no mas, no mas

Thanks Jessica Hagy - thisisindexed.com

Offended? I think it goes beyond being offended. What fresh new misogyny has Donald Trump unscabbed, scraped open, and left bleeding? In my lifetime I never imagined people in this country would talk about repealing the 19th amendment - including creating a hashtag on the topic. I am surprised this deplorable (yep) and his followers know anything more about the Constitution or its amendments beyond a very limited understanding of the 2nd amendment.

Working in a field that seeks to eliminate gender discrimination and working to respond to and support people who have experienced sexual violence, I am beyond outraged - but sadly not shocked - by Donald Trump's personification of all that is wrong with rape culture. I always liked Barbara Bush, though I didn't agree with much of her party's approach, and she speaks for many when she asks how any woman could vote for Donald Trump. Beyond his thinly veiled racism, Islamophobia, and his atrocious comments on immigration in this country, his misogyny (we can't just stop at calling it sexism) and the support he continues to get from people, including women, in this country has not just shaken Michele Obama to her core. I sit here blinking in disbelief.  [I got called by a reporter this past week to comment on Trump's remarks from the leaked tape. I wasn't able to directly speak to her as my job title is administrative we can't as college officials engage in anything that will be perceived as partisan. SO, I shared the names of some faculty and students who could speak more freely and gave a student the sound bite quote I came up with that I think summed it up well: "we are working hard to reduce sexual violence, not normalize it." Hope that makes it in even if it will be attributed to the student.]

What Donald Trump has brought to the political stage is a direct threat to many - including the many Republicans who do NOT support him and who, despite political differences, are throwing their support behind Hillary Clinton, as the only qualified presidential candidate. Not just because I find Donald Trump to be a despicable human being who is consciously inciting violence against citizens who disagree with him or have identities that he finds unacceptable, but because I think Hillary has the experience, temperament and brains to be President, #imwithher.

As a side note, I have not posted anything political on my Facebook page this fall (though I have "liked" plenty of other people's things so I suppose my friends know exactly where I stand if they are keeping track of that kind of thing.) I try to keep things positive and pleasant whenever possible. I haven't unfriended the few people whose  pro-Trump or anti-Hillary views shock and disappoint me because I want to see and try to understand how others feel and why they might support someone as disgusting and unqualified to be president as Donald Trump. I suspect things like implicit bias, racism, and conditioning to hate Hillary Clinton are behind those emotional impulses. Lots of people throughout history have followed charismatic demagogues and bullies. It's truly frightening because we all know Hitler didn't do it alone. He emerged from a Democratic country. Curious to me is that I can still have fondness for these "Facebook friends" that I may have known and liked in high school or in a former job. If they had a sadness or a joy in their life, I would care. Yet, I shake my head and wonder how I can be friends with these people who would support a man who at a rally asked people to stand up based on their religious affiliation and made a joke that he might let them stay. Seriously? (First they came for the....then they came for the .... then they came for me.) That is completely un-American.

Odd, isn't it? How we can be so different and still, that thread of humanity is stronger. I would hope these friends might feel the same about me - because they "know" me - even if they realized I don't share their same beliefs. But would these folks extend compassion when the witch hunt is on against someone they don't know and see as "other"? All this said, if these folks (actually read: Electoral College voters) somehow vote Trump in, they may as well stab me right in the heart and persecute me as "other" for my beliefs. I wouldn't do that to them. True "Americans" understand that we must tolerate difference and must not infringe upon anyone else's human rights - let alone call for violence.

I am reminded of this great quote by Audre Lorde: "When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak." I hope we can all speak and listen - and that no one's speech (which in the Trump universe will become actions) will threaten the fundamental rights and freedoms of those they oppose.