Why people of color can’t just ‘move on’ after Trump’s victory

The gravity of the 2008 Presidential election will always be something that sticks with me.

I was 11 years old when Barack Obama was elected to be the President of the United States. I remember coming downstairs and seeing the joy on my family’s faces. I remember them screaming, crying, celebrating. I remember looking at my Poppop, and seeing the tears coming down his face. I didn’t understand why he was crying. “Why would he be sad?” I thought. When I asked him why there were tears coming down his face, he said it was because someone that looked like him, a Black man, is now the most powerful person in the world. A Black man, who at one time in this country was not even regarded as a person, is now the President of the United States. After that night, my Poppop told me that I could be anything I wanted to be, there was nothing in my way, and that there is hope.

To call last Tuesday night a devastation is an understatement.

I feel like I have been rejected twice by America: as a woman, as a Black person … as a Black woman.

I keep seeing statuses of people saying, “Smile and move on!” and “It’s over, we just have to deal with it!”. But that’s just not the case for me.

I’m not going to move on from this

I feel vulnerable and worried for myself, my family, my friends. We cannot just move on like some people like to preach. We are not straight White men and women. We do not have the privilege of dismissing Trump’s overt racism, and moving about with our day knowing that we’ll be alright in the end. Nah, it’s just not like that for us.

The stream of terror attacks that have occurred in the past week resulting presidency is absolutely disgusting. People are pulling Muslim women’s hijabs off, torturing Black men and women as they walk to class on college campuses, spraying neo-Nazi graffiti everywhere, telling women it’s OK if they rape them, and many other disgusting acts. I can’t help but think: “Is this what Trump meant when he said, ‘Make America Great Again’?”

We are worried because Trump’s presidency makes bullies and racists feel comfortable. It was hard enough dealing with racism before. Being torn between constantly confronting people on the various microaggressions they commit, or just choosing to let it go because you are just tired of fighting. But now that the president-elect was overt with his racism, sexism, xenophobia, fascism, etc., others will think nothing of theirs. They will not care about being politically correct, or saving face; rather, they will be more emboldened to express their true feelings now more than ever.

And for those who say they’re shocked or surprised, please save it. Just look at the history of America. A nation that founded itself off of stolen land, the extermination of this land’s Natives, the enslavement of an entire race, the segregation of people based on skin color, the continued segregation of people based on skin color, and other countless hateful acts. Look at how President Barack Obama and his family were treated over the past eight years. Probably the most scandal free family to enter the White House, but the most vilified. And then we are told to by the same people who disrespected him, to turn around and respect Donald Trump because he will be our next President?

What a privilege it is to say something like that; a privilege that I will never know.

This election, probably the most monumental in history, has proved that White supremacy in America is alive and thriving. Although there is power in love, the power of hate and fear can very well outweigh it.

Even though I feel like I have lost, and I am upset, angry, hurt, petrified, I must not forget the hope that President Barack Obama gave me when he was first elected into office in 2008. Just like him, and just like my ancestors before me, I am tired; but, I will fight, and I will win.