America, How Could You?
With Trump's election, it's hard not to feel like the world is filled with hatred and prejudice. Even if you hope that the majority of Trump's disgraceful and painful words were but a strategy that will not become part of policy, the coldest, hardest reality is that a rhetoric of such a despicable nature has triumphed. Without taking into account the fiasco that is the electoral college, the fact is that 59,535,522 Americans responded to a racist, xenophobic, misogynist, ableist campaign. Seeing the choices with which Trump is claiming he will fill his cabinet, hope is quickly fading.
Even though the number of the Latino votes he received is still disputed, I am appalled by the fact that any Latino could vote for him. Are you ashamed of your roots? Or what could possibly drive you to vote for a man who calls us rapists and criminals? He refers to a drug problem and the violence that comes with supplying it, but conveniently omits demand from the equation. Mexico is being bled dry and no one speaks of the fact that the demand the US has for illegal drugs plays an imperative role in this tragic situation which plagues both countries. Listening to him say “bad hombres” in that terrible accent was truly sickening. The way he reduces us to the most degrading stereotypes and fails to acknowledge all that Mexican immigrants contribute to your country is shameful.
Image Credit: Teresa Segovia
A country founded on immigration that ironically has turned out to be so xenophobic has truly disappointed many of us. We’ve looked up to you for the longest time: whether it was the love of old Hollywood's Humphrey Bogart, Duke Ellington's jazz, Woody Allen's neurosis, Harvey Milk's courage, Frank Sinatra's voice, Michael Jordan's drive or Martin Luther King Jr.'s wisdom, the world has had a certain love affair with America. The generalized representation by which we've so poorly misjudged you.
I remember being in an American middle school in 2008 when we ran through the halls screaming out "Obama!", overjoyed and proud that you were leading the world into a righteous and just place. We felt that you left the dreadful history your country suffered behind, and we could finally be proud to be part of this world, because let's face it the US has a very powerful position and regardless of our nationality this loss affects us all. Not to mention the state of emergency in which our planet currently finds itself.
I got goosebumps when I heard Michelle Obama say, “when they go low, we go high." As much as we were lifted up by the Obamas' ideals (regardless of their politics), we fell further into misery and despair with this horrifying defeat. In such a historical election, Trump's campaign delivered a reduced narrative of fear, failing to encourage people to become informed and buying the simplest story purely based on emotions rather than logic. An agenda which promoted hate and fueled prejudice. It's difficult for me to wrap my brain around the fact that you let this happen. Even if you had reservations about Hillary Clinton, how could you allow this man to come into power? What you've demonstrated at the election misrepresents the image of freedom you try to display.
I've seen the horrors of this election as closely as the next person and I wonder why people entertain themselves by releasing negative energy at the cost of strangers they've reduced to words. The loss of human dignity begins by blaming others for failures who's ownership belongs to the masses opposed to progress and change. Political journalism has failed to keep up with the rapid changes in the world, and we will all suffer the consequences of a truly divided and retrograde mandate that will have massive global repercussions. To the ones that voted for him, to the ones that didn't even vote, how could you?
