I eventually fell back asleep and when the alarm to get up for work went off, I struggled to get out of bed. Then, I struggled to get out of the shower. Then I struggled to even decide whether or not to dry my hair before leaving for work, which I did 45 minutes late.
Election Night from C.M. Scott on Vimeo.
Yesterday I wore white in honor of the suffragists, today I wear black, tomorrow I will wear color again. I am only beginning to wrap my brain around what this might mean for me and my fellow Americans.
I believe that change will come. Some of it may be really bad at the hands of this new government, and some of it will be amazing, hard-fought triumphs in response to the bad that is entering the White House. I don't know how, but something big is going to happen. America is going to change and it will be because of Trump, but only because of those rising up against his hate.
Here are some of the things that friends and "friends" are posting on FB. Some sad, some uplifting and encouraging. I want it recorded here for my own records. I may keep adding
Yesterday I told my daughters that history was being made that day while we voted together as a family. Today they comforted me while I cried. They are confused about their country and so am I. My brother told me to tell them about the diversity of the country that they live in. My best friend told me to tell them that this is what it feels like to be in a minority. My sister worries about our collective safety and the safety of our girls.
For my friends in the field of education...
I can't sugar coat this one. This is bad. Like, worst case scenario bad.
Our country has suffered a major setback, the ramifications of which we'll be dealing with for at least the next four years. We're still in shock and fearful of what this means for ourselves, our families and our students.
It's natural for us to take a beat while we come to terms with the results of this election. But the time will come, and soon, for us to get up, dust ourselves off and get back in the fight.
Too many of our students are counting on us to support and stand with them, and they're going to need us now more than ever.
Make no mistake, this new president will rescind executive orders and DOE/DOJ directives that protect undocumented students, gender nonconforming students, students of color, and so many others. And then there's SCOTUS, where he'll name at least one alt-right justice taking aim at Roe v. Wade.
Like I told you, worst case scenario.
But there are few better positioned than us to fight back and resist these measures. Those of us with a social justice pedigree have always known that systemic oppression was real, but what right minded person can deny it now?
The fact is, many will continue to deny this reality, and it's up to us to challenge them. It's up to us to amplify our students' voices and advocate for more inclusive environments. It's up to us, because that's just what we do.
I, for one, am not running off to Canada. I'll be right here, resisting, speaking out and standing up for those who need it most. But none of us can do it alone. Let's stand together, my friends.
The resistance begins today.
Something Lin-Manual Miranda tweeted struck me: "We are all still here." This is really comforting, on a day when I feel like the country took a dark turn. All of us who wanted something better for our country are still here for each other today; and as long as we continue to be in the face of whatever comes next, our beliefs and hopes, and the possibility of those things coming to fruition, are still here, too.
Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
"If you believe in the truth, there’s only one response: Get up and get back to work.
Just because the worst thing happened, doesn’t mean that what you value is meaningless. Instead, it means that the job in front of you is a lot harder than you thought it would be."
Just because the worst thing happened, doesn’t mean that what you value is meaningless. Instead, it means that the job in front of you is a lot harder than you thought it would be."
To those claiming Hillary Clinton was a "Bad Candidate": don't forget please that 1. Turnout was low, and 2. Clinton WON the popular vote. The majority of Americans who did vote voted for her.
Joe Austerman added 12 new photos — with Suzanne Smith and 13 others.
TL:DR After the election, I’ll be fine. Most of the important people in my life, maybe not so much. I have hope though because all of those people are really strong and talented and woke.
I woke up today fearing for the health and safety for our nation. I look to history when trying to understand the state of the world. I, admittedly a little dramatically so, look at the conditions of Germany in the 1920s and see the same fear, anger, and scapegoating that propelled such a dictatorial regime to enter. My mind smacks these thoughts out of my head and I rationalize my situation.
I am a 40 year-old Caucasian heterosexual male that lives in an affluent neighborhood that is 99% just like me who I feel strong sense of community with. I have an awesome house, a stable career that puts me around the 1% of top incomes in the nation, I’m Catholic, I have the requisite 3 healthy children that are involved music, sports, PSR, volunteering, and a myriad of social clubs. I have an amazing wife who runs the family who is also a PhD level psychologist. I have advanced degrees myself and get amazing opportunities to keep me engaged in my career. I have stocks, bonds, mutual funds, rainy day funds, saving accounts, an accountant and financial manager. I have an amazing person that is basically a family member that takes care of my kids and runs the house when my wife and I are at work. Most of the people in my life enjoy many of these same things.
