We all know to what I refer. The election results are not over, and won't be over until they are over. And, sadly, if anyone is surprised about this then they have been existing in a state of denial.
First and foremost. I always said that the election of the orange haired monster did NOT come out of the blue (pardon the use of the word blue here), and that he is not an anomaly. Sadly he is a projection of much of America and the shadow side of many americans. We do not like to face this.
Here in p.c. Berkeley we are NOT racist, we are NOT capitalist pigs, we are NOT right wing bigots. We care deeply about everyone and everything. So much so that if anyone arrives to speak for, or about, the 'other' side, we will violently kick them out. We post our Black Lives Matter posters proudly in our mostly white areas. We refer to the Latinx as a monolithic non gendered whole and assume they are all politically to the left of centre and cannot understand why they would be any different from our righteous point of views. We do NOT have a sense of humour and take deep offence at any truly innocent remarks or observations. I have found it quite difficult living in this dry, humourless, and self righteous environment.
And what is more, I have felt like this ever since arriving here - 40 years ago!!!!! And yet, here I am ....And of course I have found many friends and people here that I love dearly. It is a place in which I feel at home.
I remember my initial shock and disbelief when I first began working in East Contra Costa County. I described my impressions in my book "Tree Barking." But after working in these communities I certainly began to experience another side of America. And racism, fear, mistrust, and bigotry exist in every community, no matter the religion or the colour, of the people who live in them.
We are as not as highly evolved as we would like to think, and our primary reactions are based on fear and mistrust.
My diatribe is over. What I want to say is that, if and when Biden gets the requisite electoral college and is sworn in, there won't be a sweeping miraculous change. True change will take a lot of work on behalf of all of us. We like to engage in magical thinking
"When Biden is elected ...... miracles will happen. Fear and hatred will vanish"
"When there is a vaccine ..... miracles will happen, covid will be gone. Life will go back to normal
Sorry, everyone, magic does not happen. Change does, and will happen, but not in an instant.
4 comments:
Well said Nesta !
So appreciate your perspective, Nesta. If I'm honest, I wanted to hope that some of those warnings / predictions of a tight race were off... I know these "isms" exist everywhere but it's so disheartening to see the constant ticker streaming facts and percentages of just how divided we are. So I guess I was in a bit of denial... the sheer number of people that support that man-child means you are absolutely right. We have a lot of work to do to heal and it's not going to be a any quick fix, but I do have a spark of hope.
The election results were a wake up call. It's hard to celebrate when almost half of our country voted for this man. The destruction and havoc he has wreaked upon our country will take a lot of time and effort to undo. He was a master at his craft. Viola Davis shared an IG post from Dixon A. White and basically what he said was that Trump normalized injustce, inhumanity, greed and hatred.
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