This IS us
There is this sentiment in the United States that we are a place for miracles, and an example of this is the election of Donald Trump to the White House. I mean, anyone can be president. Am I right?
Actually no. Anyone with money, connections, and the right gender, sexuality and skin color can achieve what they wish. Everyone else must be exceptional. Think about the number of Ivy League degrees that the Obama family hold/will hold. Hillary Clinton was a U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, and lived her entire adult life in public service, withstanding a decades-long campaign of negative press to win the popular vote by more than 3 million, but still could not win the presidency. So no, I do not believe that anyone can be president in America.
That America is a meritocracy is a myth, and a dangerous one. It allows people to think of this country as positively exceptional when we elect someone like Donald Trump as president without considering how we've enabled narcissism, greed, racism, misogyny, xenophobia and propaganda to triumph. Without considering that these things have been part of the American character since our country's inception. We overlook these very real flaws in our leadership (not just Donald Trump and not just the Republican party), and twist ourselves to create "many sides" to the current American crisis so that we mitigate our personal, collective and historical wrongdoing.
I hear a lot of talk about being on the right side of history. I think about the mobs of white people screaming at Ruby Bridges and others. Time moved on and moved past their hateful views in some ways, but time passes without regard to public opinion. What happened to those people and the white children whom they were attempting to preserve, who were their cause and witness? If we only look back to thank goodness we aren't that way anymore, we will fail to see how we've carried that racism into this day, into a new generation, by not addressing it, by ignoring it, by committing ourselves to the myth of American meritocracy that ignores the cost and consequences of racism, sexism and xenophobia. We cannot relegate oppression and its enablers to the shadows. We must expose it and rise above it.
There is no side. There is only moving forward. And it is upto all of us, now and always, to ensure that the path forward is just.
Actually no. Anyone with money, connections, and the right gender, sexuality and skin color can achieve what they wish. Everyone else must be exceptional. Think about the number of Ivy League degrees that the Obama family hold/will hold. Hillary Clinton was a U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, and lived her entire adult life in public service, withstanding a decades-long campaign of negative press to win the popular vote by more than 3 million, but still could not win the presidency. So no, I do not believe that anyone can be president in America.
That America is a meritocracy is a myth, and a dangerous one. It allows people to think of this country as positively exceptional when we elect someone like Donald Trump as president without considering how we've enabled narcissism, greed, racism, misogyny, xenophobia and propaganda to triumph. Without considering that these things have been part of the American character since our country's inception. We overlook these very real flaws in our leadership (not just Donald Trump and not just the Republican party), and twist ourselves to create "many sides" to the current American crisis so that we mitigate our personal, collective and historical wrongdoing.
I hear a lot of talk about being on the right side of history. I think about the mobs of white people screaming at Ruby Bridges and others. Time moved on and moved past their hateful views in some ways, but time passes without regard to public opinion. What happened to those people and the white children whom they were attempting to preserve, who were their cause and witness? If we only look back to thank goodness we aren't that way anymore, we will fail to see how we've carried that racism into this day, into a new generation, by not addressing it, by ignoring it, by committing ourselves to the myth of American meritocracy that ignores the cost and consequences of racism, sexism and xenophobia. We cannot relegate oppression and its enablers to the shadows. We must expose it and rise above it.
There is no side. There is only moving forward. And it is upto all of us, now and always, to ensure that the path forward is just.
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