Election Breakdown

 Hello and sorry I'm late...! I'm sure we're all breathing a little easier after the results of the election came in, after a few weeks or months (or years?) of tensely waiting for the opportunity to vote out our immoral golfer in chief. It was, as a friend put it, a life or death election and I see nothing wrong with celebrating the fact that we as a nation chose life. 

Of course, I can't just pass up an opportunity to add some race-related commentary! Let's start with the voting statistics themselves. First, all people of every color voted overwhelmingly (more than 60%) for Biden. And based on the electoral college system, people of color saved America in key states like Arizona (Navajo nation), Pennsylvania and Georgia (Stacey Abrams, among who knows how many unnamed Black organizers). Thanks also to all the unnamed and, in some cases undocumented, immigrants who translated ballots and voter information for their families, community members, social media followers, etc.

Incidentally, I find it flat out offensive that white people, especially those who identify as liberals, are still harping on the fact that "so many" Latinos or "so many" Black men voted for Trump, or "against their own best interests". I'll explain.
1. A statistically insignificant number of people of color voted for Trump compared to the TENS OF MILLIONS of white people who voted for Trump. Why isn't that number making the headlines? Have we fallen so low as a society that it's acceptable that all these white people voted against humanity, never mind their own best interests?
2. People of color are not a monolith. Some people of color wanted to vote against Biden because of what Obama did to their home countries. Some people of color are evangelical Christians (thanks to white colonialism). Some people of color come from conservative countries regardless of white colonialism. Some people of color benefited from Trump's tax breaks in the time of covid. Some people of color don't understand much English and were taken advantage of/lied to. For some people, these issues outweigh the racism, xenophobia, immigration barriers, etc. This leads me to:
3. Being white and/or having a college degree does not mean you know or get to decide what someone else's best interests are. So you can sit around and sneer "why the f would they do that?!!???!?!?!?" or you can sit around and say "hm, I wonder what Trump said or did that appealed to them? If I listen to their needs, I can try to address them and contribute to making a better society for everyone.".

If you were wondering, yes, I do think that last statement needs to apply to white Trump supporters. After listening to countless (predominantly white) Trump supporters on the radio since he first ran for president in 2016, it's been clear to me that they are feeling backed into a corner. What is Trump saying that appeals to them? Mexicans are rapists and murderers. The Chinese are stealing our jobs, and giving us kung flu. We'll protect you if your religion hates gay people. Don't bow down to socialist healthcare. We'll only let 15,000 refugees into this country. Don't let Black people take away your police! Law and order, folks! And of course the way he says it appeals, too - more often than not, his supporters will talk over the other interviewees and moderators etc in a way that implies that they're right and everyone else is beneath them, even when they're lying. I've gotten so frustrated, I've had to shut my radio off. 

That being said, the hatred needs to be addressed. A critical mass of people living in this country are living in fear because Trump has made us a scapegoat. So how are you going to address this? Writing postcards around the election was touted as this great thing that you could do to make a difference, but I want to know how many of you wrote postcards to people outside your political party, and how many of you wrote postcards about something uplifting or humanizing, and not voting. And I do support using mail, because we need to support the USPS and we need to remain covid conscious (to make up for all the people who are NOT being covid conscious). But it seems to me like the White Liberal cares more about Black and marginalized votes than they care about Black and marginalized lives. And if that's true then what are you going to do to fix that, and if it's not true then what are you going to do to prove it?

Thanks for reading, and please stay safe and sensible around the holidays. "Killing everyone off with covid" is not a viable solution for racism.