Anyone
who knows me knows I don't like diving deep into talk of politics. It
is not that I don't understand what is going on in the circus event
being called a presidential race right now, but rather it find it
physically uncomfortable to look at politics piling into this clown
car and driving us toward a cliff. I try to focus on my Arts, with
the idea of “being a good role model” always in the back of my
mind. I was raised on Saturday morning cartoons, an emphasis on
getting a proper education, and a healthy high moral fiber diet. So
when I see someone like Trump, whose personality I can only really
compare to one of the many cartoon villains I used to see on weekend
mornings, it goes against everything I know and threatens the America
I am trying so hard to survive in.
First
things first I think Donald Trump is the worst kind of person. Short
of someone who would willingly murder innocent people just for the
joy of doing it, Trump is the epitome of everything I am afraid of in
people. He is an arrogant, racist bigot who is rich enough to say or
do anything he pleases. All the while those against him just write
him off as an empty threat, and those who support him have more faith
in him than Democrats do in their choices. He has profited off of his
villainous persona, and has now become a beacon of hope for those who
wish to “Make America Great Again”, an ideal that I can only
assume stems from the same line of thinking as the three-fifths
compromise and Japanese internment camps during WWII. Our country has
a hateful history, founded on the same imperialist tactics of fear
and brainwashing that Trump is doing using to take his lead in the polls. This is not new, and this is not the first time it has come up
in politics, so why should we care now? Well the reason we should
care now is that I never, and I do mean NEVER, thought I would have
to look on my computer screen and see an actual presidential
candidate put forth a plan to banish certain minorities from this
country and be taken seriously. Never did I think having an openly
racist tyrant for president would be a possibility. Yet here we are.
In 2016, with the internet laughing at memes of little white children
crying over joy with their love of Trump as I ready myself for the
end of the world.
To
those who think I am being dramatic, let me pose this question for
you. If you were in school and had a teacher in one of your core
classes (that being a class you are required to take) that just hated
you, and I mean wanted you out of their class for no real reason, how
would you feel? Would you feel confident handing in work? Would you
feel good about being their student, or even going to class? This
person has control over your grades and has it out for you, and as a
student there is nothing you can do because they have the power and
you don't. Now apply this to America. You are a young Black male,
which already makes you a target in a lot of ways, and the leader of
the country you live in hates you. How does that make you feel? Not
only that, but he hates your Mexican and Muslim friends, and you have
to watch as this man looks the world in the eye on TV and claims that
he is doing his best to serve the country. This is not the shady
under-the-table political campaign we are used to seeing, where dirt
about politics slowly leak from the drain over the years until all
the muck is just out in the open, rather this is a candidate so
covered in filth I find it hard to believe that anyone believes he is
real. This is more than just a fight for ratings in the media and a
funny spin on a debate story, this is the future of the free world.
This the man kids will be seeing as the definition of power and
control for the next 4 years, this is someone who is supposed to set
an example but would much rather drag us down back down to the Jim
Crow South.
Hidden
in his toupee and smirk countenance I see the worst possible outcome
for our country, and the margins aren't even close. The political
system is built off of less than stellar moral practices and
supported by old money and old ideology, but even so it is our
system. Any educated person in America has some idea that our system
isn't perfect, but it is still our system. Like your little sister
who just vomited on your new shirt in the middle of Target, she is
annoying but she is your sister. However if Trump gets elected I fear
we will be passing a point of no return. Maybe it is the natural
paranoia in my blood that comes from being an oppressed minority, but
America is on the verge of some kind of change. In the past year we
have seen a revolution pop up, and as those who fear change scrambled
to find ways to fight this movement, Trump floats down from his
Zepplin and assures them that he can fight this new found activism. He
holds the dreams of everyone who is afraid of change, and those
dreams are loud and powerful. They are strong enough to propel him
through this race and, if not stopped, get him into the oval office.
There have been too many posts about how his win is inevitable, how
if Bernie Sanders doesn't win the nomination there is no hope. I am
not here to champion any candidate, rather I am here to point out the
wrong one. Trump is more than a menace, he is an active threat to my
culture and my country. Policies and irrationality aside anyone who
can stand on a podium and claim to be against the pursuit of a better
better life (which America was founded on shockingly enough) is not
deserving of anything except a cane dragging him off stage. I won't
go as far as to say that anyone voting for Trump is a bad person, but
if you are willing to endorse this man, I think that says something
about your personality and how much hate you just may be harboring
inside of you.
As
a minority, the idea of Trump being our next president terrifies me.
As a person, his very position and existence is just a bit of a
mystery to me. I want him gone, wiped from all of our memories and
replaced with a more believable persona. I want to believe in the the
people of this country; that despite the questionable history there
is still enough common decency to stop this from becoming a worst
election then when Ulysses s Grant was elected in 1869. I would like
to think we have progressed in these 147 years but who knows. If you
have any kind of common sense or decency then you won't vote for
Trump. But this is not meant for you, this is meant for those on the
fence about how terrible he really is. I am talking about more than
just the make Donald Drumpf again, or the multitude of photoshops
that result from all the ridiculous things he does on a seemingly
daily basis. This is for those who do not think of him in terms of
what he is really is: a channel of fear and oppression. This is a
reminder of what they are trying to do, and an even bigger reminder
that we have to power to shape this country into something that is
actually great. Something fueled by the progressive ideals of those
who fight for equality, without the input of the old guard whose only
real goal is to bring us down in order to hold onto power. We are the
future, and we cannot let Trump be apart of that future.
