God Is Mocking Us

Its hard. It is so hard. These days its hard not to get angry at everything and everyone. Its hard to breathe because it hurts when the breath settles in and you realise the current state of affairs of the world. Several times this year, our faith in humanity has been tested and several times humanity has failed us rather, we have failed it. Either way, we failed. Its hard to move on without acknowledging it in this space, I feel as if to talk about anything else before addressing the present state of affairs would be wrong because here is where I can spew about anything. So let’s talk or rather, let me rant.

THIS SHIT IS NOT NORMAL.

I told myself I wouldn’t think about it, or talk any more about it. I talked a lot about it before, and have done much more talking afterwards about the US election and each time I get angry. I go on social media and I am filled with blinding rage, unable to understand how we got here as a human race, how we let hate win and how and why and when and where? The questions ask themselves with every comment, every discussion, every debate and the answers are there but we don’t want these questions answered because to do so would be to make this an understandable series of event, give them reasoning and some sense, but this is such nonsense.

Deep breaths, we have been told to take deep breaths by those who can afford to breathe, and believe that things will get better, somewhat, or be normal, but nothing about this is normal. Its hard to be hopeful for a future that looks bleak. Our breaths are heavy and pregnant with fear, paralysed with hopelessness at the prospect of the future therefore it hurts to breathe.

A racist.

A sexist

A misogynist.

One who thinks it’s okay to grab women by the pussy.

Treat them however you want because of fame.

One who incites violence against people because of a difference of opinion.

This man who surrounds himself with a band of buffoon and a collection of idiots

We should be angry, we should be very angry.

We should be worried, we should be very worried.

This is not normal. This problem. This hatred. This fear. This feeling of hopelessness. This is not normal.

“We ain’t ready to see a Black presidency” Tupac, the G.O.A.T, sang in his song Changes, a song that is even more poignant today. If only he were alive.

In 2008 when Barack Obama was elected in as the 44^th president of the United States of America, the 1^st black president in over two centuries of a nation that claimed to be the land of the free and home of the brave, it was met with a sweeping sense of hope that encompassed the whole world, not just America. All through the campaign, the world watched, riveted, wondering if America would indeed do the impossible and dare to embrace its guiding phrase. And when he was indeed elected, no one was under the impression that this meant the end of racism, but it was a measure of hope, a show of civility, that the world, America in particular, was willing to move forward and forge this new path it long refused to. There has been a Black president, leader of the free world for eight years, his presidency has not been without its issues, but for the most part, and in time, Barack Obama will go down as one of the most phenomenal and accomplished Presidents of America. History will do him justice because it will reveal the underbelly of an institutionally racist democracy. And so it happens that on the heels of the first Black president in over two hundred years, a racist should be elected as President. One who was ordered to pay $25 million to settle the case against his University for defrauding student.

Oh man, God has a sick sense of humour.

Normal. What is normal? Not this, never this. Never, ever, ever this. This is a dangerous time to be alive, when language is high jacked and intentions are masqueraded. This is when, in a bid to put a plaster over the gashing wound, some would try to tell you that things ain’t so bad after all. They will try to make you see Donald Trump as one deserving of respect, because of the title he bears. The respect he never accorded Women, or Blacks or Hispanics. The racist rhetoric he spewed on his campaign trail reveals itself in his staff appointments amongst them, Steve Bannon, an alt right white supremacists is now chief strategist. In its bid to gain access to the White House the media is already softening its tone, honesty had been replaced by placating words as they try to persuade the public that Donald Trump is just like one of us, after all, a folksy guy who simply says it like it is. I hate that saying, say it like it is, as if being rude and disrespectful is the norm.  Whose “locker room banter” about sexually assaulting women are simply words that don’t matter. They’ll choose to address him by empty platitudes and remind you that he is a husband and a father, which he is, but he is also a racist homophobe who wants to build a wall from stopping Mexicans going into America, who allegedly would like that Muslims go on a state register. Hitler anyone? Remember that when people try to humanise his antics and gain sympathy for his followers who will say say its the sore losers protesting and should just get over it. They’ll downplay his endorsement from the KKK.

We must not understand why an overwhelming majority of white people voted for Donald Trump; it’s simple, its racism. He spoke their language, invoked their truth and revealed the depth of their entitlement. There is something about whiteness in America that has been accorded a state of superiority above all other races. Its the “All American” mentality that comes with certain conditions, colour being the most supreme, White being the only acceptable one. Here is where we relate it to that slogan, “Make America Great Again” and “Take our country back” from these Latinos and Hispanics, the enslaved Blacks who have risen above their station and dared make something of themselves, dared to ascend the highest station in the country and ruled the white man. Its why they get so mad and kill an unarmed black man or woman, why they are enraged dragging a black teenager across the floor only to get him to comply. It is why they will elect someone who challenges the identity of a President by asking to see his birth certificate to prove that he is American. It is why they would vote for someone who dismisses a sitting Judge on the basis of his Mexican lineage. And it is why we cannot accept that those who voted did so on the basis of economic policies that Hillary Clinton did not have, because neither does Donald Trump. They voted because they believe in an entitlement to a life better than the rest; Blacks, Latinos, Muslims and all those living on the fringe of those so called United States. There is no humanity in voting for someone who blatantly boasts about sexually assaulting women and getting away with it because he can, someone who says he would deport immigrants, build walls to keep Mexicans out, its unacceptable, someone who says black lives don’t matter in the role he played in the case against the Central Park 5; its racist. We must not call him by any other name than what he has shown us he is. A racist. His actions have spoken, they are louder than words. A misogynist. Filled with hate. Embodied by the KKK, enshrined in his white privilege. A bigot. To understand these behaviours and those who have endorsed him by their votes, is to accept that some people are better than others, that white trumps all others.

In Hollywood, people love a second act and so the media would be so inclined to give Donald Trump the chance at one, forgetting that he has had several but nothing changes, he is a man enshrined in his own narcissism and you cannot point out that he is wrong because narcissist have no relationship with realities beyond their comforts and self-interest. When one is vying to become the leader of the free world there are no second chances to be had, you get right by doing and speaking right because you will be judged by the content of your character. Donald Trump has no character.

The last decade we suffered a loss, our world changed and our reality was shattered when we woke up that morning to see those planes plunged into the Twin towers, it was the dawn of a new kind of threat, one that fractured our humanity. A group of people were tarnished by the actions of a mad few because of their religion. We drew lines, picked sides, suddenly our own wellbeing was more important that those who’d been plunged into this world of hate and fear and ridicule. This decade our realities have been stolen by mad men with big egos who have no sense of awareness, power mad and driven by greed. As the reality begins to sink in, the protesters will grow tired, the heightened passions that have arisen in the aftermath of this election will die down, and we will move on. History will judge us by our inactions in this moment, children of today, men and women of the future will call us weak willed and accepting, greedy and morally piss poor, with justification. They will remember us as standing on the margins when the most vulnerable were ostracised by cowards. We prove ourselves by fighting and raising our voices and never quitting the fight, we prove our worth by rejecting every fraction of this reality because to understand this is to accept it, and to accept it will be to embrace it, and this is not normal. This shit is not normal.

There are no deep breaths to be taken.