Let’s have a moment of silence, if that is not too much to ask for, seeing as basic human rights have become such a burden to fight for. Let’s quiet our opinions and pride and biases and realize just for a moment that people woke up in fear the morning after the election. They woke up afraid of being who they are, who they always have been.

Let’s take just a second, for your friends who are gay or trans or bi or queer, let’s take just a breath in their honor, because now they live in fear. It isn’t about whether you think that way or you want them to live that way, it isn’t even about who you voted for anymore: it’s that who is now elected for office says stuff like, “It’s like in golf. A lot of people — I don’t want this to sound trivial — but a lot of people are switching to these really long putters, very unattractive. It’s weird. You see these great players with these really long putters, because they can’t sink three-footers anymore. And, I hate it. I am a traditionalist. I have so many fabulous friends who happen to be gay, but I am a traditionalist.” There you see, ‘he hates it.’ And these trans, bi, gay, queer people have heard this and seen this, and now they see that the vote went to this man.

So now they’re afraid to be who they are, and it isn’t about your morals here, it’s about how far we’ve missed this point: that people are people, it is not a hard concept yet so many people don’t understand how we got where we are when we thought with marriage equality we’d come so far.

Ok, and another brief pause of respect for our African American friends who already live day by day having to prove that they’re worthy or fight for their innocence. Let’s take a longer breath here, a longer moment for those already living in fear, for these who now must look around wondering which one of us agrees with the new President that says, “Laziness is a trait in blacks.” This man put in power that labels them as thugs, who pointed to a supporter and said, “Oh look at my African American over here.” A man who lacks respect for them in a culture that divides them from the rest of everyone based of off basic pigmentation.

And the women, God help the women. Really, truly. Let’s pause for the 14- year old girls our President-elect told he’d soon be dating, for his daughter whose breasts he speculated about when she was one year old or of whom he said if she weren’t his daughter he’d be dating her. Let’s pause for the women he walked in on changing during a Miss America pageant, something he later commented on saying: “I’ll go backstage before a show and everyone’s getting dressed and ready and everything else. And you know, no men are anywhere. And I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant. And therefore, I’m inspecting it. You know I’m inspecting it. I want to make sure everything is good. You know they’re standing there with no clothes. Is everybody OK? And you see these incredible looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that.” Let’s take a moment for the Miss Universe he kissed on the lips without her permission, for all of the women he has sexually assaulted. Let’s pause for the rest of the women in the US who know his advice on how to treat women to be, “You’ve got to treat them like shit.” This man that has told women that if they’re sexually harassed they should “find another career.” Let’s stop here for a second for women— mothers, daughters, wives, aunts— who are going to be led by a man who sees them as purely sexual objects. For women who live in a culture that hyper sexualizes everything about their existence that now have to look at their male family members and realize that they signed their name, they endorsed this man that has repeatedly been known to make crude, inappropriate comments about women’s appearances. A man that shames women for being made the way they are, who publicly makes judgments about whether or not they’re pretty enough for him as if that could decide their worth. Let’s pause here out of respect for the women, good luck to you all.

And let’s write a book for the immigrants, the migrants, the refugees. For the Muslims whom he has suggested creating a tracking database for and for the Hispanics whom he just wants to build a wall to keep out while also making them pay for it. Let’s pause for the Mexican immigrants he generalized as rapists, for the homeless Mexican man whose attack he endorsed, saying that the people who brutalized him were “very passionate and love their country.” Let’s pause for the immigrants he plans to deport, for the helpless he plans to ban.

Let’s just take a second, just a moment of your time to pause and think of or pray for those who perhaps you are among or those you claim not to think of the way that he does. Because our country has put them in a place where they are afraid to exist any longer, and you may not agree with those fears but that does not make them any less real. You may not think of them that way, you may feel like you are being generalized into a category of racist homophobe sexist fascists, but from their point of view the citizens of this country have voted for, chosen, endorsed, stood by, supported a man who has repeatedly shown us that he seems to be those things. In the end really, their fear isn’t about you, their vulnerability and anger isn’t about your personal pride, and if you feel like you need to defend yourself you need to ask yourself why. You utilized your right to vote, these people are using their right to protest, to get angry, to have free speech. By calling them babies or irrational or comparing it to your lack of protesting when Obama became President you aren’t making a point, you’re confirming their fears. You’re feeding the fear.

Stop for a second from trying to defend yourself, because really if you’re innocent of all of the things you feel accused of your life and actions should speak clearly enough of that themselves, and listen for a moment to their fears. Listen for a second and hear: people are really afraid. If your neighbor or friend was afraid of a tornado or a hurricane, would you yell at them or make fun of them for being afraid? That’s what this is to a large portion of the population: a tornado headed straight for us all that we welcomed in. We can say that maybe it’ll defuse before it causes any real damage, but nothing is certain and all we have to go on is what has been said in the past.

So stop: stop arguing, stop posting memes of babies crying, stop throwing stones at human beings who are genuinely uncertain of what the future holds. You say that you feel generalized and misunderstood but that’s a street that goes both ways. There is proof (http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/10/us/post-election-hate-crimes-and-fears-trnd/) that these fears are real, that these assumptions are true so if you really want to clear your name open your eyes and your hearts and your ears and be present in this world right now. People across the globe are terrified, people across the globe are excited, but everyone is frantically trying to make sense of this.

--------------

If you're uncertain that our President-elect has said any of these things, take a trot over to these sites.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/07/donald_trump_is_unfit_to_be_president_here_are_141_reasons_why.html

On the above site you can click on the point and it will take you to the news article or video that reported the incident.

https://antifascistnews.net/2015/07/29/28-racist-s...