On An Election and A Country's True Identity

I'm not surprised. I'm saddened, but I’m not surprised.

I'm unsurprised that 59% of men of pallor and 52% of women of pallor voted the way they did. I'm sadly not surprised that after everything he said and will do to immigrants when he takes office, he still got 54% of the masculine-identifying and 37% of the feminine-identifying Latine and Hispanic vote.

I'm saddened, but I’m not surprised.

I am disheartened but unsurprised.

I didn’t need a reminder, but for those who did, this election was a firm reminder that the United States is precisely what it has always been: a country steeped in individualism and fear of moving forward, unwilling to be progressive and care for all its citizens, and legitimately uninterested in trying to be the country it likes to claim it is.

He won this election, and it wasn't even close in the popular or electoral vote. A party with a platform of hate, oppression, and regression will be in complete control of the Government come January 2025, and it wasn't even a fight.

And I know so many of y'all voted for this man and this party while playin’ in the faces of the people in your life who you know their policies and governance will do extreme harm to. Most of y'all are quick to bust out a Black Lives Matter sign or bring up trans and reproductive rights just to have a smoke screen to vote against everyone’s best interests.

I loathe that most of y'all won’t own your hatred and fear of losing what you think is exclusively yours - rights, privileges, and safety from tyranny.

I loathe that most of y'all won’t own who you are in front of those your choices impact.

I loathe that most of y’all will be shocked when the people you elected do the exact things you hired them to do and you find yourself and your families adversely impacted and in physical, mental, emotional, and economic distress.

But I’m not surprised.

You're Americans! That's what Americans do, right?

I'm saddened. I'm disheartened. I'm not surprised, though.

This is the American way, y'all.

Note: This poll data is from a subsection of the voter base from 10 states.

On Cats, Dogs, Lies, and Hate

I watched a man who believes he should be President again, and who should've never been President in the first place, angrily shout that Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets in Ohio and that a town in Colorado is overrun and controlled by "terrorist gangs" during a presidential debate last night.

These are, of course, xenophobic and racist dog whistles steeped in fear-mongering and stereotypes, but the danger these kinds of comments pose to Black and Brown folx, to immigrants, cannot be stressed enough.

What that caricature of a man did last night is a white supremacist control tactic as old as time that has harmed generations of melanated folx and immigrants in Western society. The problem is that here we are, in the year of someone's lord, 2024, watching a nationally televised event that received international coverage with a man of pallor whose only skill in life is generating fear to gain power and who has millions of followers ready to eat it up like it's the gospel who truly believe immigrants and melanated folx are a clear and present danger to their families, communities, and evidently, pets when they are the least likely sections of the citizenry to commit crimes and less likely to commit violent crimes.

But who needs facts when you can vilify melanated folx? Your grandpappy did it, and your pappy did it, so why not you too?

These hateful "fables" don't pass the sniff test.

But nothing has to pass the sniff test when your race has been collectively raised and bred for generations to believe that anyone who has melanin in their skin is a threat to "white democracy."

On Having Concepts of A Plan

Only a privileged man of pallor can say, "I have concepts of a plan" around a hot-button issue that impacts millions of people while interviewing for the most challenging job in the country that he's already proven to be ineffective in and still have millions of followers who bow to him like he's the next coming.

Do you think I can I go to work tomorrow and tell my leaders that I have the concept of a plan when they ask me about my work progress on a project they've been waiting on for weeks, and they will accept that as a feasible answer?

Do you think I can answer a question at a job interview with "I have the concepts of a plan" and be seen as a serious and competent candidate?

Bruh.

The bar is so low for people of pallor in Western culture. Especially men of pallor.

These are y'all's kings?

It would be funny if it wasn't at the heart of a centuries-long threat to democracy and the ongoing health and safety of melanated communities.

On Defense, Defensiveness, and the White Supremacy Defense Handbook

I will never be shocked at how often people of pallor jump in to defend other people of pallor for doing and saying hateful, harmful, racist, and oppressive things. At work, on social media, in public - most people of pallor never fail to "stand in solidarity" with other people of pallor, even after witnessing their harmful words and actions firsthand.

That's page 76 of the white supremacy defense handbook, right?

I will never be shocked that the defenders of pallor constantly ask those whom people of pallor harm to "assume positive intent" whenever they harm us, even if there isn't one crumb of positive intent one could discern from their actions.

If memory serves me correctly, that's chapter 5: the good/bad binary as a tool of oppression.

I will never be shocked that people of pallor still react to those they harm not buying the "positive intent" sales pitch by referring to chapter 8 of the white supremacy defense handbook in which those harmed by white supremacy are supposed to constantly be ready to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that harm has occurred, even after people of pallor witness the harm with their own eyes.

I will also never be shocked when people of pallor and their defenders send me and people like me private messages or want to push for a conversation away from witnesses to plead their case and drain the batteries of those they have harmed or watched get harmed by expecting those they've harmed to educate them when they do not want to be educated—they want to be “proven right” or feel justified in their actions.

I think that's also chapter 8, but I could have an old copy of the book.

What's that, you say? There are no new editions? And that y'all been rockin' with the same handbook for 100+ years?

But of course.

I'm not even shocked.

On HR, Calls for Accountability, and the "If You Don't Like It, Then Leave" Mentality

I talk about the field of Human Resources a lot. Most people would say that I'm draggin' HR as a profession. Because of that, over the years, many HR "professionals" have sent me private messages telling me to leave the field if I can't respect the hard work that HR "professionals" have on their plates. Some have even gone as far as to tell me to leave the field publicly on my platforms. And let me say that the diehard HR "professionals" who get so up in arms about how I talk about Human Resources and aim to check me always give me a nice hearty chuckle.

An absolute side-splitter.

Y'all are hilarious. You mean to tell me you look at the field of Human Resources and its practices and transactional mindsets and approaches masquerading as empathy, and you're OK with it? You don't think there's anything to call out? You don't see things that "seasoned" HR "professionals" are doing that continue to harm people in workplaces that need to be addressed? Don't you see anything happening in the workforce that HR negatively contributes to, which gives you pause? Don't you see the decades-long patterns of behavior that have created the deep distrust that folx have of Human Resources at play?

What are you, that dog sitting in the flaming cafe or something?

But somehow, my calling these things out, proposing solutions, and holding HR folx accountable makes me the person who needs to leave HR.

If you're in a field that you can't hold a mirror to, criticize, and call to task, then you need to find a new line of work.

And if you can't be called to task to do better and to evolve yourself and the field you're in, then you need to wake up and realize that I'm not the problem and thou doth protest too much.

HR as a field, industry, and profession are not fine. You're just too comfortable with everything around you being on fire while being the right hand of the king.