I’m Not American, But...

Racism

I am not an American, but I feel the 2016 US election result like a rapier through the heart. I’m in deep mourning right now.

Why?

As someone recently told me, whether you turned out to be Jamaican, Barbadian or American depended on where the slave ship stopped.

So, yes, I feel a kinship with my African American brothers and sisters who woke up on November 9th knowing that their lives didn’t matter to the newest power elite that will be taking over the White House in January 2017.

And I feel a kinship with my LGBTQ brothers and sisters who have faced discrimination for a fact of birth, for what they are, and who wonder whether all the recent welcome advances will be rolled back.

And I feel a kinship with women who have had to fight for a still elusive equality and now face the prospect of legal repercussions from the “barefoot and pregnant” brigade.

And I feel a kinship with all of my network who value equality and hate discrimination, who welcome diversity and oppose segregation.

Like many others, I have watched the unfolding of the US election with initially amusement, then horror, then fear. Surely, I thought, they won’t put an acknowledged bigot and sexual predator in the White House. But slightly less than 50% of the voters did (let’s not even get into that weird system).

So although I’m not American, this still feels personal to me. It feels like everything my ancestors fought and died for is under attack.

When you see swastikas on walls in America, you know the far right is rising. They have had the support of supposedly rational people to do it. Don’t be fooled, it’s not just the uneducated who voted for the Donald.

Something I read a while back has always resonated with me: when someone shows you who they are, believe them.

We’ve seen who the Orange one is, so we’d better believe dark days are coming.

The question is: what are we going to do about it?

More than ever, this is the time to cast light into the shadows and highlight the injustices. We can’t afford to give ground while we wait the nightmare out. We have to do our part to stop it.

For me, that’s writing, sharing, discussing and maybe even strategizing. My vote and actions don’t affect the outcome of anything in America. Yours do. What are you going to do about it?