Frankly, I’m going to be fine. We have a government that was built for just my demographic. I’ll enjoy the tax breaks and change in financial laws that will come for the affluent. It will increase the sphere of religious influence over government enforcing my patriarchal status over female productive rights and the LGBTQ community. It will militarize our police force and funnel money into security to protect me. It will ensure that I continue to have all of the perks that I’ve always enjoyed. So yes, I’ll be fine.
When I write this I am not sad for me.
I’m sad for my daughters and son. Their country is now teaching them that women are expendable, one dimensional objects useful only for sex or supporting the men in their lives. They deserve less pay. When they speak for themselves they can be ridiculed and marginalized, and that women are less than men. For my Latino family and friends, who are scapegoated for seeking a better life are told they are reason for our financial woes and joblessness, not the government supports the rights of corporations over people. Corporations that care only about minimizing cost and maximizing profit over community and people which drive jobs out of our country. To institutionalized racism by instilling in everyone an us against them mentality. I’m sad for my LGBTQ friends who will see rights stripped from them removing their human dignity. The working poor, for all of those tax breaks that I will get, you will pay for. What is left of the middle class will disappear and the education that has supported the existence and escape from being poor will be so unaffordable that it be all but inaccessible to those not already in the upper class. I’m sad for the police and African American community. The path will continue to diverge leading to more conflict and death on both sides. I have loved ones on both sides and fear for them both. To my many Muslim friends who live in the states and abroad. Fear will continue to rise and we will funnel that fear into war. For those with mental illness. Under the current powers, just has repeatedly happened, funding for support systems and treatment will be diverted away leading to a greater downward drift resulting in further marginalization/criminalization. The children I see and treat will have even less. To my parents and all educators who will see the continued corporation of education so that teaching our children will be dependent on financial needs and not the child leading to the expansion of a two tiered system where privately schooled children will keep up with international education while the public school children fall further behind.
I feel sad for all of these people in my life because their lives will be harder and these people are really what make my life meaningful, ot the money, or job, or opportunities. It has always been the people in my life.
I am hopeful though. This election has made me sad but has not broken me. It has not broken my friends, my family, my communities, or those that are scared, lonely, and feel that they are not part of this amazing country. I look through my feed this morning and I see you. There are many of you. We are all feeling the same things. When I see your faces I see such amazing, powerful, generous, and thoughtful people and I think that we are not alone. We have made choices that that allowed us to share wonderful experiences together. I am thankful and humbled. I was taught by my parents and my wife and her parents that you don’t always win but you get out of bed, you put on your big girl/boy pantsuit on and you persist. You outlast fear and hatred and bigotry, and greed. We do it together every day. We do it together but being the people that you are. I find strength in you. Hopefully you see the same in me. And, don’t worry. I’ll be fine. You…eh maybe. At least I’m with you.
I woke up today fearing for the health and safety for our nation. I look to history when trying to understand the state of the world. I, admittedly a little dramatically so, look at the conditions of Germany in the 1920s and see the same fear, anger, and scapegoating that propelled such a dictatorial regime to enter. My mind smacks these thoughts out of my head and I rationalize my situation.
I am a 40 year-old Caucasian heterosexual male that lives in an affluent neighborhood that is 99% just like me who I feel strong sense of community with. I have an awesome house, a stable career that puts me around the 1% of top incomes in the nation, I’m Catholic, I have the requisite 3 healthy children that are involved music, sports, PSR, volunteering, and a myriad of social clubs. I have an amazing wife who runs the family who is also a PhD level psychologist. I have advanced degrees myself and get amazing opportunities to keep me engaged in my career. I have stocks, bonds, mutual funds, rainy day funds, saving accounts, an accountant and financial manager. I have an amazing person that is basically a family member that takes care of my kids and runs the house when my wife and I are at work. Most of the people in my life enjoy many of these same things.
Frankly, I’m going to be fine. We have a government that was built for just my demographic. I’ll enjoy the tax breaks and change in financial laws that will come for the affluent. It will increase the sphere of religious influence over government enforcing my patriarchal status over female productive rights and the LGBTQ community. It will militarize our police force and funnel money into security to protect me. It will ensure that I continue to have all of the perks that I’ve always enjoyed. So yes, I’ll be fine.
When I write this I am not sad for me.
