What’s good? Trump is our next president edition

I don’t know what to tell you, fam.

America’s first Black president will have to hand over the reigns to a president who was endorsed by the KKK because this is our country now. Our next president has an impending court date for defrauding Americans via sham universities (November 28th) because this is our country now. Last month, our next president doubled down on saying he thinks five innocent Blacks kids should be executed for a crime they didn’t commit because this is our country now.

The incredibly brilliant political expert jessicaBYRD says that elections hold up a mirror to who we really are: “This is us, America. Look.” Maya Angelou says when someone shows you who they are, believe them. And if you’re a person of color, you’re probably not surprised to find out that this is who we are. We believe you, America.

Dominique Matti comes to terms with the fact that half of America hates us as people of color:

But half a nation hates me and the maps just confirmed it. I’m not safe, I’m not valued, I’m held back here. It’s a sad validation, catching America in the act. And tomorrow I have to breathe through the knowing. I have to decide how to navigate this country. I have to find a way to prosper through the fear and the aching. I have to make breakfast. I have to get dressed. I have to keep the baby calm. I have to look the coffee shop cashier in the eye, try not to wonder if she’s for or against us. I have to try not to wonder about everyone I pass. I have to try not to carry this at the forefront of my feelings. I have to try and to try and keep trying to hope, when all my hope’s run dry.

Jarrett Carter Sr. calls Tuesday’s election the “Greatest Show of Angry White Pettiness in the History of the World:”

And so deplorables, non-college degree holding men, white women and a few other people got together and stuck it to the establishment. Except, when policy meets the pocketbook, the same policies which have ravaged states like Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama will have national impact in cities and states throughout the union. No one will be able to get abortions, everyone will be able to get guns, and healthcare will be memorialized in the Obama exhibit at the African American History museum, but real policy to help wide sections of people outside of the Wall Street universe will be few and far between. But this is what we wanted. Pettiness reigns supreme. Let’s just hope it doesn’t turn into anarchy.

Zach Freshley says America let him down:

58% of white people voted for Donald Trump. I honestly can’t wrap my head around that. Statistically, that means you almost certainly know someone who did. If you live in the South like I do, you definitely know someone who did. These aren’t just “The South Will Rise Again” racists. These are the doctors, the small business owners, the Little League coaches in your communities. These aren’t just alt-right keyboard warriors. These are your neighbors, your friends, the people sitting next to you at church on Sundays. I walked into work today, and I looked around and wondered which of my coworkers voted for a guy who will be disastrous for people who look like me. I walked into the store and I wondered if the checkout clerk voted for a guy who treats women like objects. The people that walked into the voting booth and hit the button for Trump aren’t wearing white hoods and meeting in the woods at night. They’re wearing Nike running shoes and waving to you as they jog by.

I knew America hated minorities but I did not truly fathom the depth of that hatred until last night. I thought that there was some basic level of goodness and common sense that would allow us to avoid this fate. I was wrong.

Sabrina Joy Stevens is not here for your talks of peace and “togetherness” in the light of Trump’s win:

Tension is inevitable when so much is wrong in our society. But it is unconscionable to demand that the people on the receiving end of those wrongs silence ourselves in the pursuit of a false “togetherness,” and people of conscience need to remember this every time that is asked of us. We do not owe it to people who tolerate our subjugation to be quiet about it so they can feel comfortable with themselves. We owe it to ourselves, to them, to humanity as a whole to actually deal with our problems, openly, so we can solve them. Justice is the precondition for lasting, genuine peace. If you’re not ready to work for the former, you lie when you say you want the latter.

Similarly Courtney Parker West is not here for well meaning white people who are shocked Trump won:

But the real trigger has been the shock. The absolute unpreparedness. The need to proclaim this astonishment and all but out yourself as having been blind and truly unbelieving of what we already done-told you was our reality — all whilst being down for the cause.

More white people than I can count, people who are quick to profess themselves as oh-so-woke, have expressed some real shock and dismay not only at the election results, but at the racism, sexism, xenophobia, and bigotry that paved the way to those results. And this is not just me surmising what has them all up in their feelings. This is me reading their words: “I cannot believe how racist America is.” “I really never thought that bigotry would win out.” “What do I say to the people of color in my life, the LGBT people, the Muslim people…I never thought hatred would make it this far.” Dear liberal white people whom I often love: advertising your shock and surprise that racism, sexism, xenophobia, and bigotry are pervasive enough to hand that man the Presidency is a microaggression. Please stop.

Charles Lewis III wonders how folks didn’t see the “whitelash” coming:

And yet, not one of us can say we’re surprised. The GOP has finally delayed the inevitable and embraced the bile that simmered around them since Lincoln tried to talk his racist constituency that slaves were actual human beings. They found a candidate who will say out in the open what Romney would only say behind closed doors to his fellow blue bloods. They’ve found someone who is all the terrible things Black people imagine when someone White follows us around a store. Or in the street. Or in our homes. They’ve finally found the true Republican, and now we’re all stuck with him. I hope you’re proud of yourselves, GOP.

Strike that: I hope you’re proud of yourselves, WHITE AMERICA.

And lastly (and perhaps most importantly) William Fitzgerald Flood reminds us all to be kind to yourselves and to other folks of color who are having a hard time:

If you see another person of color in the street, mall, post office, say hello. Stop them and really see them. Make them feel seen and valued. It sounds like a little thing but it means so much and we simply do not do this for each other enough if at all.

Eddie Bruce-Jones put together a dope self-care playlist including Nina Simone and Sade for this occasion.

I don’t know what to tell you. Be kind to each other and to yourselves. Remember, we all we got.