I was going to write a lofty piece analyzing the political rhetoric and its contribution to the ideologically segregated country. I was going to write about how the premium TV news media placed on the entertainment value of Donald Trump over reporting newsworthy stories—stories that provide the public with the knowledge required to make an informed decision—aided his victory. I was going to ask the individuals occupying the highest public offices in this country to restrict their politics of insults, innuendos, and backhanded comments to the policies that are being debated rather than the half of the electorate that doesn’t agree with them.
That was my plan until I saw a picture of the KKK parading down a street in North Carolina. Countless photographs of spray painted swastikas with the word “Trump” in the center. Thousands of tweets recounting being told to “go back to China,” “take off the hijab,” “sit in the back of the bus.” A video of middle schoolers chanting “Build that Wall” in front of their minority classmates in a city not twenty miles from where I grew up.
I am waiting for the President-elect to say something.
On September 17, 2001, President Bush visited the Islamic Center of Washington and condemned the innumerable hate crimes against Muslim-Americans committed in the six days since 9/11. He pledged to work with the Muslim community to rebuild the America based in a mutual respect among its citizens that was shattered that day.
I am waiting for the President-elect to denounce the racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic attacks against his fellow Americans. These are not a laundry list of beliefs designed to degrade his image. These are actions. These are actions when they mean the coming out of neo-Nazi white supremacists, the fear of admitting one’s religion or sexuality, and the inability of a woman to walk alone lest someone thinks it’s his prerogative to grab her pussy.
This election was not about a man versus a woman, or even liberal versus conservative. It was about preserving the norms of respect for the plurality of identities that exist in this country. It was about whether or not we wanted to elect a president who had even a fraction of the capacity to empathize and some semblance of genuine human emotions. The very election of Donald Trump was a license to terrorize minorities and a validation of hate-filled beliefs.
I am waiting for the President-elect to unite the country, to say that those beliefs are dehumanizing and not okay. I am waiting for him to be “the president for all Americans” as conservative pundits like to say. The ability to simply get over it and move on speaks to a certain level of privilege. Tomi Lahren calls the anti-Trump protests a “tantrum.” I call them a fight for human dignity.
Kaei is a sophomore in the SFS.
