Shame and anger are the two words that swirl around my mind.
Shame on the Trump supporters, white nationalists, and rioters for the madness they conducted yesterday. In my heart, anger wells because America is unraveling at the seams as I grow taller and taller on this land.
I am not surprised nor in shock. I just wish the country I live in was better. The rioters who rushed into the U.S. Capitol were only able to do so because of the white privilege on their backs. The same white privilege they claim they "don't have" is the reason why four people died yesterday instead of hundreds more. If Black people or any other minority ever did anything like this, today would be a day of mourning. I would be writing a very different post. The hypocrisy is unbelievable — America is unbelievable.
Actor Michael Keaton posted something on his Instagram today that struck a chord in my bones. "When you see an insurrection like this in other countries, it's people who are truly oppressed-usually under the rule of a despot. You rioters(white terrorists) are NOT oppressed. For one thing police don't shoot people unnecessarily who look like you …"
Most if not all of the people apart of the coup yesterday are the MOST privileged people in America. This is how they react when something doesn't go their way? Attack the government of the country they "love" so much? Black Americans, Asians, Jewish Americans the Latinx community, and Indigenous Americans have gone through hell and back in this land, and look at the people trying to crush our democracy. How the tables have turned.
Our president (Inauguration Day couldn't come sooner) does not act like anyone outside of Trump America exists. He and his supporters are living in a Disney World Land while we are on a burning planet. Yesterday a man wore a sweatshirt that said: "Camp Auschwitz" on the front and "STAFF" on the back. My stomach flipped. What world are they living in? What person, what president, would look at supporters like this and be proud?
Trump set the fire under white supremacists, and the fact of the matter is these people aren't going away. The rioters live in America, have houses here, businesses, families. Domestic terrorism is an ugly beast. Again and again, I ask, how did this all happen?
Sometimes change feels so out of reach. It feels like no matter what I do, nothing will ever change. But I will not let the ugly creature that is fear poison my mind. So I think about James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and all of my gleaming Black heroes from above, and I soldier on.
You must too.
When I am afraid, I write because my voice can peek its head out of all the noise that clouds my thoughts. Today is my little sister's 7th birthday (her golden birthday), so I feel a bit better knowing that cake will be in my stomach soon. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that when she's 15 like me, she will not have to watch her country crumble again on t.v.
Stay safe, everyone, and I'll see you on Monday.
S.R.