To start, I’m under no illusions that the United States of America has, or has ever had a positive, mutually beneficial relationship based on trust, love and respect with Native peoples, people of color, the LGBTQ community, immigrants or women, but, that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hurt. 

I don’t live in the United States anymore, but my family does, and whether I like it or not, I’m linked to the country for better or for worse. As an ex-pat living in Europe, I’m often asked to explain the workings of my birthplace, and more often than not, the conversation ends with a solemn shaking of the head, and frustration. Today, it’s sadness. 

I awaited the election results seven hours in the future with knots in my stomach, a furrowed brow, and a tormented spirit. I had a hunch as to the results before the flood of text messages, phone calls, and notifications that sent my phone into a tizzy at 6 a.m. but again, it still hurts. 

I’m not surprised, but I am grieving.

 I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently: Assata, Malcolm, James, Stokely, Julian, Angela, Frederick, Marcus, and I’ve been trying to wake up. Thanks to their words, the shock has been minimized. What I’ve learned from these erudite revolutionaries is that we as POC, as women, as “minorities” cannot ever be surprised at just how deeply our country is broken. At how profound the hate is because there has never been, nor will there ever be closure. Imagine having to live everyday in a house with someone who represents (and sometimes even participates in) the active, blatant oppression, plundering, and cultural genocide of you, and your ancestors. Chaos ensues. 

The United States is built on a system of oppression, privilege, racism, misogyny and violence. It’s at the very core. In order for the country to maintain its wealth, it uses deception, fear tactics, and thrives only on division, violence and disorder. All the while, POC are expected to nod, smile, and graciously accept living in a cage– however shiny or big– as if progress has been made. Progress for whom? 

The US and POC, we’ve always been frenemies. 

Why? Because you cannot be friends with someone who minimizes and vehemently denies your pain and suffering; in a place where your culture is erased or exploited; where your fathers, and brothers are hunted like beasts; and where your future is dependent upon the acceptance of a white, economically stable middle class that doesn’t know the first thing about you or yours. Meanwhile you fight to keep your head just inches above water in a system strategically built to keep you stifled and struggling. 

You can’t trust a place that expects and requires you to prove your humanity as if it is not apparent already. Dress like this, walk like this, use these words, go to this school. In the words of Stokely Carmichael: “That’s only a rationalization for suppression”. It will never be enough because, as we have just seen: we are not liked in our country. It seems strange to write these words, but the sooner we get over it, the better, because the racists and bigots and misogynists will not stop here. 

To my brothers and sisters who are realizing for the first time that the United States of America doesn’t care about them, I’m sorry. On the other hand, they’ve made it very clear. When the first boat of human beings from Africa landed on these shores, when the Native peoples were massacred, when the laws claimed that Black people were three-fifths of a human being, when the government polices who you can and cannot love (and marry) and women remain invisible besides serving their one and only “God-given duty”. You can see it in the ghettos, on the reservations, in the news, at schools, in the history books: it’s all around us. And now, the same people who “played nice” and tolerated your very existence have a free pass to take their rancor, their prejudice, and their ignorance and wear it proudly because our country has spoken. No really, they’ve made t-shirts. 

This is what ‘greatness’ looks like in the United States. And the bitter truth is that you, POC, women, LGBTQ community, immigrants, Native peoples, are not included. You’re not a part of the ’Great America’. Carmichael goes on to say: “We cannot be expected any longer to march and have our heads broken in order to say to whites: Come on, you’re nice guys. For you are not nice guys. We have found you out”.

Do you really want to be part of this “American Dream”?  

Do you truly want to appease a group of people that denies your existence and actively excludes you? Do not look towards them for help or answers, for oppressors cannot ever be trusted to show you the way towards freedom. Be kind to one another, because it’s very clear that empathy and humanity are two major things missing at the current time. Be strong, and stand tall because you are. 

You exist. Not because they confirm or deny this fact. You are, because you are.

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