Reflections after the 2016 Election
I don’t know what to say…
- to the 70 year-old grandmother whose daughter is gay and her grandchildren are being raised by two Moms, but voted to make America great again…
I don’t know what to say…
- to the school classmates that sat in the same classroom as I did with our Jewish classmates and learned about Fascism, Hitler, Tyranny, Nazis and the Holocaust, yet still voted to make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say…
- to my childhood Jewish friends who shared their family stories in class of the loss, the fear and the horror of the Holocaust and now have seen our fellow citizens vote to make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say…
- to another immigrant classmate whose speech was different after arriving in the United States and into our classroom, and was made fun of by classmates, but now seems to have forgotten her own past, opportunities and advantages for the life she was able to create and now chooses to limit those advantages for others and voted to make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say…
- to my Mexican Canadian boyfriend who is scared to travel to the United States and repeatedly asks why my fellow citizens hate Mexicans and voted to make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say…
- to the women I know that have felt intimidated and been violated by men in power in their past and are fearful that having shared their stories are now shuttering silently as men move to make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say….
- to family members who love their guns and exercise common sense and gun safety in their sport, but were afraid their right to bear arms would be taken away from them, while we'll continue to watch assault weapons take innocent peoples lives while we try to make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say…
- to the individuals who say lying and being crude and a racist and a misogynist and xenophobe and a homophobe and a sexist and on and on was only a way to get elected and shake it up, so went ahead and voted to make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say…
- to the young girl who saw the hope of a female president eager to work together and inspire us to be stronger and unified and is now left questioning her place as we make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say…
- to my gay friends who are in loving and committed marriages who are now scared that marriage equality will be eliminated to make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say…
- to my transgender friends who have still so far to go, and yet have lost so much as we make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say…
- to my friends who worry that Black Lives don’t matter as we make America Great again.
I don’t know what to say…
- to myself, who after losing his simple entrepreneurial dream of owning a clothing store to Republican economics and has struggled for the last 5 years trying to rebuild and attain significant employment how any of this will change my own circumstances once we make America Great again…
I don’t know what to say, so I will just try to do as I do
every day...
- to slowly move forward, to believe that although my world seems smaller and smaller, and that possibility is limited. I will believe as my Mother, another strong female role model, taught me: “all things are possible if you are kind, authentic and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
...And some days will be harder than others.
