I have to confess, as a cynical black intellectual man, born and raised in the projects during the Reagan 80's, this has been a most entertaining week for me.
I'm reveling in validation, although it's a bittersweet fruit to enjoy. I get to finally say these three words to so many who took the things that I was saying as conspiracy theory rants.... "I Told You".
In the wake of the pulling off of the American mask of facade regarding racism, sexism, feminism, Christianity, white privilege and the disingenuous political correctness of the subject of equality in America, this nation has finally revealed what black people have been vocalizing for generations. This nation is still a nation of visceral racism, of obtuse patriarchy, of conditional feminism as it applies to white women, hypocritical Christianity, conscious and subconscious fear of the loss of white privilege, and conditional equality.
A lot of people's illusions were shattered in the late hours of November 8th, but not mine. Due to my existence in the American societal structure, from my youth in the crack era 80's in Harlem, watching the South Bronx burn, living in a hood where opportunities were rare, poverty was(and still is) rampant, education was(and remains) substandard, options were few, examples of success were virtually non-existent, mentors were criminals, families were dysfunctional due to the systemic setup, and violence was as normal as non-violence was abnormal.
I came up in conditions meant to mold me into a statistic. I held no illusions about this nation from a young age, and it was in that spirit that I became who I am today. I kept my focus lazer sharp. I refused to follow the path of so many friends, and the majority of the males in my own family circle. I became exceptional as a means of survival. So I guess you can say that in a sardonic way, I can thank America for who I am today. Thanks *sarcasm*
People's perspectives of this nation are shaped and hardened by their personal experiences of reality within it. I hold no grudges to people here who are so blindly patriotic, because, for them, America has been good to them, it's treated them well, it's provided them with a life that people from other countries risk their lives to escape oppressive conditions in other countries to attain. So, I understand that for them, they could never wrap their minds around people like me. People who are bitter, who kneel during the national anthem, who raise their right fist with a black glove on. Don't get me too wrong, I love my life, but it's hard to love a place that has never loved you, and constantly gives you current reminders that it still doesn't.
But on November 8th, people from all walks of American life got to experience what it feels like to be hoodwinked, bamboozled, and led astray. Donald Trump became the American president that day. A white supremacist sympathizer has taken the reigns from the first Black American president, whose wife, Michelle, not 2 months ago, spoke of how proud she was to see how we could get from a time where black slaves built the White House, to a black family living in it. If this isn't irony, I don't know what is.
Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, decidedly, yet lost the electoral votes, thereby giving Trump the (non)win. I won't get into Hillary in this article, but needless to say, I hold her in no regard, either.
People from all backgrounds wept in the face of the reality that punched them in their collective gut. How can this be possible? With all of the things, the horrible things that this man is the living symbol of, how can he have actually won? There are a lot of variables that have gone into this, but I zoom in on two, in particular. This was an election of resentment, almost mainly towards the establishment that has left them behind and ignored their mounting struggles of survival, which were totally legitimate beefs. But on a smaller level, this was an election for the preservation and reestablishment of privilege, the regaining of the grip that they saw loosening and slipping through their fingers. I say this, because you see it in the hypocrisy of how so many people voted(the ones who did, at least).
Mostly, you see these examples in the white demographic of voters. Whether fair, or not, the exit poll numbers were pretty revealing. Evangelicals voted for him, people who claimed they're against racism voted for him, people who claimed they're not for walls voted for him, people who claimed they see women as equals voted for him, people who claimed that Black Lives Matter voted for him, people who claimed that they're not xenophobic voted for him, and women voted for him. Other backgrounds of people had those who did the same, but the numbers within the white demographic spoke loudly.
I've seen a lot of reasons given, and believe me, I get that the prospect of Hillary, and more of the same, and the fear of world war 3 is one thing, but to vote for a man who represents all of the above listed things does not absolve you. You are still complicit as a supporter of all of those things with that vote and all of the things that are to come, things that will adversely affect all of us. You voted your anger and resentment and put it in the hands of a reality show con artist, who has made a career of doing all of the things and taking advantage of all of the things that you are currently disillusioned and angry about. He exploited you, exploited your anger, played to the bigotry in so many, to the sense of lost privilege in so many, to the fear in so many, and balled it all up into a slogan of Make America Great Again. And he gave you scapegoats....the Mexicans, the Blacks, the Illegal Immigrants, the Muslims....it's all THEIR fault that your life has sucked. He's going to give America back to you, the real Americans, and everyone will have to get back in their places. It's not that this America doesn't like, or accept other people, just as long as they all exist within a white dominant societal structure, the way America has existed, until that Muslim Obama came. Again, I know that so many who voted for Trump will strongly disagree with me, but your vote has spoken, and you chose this over your conscience.
The man who is the living embodiment of the actual villain just sold you and told you that all of these people are the villains, crazy world. All of the people who he sold you on are all disenfranchised, and marginalized groups. They have no power to affect your American dream. The ones that do are the ones you voted for, and he is simply a part of the establishment of the one percent.
You didn't escape the establishment, you just passed it over to the other part of it.
Voting for Hillary damn sure wouldn't have cured any of your ills, but neither will he. At least voting for Hillary would have meant not being a hypocrite to who you swear to be, at least to those who really are who they claim to be.
You surely don't have to believe me about Trump not being for you and how he will eventually play you for your vote. You will see in the coming times for yourself.
And I'll be here to say "I Told You", in all my cynicism. I won't take pleasure in it, I haven't up to this point. But this had to happen for all of us to see the unfiltered America for what it is at it's worst....
But with all my cynicism, I have the utmost optimism in what the best of America has in store for us all in the near future, because although hate was awakened, eyes were opened to it and are repulsed by it. Eyes from all different faces of all different backgrounds can't stand what they're seeing and will come together to destroy the hate with unity, empathy, and love for all humanity.
And that, I will take great pleasure in being a part of.
Brian Speaks On can be reached on his Youtube page
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