I don't normally do this.
But 2016 has become an exception.
I’m not political (don’t even fully have a political party to be honest), I don’t usually deeply follow it outside Daily Show, John Oliver, and whatever Conan spits out. I don’t mind discussing it, I don’t mind reading/watching it, but I don’t form rallies, I don’t form protests, and I don’t hand out stickers or buttons. But this election is important for all the wrong reasons.
Unfortunately in the last 8 years, what we have witnessed is a rise in witnessed racism. I mean witnessed racism as in the kind that gets discussed, the kind that is videotaped, recorded, and released to the masses for us to react to. For me to claim that racism had gone down in recent decades would be ignorant: it’s always been there, it’s always been lurking, but my skin is too light and my accent is too non-existent for me personally to ever actually experience it. My parents have experienced it, but it’s nowhere near the levels of racism that has always been prevalent in a majority of areas in the nation. We are a huge country, with lots of people: mostly good, some bad, and some downright ugly. Civil Rights isn’t as old as we like to assume, for there are still thousands still alive that can still smell the fires, and feel the pain. Today there are millions that are still oppressed, still treated different. And it has always been this way, but it had mostly remained quiet, under the shadows.
Then Obama got elected. Then social media became bigger. All of a sudden, the platform to discuss your opinions and the fact that we are in an America run by a proud black man with Chicago roots has opened the doors to some of the evil that had been waiting to spread. What we hoped would not happen, unfortunately occurs. And it won't go away. And it gets quite ugly.
Pandora’s Box of racism has been opened, and the floodgates swept through.
No president in recent memory has been as harshly criticized, unfairly ridiculed, and as Washington oppressed as Barack Obama. Now, I will never claim that he is the all-time greatest president and can do no wrong (and nor will I claim that EVERYONE anti-Obama is actually racist), this is not the time to discuss his grades. However, the man had so much going against him from the start, and the blame immediately took off the second he sat down.
Obama had to take over an economy that was obliterated by Wall Street, the Housing Crisis, and ridiculous spending. He still got the blame. Obama is running a country that has seen a dramatic increase in gun violence and mass shootings. He still got the blame. Obama is running an America that is witnessing company after company bail and leave cities and millions stranded without jobs. He still got the blame. Obama never really had a chance to work with the House and Senate to try to pass some of his ideas, no matter how nice and harmless they might be. You can hate Health Care all you want, but for the Republicans to (constantly) deny a bill that would give extra care to the first responders of the 9/11 attacks? Are you kidding me? That’s beyond ridiculous. Obama even once got harshly criticized for winning a Nobel Peace Prize---which is something you don’t even campaign for….
Mr. Obama is black, and him being black prevented us from moving forward as much as we should in the last 8 years. America wasn’t ready for a black president. A majority of America is, but there are still edges of the nation that yearns for the Civil War/Reconstruction/Flapper days apparently. Under Obama, we even found and killed Bin Laden, how quickly we forget. Now, he was even blamed for the rise of Donald Trump. Even worse, there is a wave of people that is now openly anti-black, anti-Black Lives Matter, anti-Muslim, anti-Hispanic, and anti-Women’s Rights (I find it fascinating most of these folks are married). The nation appears to be more openly and proudly divided than ever, when the melting pot is becoming more mixed. A very jarring turn of events.
America has always had its race issues, but now they are much easier to spot. This is a double-edged sword because now you can see it coming, but then you become nearly desensitized at the sheer amounts of bigotry you are witnessing. And now this leads to Donald Trump:
Donald Trump may not be a full out racist (then again, he probably is, only God knows), he may not be an Islamophobe; but he is perfectly fine accepting their furor and accepting their votes. He has been perfectly fine feeding off the chaos, hatred, and ignorance of old-school Republican America and not only has divided the country severely, but even his own party has been shattered into pieces. You have a movement of people that never vote suddenly supporting him because of what they witnessed in the White House in 08 and 12, you have another movement of people blaming minorities for lack of jobs and lack of improvement, and then have a third wave of people giving shades of hate to Muslims and are seeking asylum under the Trump campaign. We even have the always-awful KKK being a supporter for Trump.
When you mention that you want to make America great again while undermining Blacks, Hispanics, and Muslims (among others), it sets off a tone that pretty much sounds like you would rather see a whiter country. No mention of unity, no mention of working together, he places the blame and doesn’t fess up responsibility for some of his actions. At first it was a joke, but now people are taking it seriously, and dangerous people are supporting him for all the wrong reasons. And this has to stop.
The UNITED States of America should not be behaving this way. We are supposed to be a united mixed bag of religions, cultures, ideals, ideas, and dreams working together to complete the lofty goal of living a happy, healthy, and successful life. For as long we continue allowing Big Business to destroy us and economically break us, we won’t get there. For as long as we allow the education system to continue its downward spiral with lack of love for public schools and universities becoming larger businesses we won’t get there. As long as we continue blaming groups for the actions of a few we won’t get there. For as long as we continue trying to denounce and restrict the rights of others we won’t get there. Building a tall wall is not the solution, you are just building more and more problems.
