After reading all of the post-presidential election excuses concerning the reasons for the failure of Hillary Clinton to win the White House, which virtually all seem to center on the failure of democrats to find solutions for the White working class, see for example, I remain disappointed with a reality many people of color were reminded of on November 8th. Donald Trump ran and won because of the power of hate, bigotry, and White Supremacy.
As a reasonable thinking person of color that was mortified by the weekly disqualifying statements by Trump, aimed at virtually every vulnerable minority group in this country: i.e., the physically disabled, Arabs, Muslims, Latinos, African-Americans, and women, just to name a few, I sincerely believed reasonably-thinking people would come out in huge numbers to reject bias. I thus volunteered hundreds of hours on the Clinton Campaign, doing everything from poll watching, to phone banks to writing op-eds both in English and Spanish. My sense was that Democrats, and people of color in particular, were motivated to reject the hateful rhetoric stemming from the other side. Indeed, I perhaps foolishly, like so many other pundits, predicted in both English and Spanish the Latino electorate would come out in massive numbers to reject bias and bigotry. See here for example, and here.
Like millions of others, and virtually every news account and prognosticator in the country, I was dead wrong on the election results, and what actually was reasonable thinking in our times. What the days since have reminded me was the place, people of color, in general, and Latinas and Latinos specifically, currently hold in this society. Many of us were lulled into thinking our world had changed, perhaps in part due to the two-term election of Barack Obama as our President. We naively believed our world and country had progressed and would act rationally to reject the cornerstone of the Trump campaign--rhetoric centered on White Nationalism. What our collective Psyche failed to appreciate was that the White majority in fact acted rationally--they came out like locusts to reject the inclusiveness of the progressive agenda of Obama, the Democrats, and other left of center groups throughout the land. However, November 8th reminds us we should not forget-- through the annals of time leaders from Gloria Steinem, Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez to Harriet Tubman have noted that both freedom and power is not given up freely, it has to be fought for and taken.
On November 7, 2016, the vestiges of self-interest, and hegemony (perhaps explaining why so many White women were okay with such an embarrassing misogynist candidate, and how 18% of Latinas and Latinos were okay with the unprecedented hateful and demeaning words directed at them and their brothers and sisters) showed their strength in the reclaiming of "their America."
For the rest of us, I have a response, perhaps to give us a moment of optimism as we prepare to face challenging days ahead: to use the vernacular of my old inner city New York neighborhood: "no worries, I got you." You see, I, along with all reasonably thinking progressive people, know the era of successful institutional bias is in the midst of ladder chapters of the annals of U.S. history. You see, the demographics of our populous and in fact the power of education is not with them. We know an ill-equipped egomaniac unqualified candidate running on his nauseating ego and the interim power of hate will not succeed. Yes, he will be the president, but his self-interest, vanity, and shameful arrogance will hurt millions. We, however, will still be present ready to stand up for the voiceless and be "presente," using that old Caribbean sentiment to be counted upon to ensure our narrative of inclusion, love, and reasonable thinking will be this country's lasting legacy after the failure of hate.