It's been another year.
A year since my last post, where it felt like entire world had fallen apart with the death of my brother. I had though 2015 was the worst year of my life.
And now, like the crack across a windshield spidering and spreading across the entire pane of glass, crisscrossing the smooth surface until the entire thing is wobbling perilously whenever you go above twenty miles per hour, I can say it's gotten even worse.
2016 has Fucking. Sucked.
The increased prevalence of mass shootings, of hate crimes, of the general increase of societal paranoia. The warning signs were there. The creaking of the oak was quiet at first, but got louder and louder until it was falling right on our heads and we pretended not to notice.
This election has been a watershed moment in American History. It changes every election coming forward from here on out, but it also changes the day to day spirals of society. Donald Trump, a man best known for suing everyone who insults him and screaming "You're fired!" with the same mannerisms as a pissed off cartoon character, is the president. He ran on a populist campaign of hatred, isolationism, and xenophobia. And he is now the 45th president of the USA.
Incidents of hate crimes, swastika tagging, public displays of white supremacy, and the whole rotten bushel of associated acts have increased dramatically. By the first few days of the President-Elect's preparations, it's become increasingly apparent he is scared, unprepared, and entirely overwhelmed. He's lining up the worst bits of the Republican party to fill cabinet and directorship positions. They didn't want him as a candidate, but now that he's in office and searching for help, they've stepped forward with the proverbial briefcase of ringers.
The democrats and liberals are not entirely innocent of this affair. We laughed at his candidacy. Made jokes, made memes. Sneered at the "racist hillbillies" of middle America" as they howled at one of Trump's Nuremberg Rallies. But they are people too. People marginalized by the cutural and technological elite in the cities and on the coasts. If you saw this year's election map, it's painfully obvious how the societal divide is shown. Red in the middle, blue on the sides. These are the people from small towns like Moose Bend, Arkansas or Arrow River, Kentucky or something else colloquial and simple that us liberals make fun of. But these people have been marginalized by the government and big business pulling work out until they were dying in the streets for work. So they voted against the establishment. That doesn't excuse the racism ingrained in that culture. But it does bring us a step closer to understanding them.
We're divided now, more than ever. Far from "coming together to accept the president" we should still come together as people. We are all citizens. It is the political elite and the rich who have turned us against each other with their greed. They have the power and control.
Now is the time that we need to be vigilant for blatant abuses of that power. No one knows what the coming days will hold, but I have pledges to myself to speak out and interfere in any incidents of hatred I see or hear about. I wear the safety pin. This is the time that will go down in history and be appellated by one of two statements.
"The eventual collapse of the United States began in 2016."
Or
"The United States began to address it's inherent societal issues in 2016."
Now raise your fists up with me. I am back on the streets.
