This Week's Opening Thought: November 25, 2024

This week’s opening thought?

Image description: A picture of James and Florida Evans from the classic sitcom Good Times. They are giving someone the side-eye. Above them are the words, “How I’m looking at folks talking about now is the time to come together.”

THIS 👏🏾 RIGHT 👏🏾 HERE. 👏🏾

THIS ENERGY.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now. While there will always be some truth in that statement, and we might all be about to set sail on what appears to be the same raggedy, dangerous boat, let’s get one thing clear: we are not in the same boat right now.

Some of y'all are in the dingy while the rest of us are still paddling in lifeboats tied to the back of the dingy. Y'all just opted to add more sharks and leopards to the waters and arm them with scuba gear and jet packs.

Don’t get it twisted: we are NOT in this together.

So many of us are looking at losing our rights, the little bit of safety we have, our family and friends, and possibly our lives because so many of y’all chose white supremacy, racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, misogyny, misogynoir and what you thought would be personal safety over the lives of others.

You don’t get to choose hate and oppression for others, realize you've been duped and will be harmed too because of your choices, and that those you decided to harm don't want anything to do with you; then insist now is the time for togetherness and get angry when those you’ve decided to harm don’t wanna get in the boat with you.

You chose for us not to come together.

You’re getting what you wanted.

This Week's Opening Thought: November 18, 2024

This week's opening thought: Cowardly masked neo-nazis marched through Columbus, Ohio, this past Saturday, fully armed while spewing hateful rhetoric via megaphones and swinging swastika-adorned flags. This hate march came a week after another group of masked individuals were seen waving similar nazi flags outside a production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" in Howell, Michigan. In both cases, police were called by witnesses and citizens to intervene, but no charges were filed because, evidently, these incidents are not considered hate crimes.

To some of you - *cough* privileged people of pallor and those seeking approval from people of pallor *cough* - this may seem tame. You probably don't think of these kinds of things as hate crimes. But, to paraphrase Pepperidge Farms, most of the melanated folx in your community, workplace, and life, remember that this is how the hate train starts: little gestures to test the waters before the full-on wave of hate crimes erupts across the country.

Many of the melanated know what's on the horizon after an election that has emboldened hateful people of pallor to feel completely justified in their actions and immune to consequences. Their elected figurehead has made it clear time and again that he does not care about racism, hate crimes, and neo-nazi terrorism. Hell, their elected figurehead is planning to mobilize the military and declare a "state of emergency" on immigrants and naturalized citizens on his first day in office. And note that their elected figurehead ain't talkin' about immigrants of pallor.

It's clear where we are at and what's to come. We've been here before.

"It's just a flag."

"It's just words."

Right. Sure thing, buddy.

"It's just an election. We'll be OK. He won't do what he said he's going to do."

Yeah...no. Same energy as the other two statements.

Miss me with all of that, and KEEP missing me.

For many of us, we've been there, done that, and ain't trying to hear that this isn't the springboard for four-plus years of unrelenting hatred.

We're just getting ourselves ready to protect and defend ourselves, our communities, and our mental, physical, and emotional health from the likes of you and yours because it's either fight or perish.

And we don't perish easily.

This Week's Opening Thought: November 11, 2024

This week’s opening thought: I’m a firm believer in the schadenfreude that comes with people effin’ around and finding out, but there is no joy to be found in the eff around and find out we’re all about to endure for the next four years because of how people decided to vote last week’s election—just pain and trauma.

I’m seeing all the stories and videos about people losing friends and family members, their marriages, chances at higher wages, potential citizenship, and employment because of how they decided to vote. I’m seeing the Google search results from the night of the election, which show hundreds of thousands of people looking up such things as “Are tariffs bad?” and “How can I change my vote?” well after they’ve already cast their ballots. I’m seeing small business owners who voted for this incoming administration realizing how these tariffs and tax cuts for billionaires are going to debilitate their businesses and freaking out, hoarding supplies and eliminating raises, bonuses, and even hiring. I’m seeing people saying their female, femme-identifying, and LGBTQIA+ friends and family members have walked away from them and are not coming back because of their voting decisions. I watched a video today with a Latine man upset that his neighbors of pallor, who voted for this current administration with the same level of glee that he did, refused to let their kids play with his son anymore and threatened to run them off with gunfire.

There’s no joy or amusement in any of this.

There's no “I told you so” moment.

There is no reveling in watching the leopards eat faces.

Just sadness and anger.

If it was someone’s ignorant personal decisions leading to personal consequences? That’s their cross to bear. I’m like, “Catch your L.” Depending on the situation, I might even chuckle and shake my head. But when tens of millions of U.S. voters make ignorant, bigotry-driven decisions based on blatant misinformation intent on stoking fear and insecurities that lead to long-term consequences for everyone in the country and place millions of people in danger?

It should never be eff around and everyone finds out, but y'all made that choice for all of us.

No schadenfreude, just uncertainty.

But, you know, make America great again.

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.

This Week's Opening Thought: November 4, 2024

This week’s opening thought: If your response to people from underserved, invisible, and marginalized communities who find themselves constantly on the defensive who are struggling with the anxiety that comes with deep uncertainty about the future of this country post-Election Day is “I don’t know why everyone is so stressed,” “It’ll work itself out,” or “We made it through the last time he was President so we’ll make it through this time, too,” you are one of two things:

1. A person with a great deal of privilege who isn't emotionally mature enough to understand that everything isn’t hunky-dory just because you don't think what you perceive as your rights and freedoms or safety are at risk.

2. A person who legitimately doesn't care about those around you because you enjoy paddling around in a pool of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and ableism.

Real talk? Many of y'all are both, and it is not a good look.

I'm not in the business of telling people how to vote, especially during an election as divisive and multi-layered as this one. However, I will always speak truth to power regarding accountability for those who normalize the notion that everyone doesn't deserve rights, privileges, and the safety to exist and thrive.

Humans only thrive as a collective. Period. And by collective, I mean EVERY HUMAN BEING working together to ensure everyone is seen, heard, and supported in direct opposition to hate and oppression. You not caring about the collective is pure white supremacist heteronormative colonialist garbage. And if that is your stance, you need to be willing to vocally own said garbage as openly and eagerly as you toss out sentences like, “I wish everyone would chill out” during a supremely intense week in a country teetering on the brink of possibly irreparable harm for most of its citizens.

Check yourself.