idea floating around of a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” For brief context, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in South Africa following the end of apartheid, which was a period of institutionalized racial segregation and white supremacy giving the minority white population the highest social, political, and economic positions, followed by Asians, “Coloureds,” and lastly black Africans. This lead to mass evictions, codified racism, prohibition of interracial marriage, denial of citizenship, and thousands of deaths. It was government sponsored oppression of people based upon their racial group.
The US has had its issues with government endorsed persecution of people based upon their racial group. They represent scars upon the history of this country, brutal marks that should be looked upon in the full light of day and explained as a time that we wish never to repeat, but they should be looked at. But we are working through these issues. We are nowhere near done, and the damage still lingers, but we are making progress. In today’s United States, having separate entrances for people of color and whites would not only be sneered at, a business or entity that practiced such a thing would be actively shunned and cut off from business. Someone suggesting that people shouldn’t marry because they are of two different “races” would be decried as a bigot and would be ostracized. Many people would try and build relationships, friendships, partnerships, business deals, companies, organizations, or other social units with a wide and diverse group of friends. Not all, but many. And that is progress.
But there is a surprisingly dystopian view of the world under the Trump Administration, one that was peddled by the narrative media that says that race relations are worse than ever before and that nothing has been done since 1619 to change the status of blacks in this country. Cracking open a history book would quickly dispel these myths, but facts are pesky things that often get in the way of a good story. And what’s worse to me is that there is an active movement to return to an era of segregation and state endorsed racial division being peddled by the super progressive types. During the CHAZ/CHOP fiasco in Seattle, there were segregated gardens for BIPOC and whites, separate meeting places that were meant only for “oppressed groups,” that were guarded by the woke super-progressive whites. There is a notion that this intersectional identity crowd knew that without their help, blacks in particular, but people of color were never able to have access to power, and that only those who were willing to parrot their lines would be allowed to get the attention.
My personal view is that bad things have happened, and that they have long lasting consequences. I do not look at the world and see a bunch of racial groups. I see individuals trying to find meaning and purpose in their lives, and belonging to a larger ethnic group is one way to find community. I see people as a mixture of their choices and experiences, but ever capable of choosing a new path. I see the world not as a place of perpetual persecution and evil, but as an endless place of possibility. And those who adopt the universal values of hard work, dedication, and delayed gratification will be successful. And I specifically call them universal because cultures all over the world show these exact same values. They are not exclusive to one ethnic group or “race.”
To those who’s side is likely to take the presidency, I say please stay vigilant. Don’t allow your relief that the orange man is out of office allow you to relax. Hold Biden and Harris to the same standard you held Trump to. Be skeptical of everything. Be ever vigilant and see if he delivers on the promises that were made. And be willing to be wrong if they are not kept. I certainly will be.
And to those who’s side is likely to lose the White House, I say stay vigilant. Don’t allow your frustration at losing cloud your vision. Be willing to refine your arguments and listen to the criticisms of those who voted against you. This election wasn’t about the policies, it was about the personality. While I don’t think that personality matters if the policy is right, many did and voted the other way. You criticized the progressives for melting like snowflakes after 2016, be better in defeat and show them that you look forward not back.
And to those in the middle, who voted to see the “nightmare” end, I say stay vigilant. Understand that elections have consequences. If the coalition fractures and infighting occurs, it will reflect upon you as well. If the people clamoring for “Truth and Reconciliation Commissions” get their way, spurring arrests and violence, then it will reflect upon you.
Stay vigilant during our flirtation with collectivism and see if that redefinition of the relationship between the governing and the governed is what you want. Two years isn’t all that long, well… unless the next two years are like 2020, then it’ll be forever.
A Place 4Politics 