Content Trigger Warning: The mention of the “r” word.
After the political calamity of what was the 2016 election, I promised myself to never get overly tied up and distraught over the presidential election again. It was too much for my soul and spirit to bear. I was not just upset, I was in a state of emotional turmoil. The country had basically voted through electors that a woman couldn’t be president and wasn’t fit to govern.
Fast forward to 2020; there was happiness, there was relief, there was optimism. But even then, Biden fought against many conservatives who wanted to go against what he wanted to work towards during his presidency. Even though there has been some good (rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, making Juneteenth a holiday, the Freedom to Vote Act, the American Rescue Plan Act, etc) but, even still, many haven’t been satisfied. Who can blame anyone for feeling the pressure with the economy the way it is and the cost of living being egregious. Those feelings alone are present with or without Biden.
This all brings us to Tuesday night, the night when I wholeheartedly thought this country was going to elect its first female president. The first female, Black & South Asian president.
But; even with all the campaigning, fundraising, and promise of a brighter future, that didn’t happen. It’s left a lot of people including myself baffled. Where are the numbers to support those who promised to vote against Trump? Was our campaigning and mobilizing in a 100 days-ish in vein? Was there interference that we were/are unaware of? What is the deal?
The deal is…like in 2016, this country is not ready for a woman to be president. Doubly, a Black woman.
Throughout her campaign, people questioned the validity of her blackness, her credentials (like the woman hasn’t worked in every branch of government,) her policy (like she didn’t have an actual plan versus concepts of one,) her readiness, and her commitment to foreign policy and issues. While I agree that she wasn’t the perfect candidate (a perfect one doesn’t exist by the way,) to say she wasn’t the most qualified is a gross misstep rooted in racism and misogyny.
It’s a testament to how many of us (black women) are raised that you have to work ten times harder and be ten times better, ten times more qualified than your counterparts in order to get anywhere in life. That’s a hard reality to face and a hard message to be felt so loud and clear.
Personally, last night/early hours of this morning drained me. I stayed up til a little past 3 but couldn’t fall asleep until closer to 4. A lot of my thoughts weren’t mainly about myself; but of my daughter, small cousins, nephew, and goddaughter. I thought about what version of this country they will inherit in the future. If they will still be feeling the effects of this election once they are older. Some people tend to think that this line of thinking is ridiculous, however, I raise those people this; isn’t the point of an election and voting in general is to make sure the right people are put in the right positions to help make our world a better place? Okay then, my worries and thoughts like those of others are completely valid.
It’s also completely valid to question those around you because of what this man has stood for. He’s also a 34-time convicted felon and rapist. However, he was just reelected to one of the highest positions in the free world.
I’m left with a lot of feelings. How the landscape of things will be in a few years. I just don’t see how we are able as a country to have someone be president that has spewed a lot of hateful and harmful rhetoric, a man who has been convicted of crimes, and impeached twice. It shows that a lot of people in this country are willing to look over that or even run towards it because they don’t agree with other people’s lifestyle choices or race.
However, in republican Alabama; I sit with my daughter and look outside at the new day that has been brought to us. Even through the bleakness of uncertainty, the fact that the Lord brought us another day is His promise to us. Even through uncertainty, fear, sadness – everything, there is His promise. I have to keep going for those littles I mentioned before and for those that are no longer here with us. Those littles can’t vote yet, they can’t fight for the community, they can’t cultivate community – that work falls on me and other adults.
I’m proud of Kamala Harris. I’m proud to say I voted for her. Her vision for the US wasn’t one that was hinged upon working it out for just one group of people but for everyone to have a fair chance at a good life. With the 100 or so days she was given to campaign, she hit the ground running. I wanted to cry listening to her concession speech on the campus of Howard University yesterday, her alma mater, but of course, she exuded nothing but class and grace. She spoke to the younger generations like myself and the first-time voting generation that we can’t give up on hope and on the light of working towards a better country.
While we don’t have control of the Senate or House either, we can still hope and pray that we vote correctly moving forward. As for my state of Alabama, I’m so proud of Shomari Figures winning his House seat. He is the son of the late Michael Figures, who was a civil rights attorney and member of the Alabama Senate. His mother, Vivian Figures, succeeded his father in the Alabama Senate after his passing. He went to my mom’s high school in Mobile, Leflore, and graduated from the University of Alabama (Roll Tide.)
We also saw where now two Black Women will serve together in the Senate for the first time ever. In Maryland, Angela Alsobrooks won her race where she also became Maryland’s first black Senator and Lisa Blunt Rochester in Delaware won hers, Lisa also became the first woman and first Black woman to represent her state of Delaware in the Senate. Both Democrats and both will be taking the Senate floor by storm, this is history and definitely something to be proud of as well.
There was also history made for the LGBTQ+ community with Sarah McBride from Delaware winning her state’s at-large US House seat and making her the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress.
Julie Johnson, a Texan Democrat, also won her race, which made her the first openly gay representative from the South.
So, we still have a lot of history that was made the other night and that is in its way, highly encouraging.
We have a lot of work to do on the local and community level and all I can say is that I’m going to look at the ways I can do my part to help be a functioning part of the community, an advocate to those who feel that don’t have a voice, and an advocate for those who definitely don’t have a voice. Helping with educating the next generation and current voters as well.
But for now, I’m going to focus on joy and finding more joy.
I pray you all have a wonderful day and rest of your week. Find your “pockets of peace” and cater to yourselves in all ways applicable. One of my joys, is through food. I’ll be on my Instagram cooking later, we’re making stuffed pasta shells, I hope you’ll join me.
Until later, I love y’all♥️
P.S. I have a self-care playlist if you want to take a listen and zen out. I’ll be back to making blog playlists next week, starting with commemorating the legendary Quincy Jones. You can listen to Self-Care is Love & Bliss on Spotify here.
