Where Do We Go From Here America?

I couldn’t help but feel defeated after realizing that, none other, than Donald Trump was our new President-Elect. Was I surprised? No. Being a black woman in America today, a lot doesn’t seem to surprise me anymore. However, I was disappointed—because although it wasn’t stated blatantly, something in me felt that I was hated simply because of my differences. While many of us may feel that we have lost this election, I would like to remind you that as BAUCE women, we don’t take L’s.

Meeting with students on my campus from the LGBTQ, Muslim, Black and Latino community, we agreed that it wasn’t Trump himself that causes so many peoples uneasiness about this election, but more observantly his followers who have carried out countless of hate crimes before, during and after his election.  We may not have been ecstatic about the outcome of this election, but we will not be defeated by this election and the nasty, degrading campaign that led up to it.

So many of us were concerned with the first section of our ballots that we completely neglected our local and state governments. Now more than ever we are reminded of just how important these jurisdictions are. The president may have control over a lot of things, but it is within our local and state government that we can really make sh*t happen.

 Yes, ladies. We will have to sit with a misogynistic, narcissistic, sexist, sorry excuse of a man (is this beyond my first amendment?) inside the White House. And while he has the ability to influence many people with his outlandish ideas, we have the ability to influence things on a much smaller scale, locally and within our state.

When it comes to things like federal law enforcement and foreign policy, both very important things, the president has tremendous power. Legislatively, however, the president has very little control of that part of the government. Locally, our government affects us on a daily basis. This is where matters regarding funding for education, speed limits on our streets, and even setting guidelines for local businesses are handled. This part of our government affects us way more than anything being cooked up in the white house.

Striving to take a stand and be a part of the decisions our country makes is not only important, but life altering. There are organizations, interest groups, meetings and many other ways and faucets to get your opinions and voices heard. We don’t have to sit back and just take it.

And while Hilary Clinton did not win it big this election, let us take time to acknowledge the BAUCE women who did! Ilhan Omar, a woman of Somali decent, won the Democratic—Farmer—Labor—Party legislator in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Following the civil war in 1991, she moved to Minnesota after becoming a refugee in Kenya. Or, take a look at Kamala Harris. After Hilary Clinton’s epic loss, many people have been
dubbing her the next female president. She is the former attorney general of California and this round, she was elected to the United States Senate. She wasthe first Native American and African-American woman to be elected an attorney general in the state of California.

See, we’re not completely stuck ladies (and gentleman). It’s not going to be easy. These next four years may be the toughest four years any of us have ever endured. Not so much because of the president-elect, but because of the hate and intolerance that he has ignited and ultimately made acceptable.

We won’t go back to Africa on boats. Our communities are not hopeless. We will not allow that BS wall, or ‘fence’, to be built. People will continue to practice their religions freely and gender and sexual orientation will not be means to discriminate. Donald Trump may be our president-elect, but we don’t have to tolerate what he stands for.

P.S. F*ck Donald Trump.