I’m sad for my daughters and son. Their country is now teaching them that women are expendable, one dimensional objects useful only for sex or supporting the men in their lives. They deserve less pay. When they speak for themselves they can be ridiculed and marginalized, and that women are less than men. For my Latino family and friends, who are scapegoated for seeking a better life are told they are reason for our financial woes and joblessness, not the government supports the rights of corporations over people. Corporations that care only about minimizing cost and maximizing profit over community and people which drive jobs out of our country. To institutionalized racism by instilling in everyone an us against them mentality. I’m sad for my LGBTQ friends who will see rights stripped from them removing their human dignity. The working poor, for all of those tax breaks that I will get, you will pay for. What is left of the middle class will disappear and the education that has supported the existence and escape from being poor will be so unaffordable that it be all but inaccessible to those not already in the upper class. I’m sad for the police and African American community. The path will continue to diverge leading to more conflict and death on both sides. I have loved ones on both sides and fear for them both. To my many Muslim friends who live in the states and abroad. Fear will continue to rise and we will funnel that fear into war. For those with mental illness. Under the current powers, just has repeatedly happened, funding for support systems and treatment will be diverted away leading to a greater downward drift resulting in further marginalization/criminalization. The children I see and treat will have even less. To my parents and all educators who will see the continued corporation of education so that teaching our children will be dependent on financial needs and not the child leading to the expansion of a two tiered system where privately schooled children will keep up with international education while the public school children fall further behind.
I feel sad for all of these people in my life because their lives will be harder and these people are really what make my life meaningful, ot the money, or job, or opportunities. It has always been the people in my life.
I am hopeful though. This election has made me sad but has not broken me. It has not broken my friends, my family, my communities, or those that are scared, lonely, and feel that they are not part of this amazing country. I look through my feed this morning and I see you. There are many of you. We are all feeling the same things. When I see your faces I see such amazing, powerful, generous, and thoughtful people and I think that we are not alone. We have made choices that that allowed us to share wonderful experiences together. I am thankful and humbled. I was taught by my parents and my wife and her parents that you don’t always win but you get out of bed, you put on your big girl/boy pantsuit on and you persist. You outlast fear and hatred and bigotry, and greed. We do it together every day. We do it together but being the people that you are. I find strength in you. Hopefully you see the same in me. And, don’t worry. I’ll be fine. You…eh maybe. At least I’m with you.
Like many of you, I've been reading a lot, having many conversations and emotions, contemplating what action steps to take and orgs to donate to but I want to say this: anger, fear and rage are appropriate responses to grief but don't let them burn you out. Take a media break, get some sleep, do whatever it is you need to do to nourish yourself. We have a lot to fix in this country. Let's be in this for the long haul.
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
- Wendell Berry
A letter from the pres of BU
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
- Wendell Berry
A letter from the pres of BU
|
Dear Friends,
|
|
We have been witness to one of the most extraordinary presidential elections in our nation’s history. We are, from various individual perspectives, contemplating changes in policy and philosophy that we anticipate will take place at the federal level and affect our lives. Some in our community will celebrate the outcome. Many are very disappointed. Many also are deeply anxious because of the corrosive and disrespectful statements about women, racial and ethnic groups, religions, and nations made during the campaign. In the months and years ahead we will learn where our newly elected government stands on the critical issues that will shape the future of our republic, our society, and our world.
|
|
In the aftermath of such a contentious election, it is understandable that there is a desire to discuss our dreams and fears as we contemplate the future. Associate Provost and Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore and the staff of the Howard Thurman Center have organized an election discussion for today, Thursday, November 10, 2016, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the College of General Studies, Room 505. Our faculty have also organized additional discussions and will continue to do so, as needed.
|
|
There will be change in our country. Boston University was founded in 1839 by a group of abolitionists who abhorred slavery. They secured a Massachusetts charter in 1869 in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. The searing lessons of the Civil War were reflected in our founders' commitment to open the University’s doors to all students, regardless of gender, race, religion, or place of origin. This exemplary inclusiveness—at a time when such openness was extremely rare—is the bedrock on which we were built and on which we must continue to build.
|
|
Like our country, Boston University will flourish if we adhere to enduring principles that have defined our community for 150 years: respect for all people and their right to free expression, adherence to the rule of law, and respect for reasoned arguments and scientific findings. Finally, the strength of our community also depends on our commitment to civility in debate and discussion which can lead to mutual understanding.
|
|
I believe that Boston University has these values deeply embedded in its institutional DNA. No matter how we are tested, we must stay the course—holding fast to these values—so that Boston University can always be a beacon for others. I hope you will join me in this journey.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Brown President |
No comments:
Post a Comment