Will America Allow 2016 to Repeat Itself?
(This piece was written before the 2020 Presidential Election took place)
2016.
Obama’s presidency is coming to an end, and the country is about to watch a dramatic presidential campaign play out before their very eyes. The candidates are in, and we are about to witness the race to find a successor to the highest position in the free world.
Barack Obama was the only president I’d ever known, becoming our first Black president when I was only three years old.
I never had an interest in politics, as the political world always seemed too complicated or too boring, but whenever Obama appeared on the screen, I listened. Not because of who he was, but because of what he had to say. I didn’t know much about the political world, but I did know this: I felt secure whenever I thought about who was sitting in that oval office.
While I constantly found myself wishing that Obama didn’t have to go, I still had faith in the American people. Even as candidate after candidate was picked off until there were only two names left on the ballot, that faith never faltered. The choice was between a passionate fighter who promised to stand by the people and their rights and a man whose main slogan was about creating an object of division.
While we are all different in our stances and beliefs, I knew that the American people would never vote for anyone but someone who would make us “a more perfect union”.
Until they did.
I think throughout all four years of Trump’s presidency, the only thing he has ever said that made me laugh was when he stated, “Nobody has done more for the black community than Donald Trump…with the exception of Abraham Lincoln.”
Most of us can agree that it’s not what he has done for the Black community, but rather what he has failed to do. However, in truth, it’s not as simple as that.
We can go as far back as 2017, when white nationalists gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia and protested against the city’s decision to take down the statue of the confederate soldier Robert E. Lee. This rally, filled with spouts of racist slurs and blazing torches, resulted in the death of a counter-proster. After this occurred, all our president had to say was: “There were very fine people on both sides.”
To him, these are just words that he has thrown around, but to me, this is the most powerful man in the nation disrespecting my people and ignoring the systematic racism killing us.
To him, when he said there were good people on both sides in the events of Charlottesville he was trying to appear “neutral”, but to me, he was refusing to denounce the actions of a hate group that actively works to target people that look like me, all so that he could get a little clap on the back from his buddies in the South.
To him, when he spoke out against several NFL players, he was defending the honor of the country, but to me, he was reprimanding those who were kneeling in solidarity with those who had been let down by the hope they had in that flag time and time again.
To him, when he says COVID-19 will simply disappear and refuses to wear a mask, he is trying to make a statement, but to me, he is turning a blind eye to the people in my community who have lost their jobs, their lives, and their loved ones due to the way this pandemic was handled.
To him, when he called the BLM protests a “symbol of hate”, he was speaking the words of a cis white man who “didn’t know any better”, but to me he he was calling the protests that arose because the people who are supposed to be protecting us are killing us like animals a symbol of hate. Because, apparently, the topic of our lives mattering is a controversial one.
Imagine living in a country that prides itself in its diversity and its popular phrase “liberty and justice for all”, but is led by a man that refuses to acknowledge the problems that are plaguing these diverse communities at every chance that he gets, including your own. Now, imagine having to endure this for four years, and going about your days with the over looming possibility that you might have to endure this for four more.
Well, I don’t have to imagine. My family and my friends don’t have to imagine. This is our reality.
These past years have shown us that President Trump does not care about communities of color until he needs their vote. If he is re-elected, we will have to experience four more years under a president who picks and chooses who he defends.
We don’t need another politician that pretends to care about us when he needs to. Trust me, we have had plenty of those. We need someone that actually does. Plain and simple.
Now, we are back where we started, with half of the ballot looking the same as it did four years ago. As the days go by and Election Day approaches it is once again time for the American people to make a choice. I just hope they make the right one this election year.