In a perfect world, college would be free, for at least the first 3-4 years while children becoming adults can seek out what they want to be, and what they want to accomplish. More people having access to higher education creates more jobs, plain and simple. And we need more nurses, doctors, electricians, scientists, mechanics, artists, and many other occupations that build up the places around us and allow us to flourish against all odds. Most importantly, with the dream of cheaper health care for everyone, we need more people on the medical field. Have you tried getting a medical degree? It will cost you the rest of your life. We can’t have money scare potential future doctors away.
In a perfect world, we will punish businesses for leaving the country and creating slavery-like jobs overseas. American businesses should have 75% of their labor in the United States, at least, to avoid being punished. And American businesses that claim “citizenship” elsewhere (Like Burger King tried years ago), will pay a foreign tax for doing business with us. Yes, it might be rough to see Nintendo paying America some extra cash to do business, but it’s the only way to get more jobs off the ground within the borders.
In a perfect world, you should have the right to preach what you want to preach without the threat of violence outside your place of worship. You have the right to choose, despite the moral code of others. You have the right to become an American citizen without the threat of being booted out into hostile environments that technically America helped create (The Mexican border is the absolute best example).
In a perfect world, weed would become legalized, gambling becomes legalized, the tax rates go up in a more consistent rate so the top 1% can help more and contribute to those not doing as well, and we don’t pay crazy rates for organic and healthy foods—which would make us all ultimately healthy. Go to Taco Bell and see how cheap their awful food is. Then go to Panera and see what you can get for $4. Hope you like bagels.
Slight joking aside, in a perfect world we try to figure out how to improve our environment together, not point fingers and incite riots. And this is why Bernie Sanders is my pick.
Bernie Sanders has been through the absolute ringer, and the fact that he is only 5 years older than Trump and looks 30 years older shows you the experience and stressed under his resume. He is not a man that has received ridiculous donations from companies that helped create some of the mess we are in today. He has been there for human rights, middle class rights, women’s rights, environmental rights, as so much more. He has battled Obama, has battled Bush, and has battled Wall Street time and time again. Not even kidding, he has been fighting in Washington in four different decades. You can look all of it up on YouTube, he made C-Span entertaining (which is impossible). He promoted equal rights for gays back in the 80s when they were being blamed for AIDS. He got arrested chaining himself to a Black woman while protesting segregation back in the 60s. He has spent his entire life battling in politics. I want a man that fights, and doesn’t settle. Bernie Sanders will not rest until he gets what he desires. There is no chill in this man, and it’s quite inspiring.
Side-Note: Hillary Clinton isn't exactly a disastrous choice, but she will struggle against Trump much more than Sanders if she gets elected. She's not as likable, doesn't have as pretty a track record, and has the guilty-by-association factor by being involved with Obama. Sanders can actually attract Republicans----Clinton definitely cannot. Like I said, won't be a litigated disaster if she gets nominated.....but she's not the best choice this election
His ideas for cheaper health care, free education, a more peaceful nation indeed has that socialism ring, and people are deathly afraid of that word. I can’t stop you there, if you are more of an individualist, then this conversation is pretty much over. But if you want to help the community, if you want to help your neighbor, if you want to help people from poorer and more violent countries in need, then Sanders is your man. He wants to help the Mexican-American population, he wants to help Cuba improve, he wants to improve Puerto Rico, and lastly he wants to improve the millions that are unemployed and in poverty. Best of all, he is doing this with the same furor and energy as the ridiculous Trump supports---except for none of the racism, violence, and bigotry.
This election is important because we are battling for what America will become in the next few years: a divided nation that will have layers of similarities to the Civil Rights Movement, or an America that will work closer together to try to right some of the wrongs we've been experiencing this century. The soul of America is at stake. We need to take down the racists, the bigots, the domestic terrorists. They need to lose, and by a landslide. Racism won't end, it will always be there unfortunately. But this election we can prove to ourselves and the rest of the world that no prissy idiotic schmuck with enough money to throw into a hate-filled campaign will come close to becoming president, regardless of if he wins the GOP. We can't have that, and we won't have that. We can't continue seeing the rich getting richer and just sitting back while everyone else underneath battles for attention, battles for jobs, battles for representation.
I am a minority. I love my culture, and I will continue to represent my culture to the best of my abilities. And part of this representation includes standing up for my neighbors that are being unfairly oppressed and blamed. Mexico, I'm with you. My Muslim friends, I'm with you. My Black Lives Matter friends (whom have been told by Trump to "Go back to Africa"), I'm with you. I will stand tall with all that have been victims in the past several months, and together we shall rise and conquer this election, and destroy the potential of the country shifting its priorities and ideals back 150 years. Won't happen under my watch. The Minorities are rising, and before you know it we will represent Florida and will vote correctly. I hope you all do the same.
Look up Bernie Sanders. Look him up, look up his history, and look up his ideals. Then climb aboard the Sanders train. You’ll be very glad you did.
I don't normally do this. But this year, I absolutely have to.
No comments:
Post a Comment