By Monique Judge
NewsOne
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
Donald Trump was elected because he has openly promised to uphold institutionalized racism, white supremacy, and anti-Blackness.
Source: GIORGIO VIERA / Getty
Donald Trump is on his way back to the White House, and this time he’s back for revenge.
This is the point at which the sociopsychological experiment that is the United States of America has jumped the shark and descended into madness.
We are a week past the election, and people are having the same discussions and debates over and over again, mostly centered on trying to figure out where to lay blame for Trump’s electoral victory.
To be clear, Black men aren’t to blame. We know for sure Black women aren’t to blame, and while the Latinos who voted for him should stick a quarter in their asses because they have definitely played themselves, the blame doesn’t rest solely with them either.
If we are keeping it real, there was no way Kamala Harris was going to be elected president in this country, and I say that not to discredit her or downplay her accomplishments or her qualifications for the job.
I say that because it’s real.
Wake up, Black people, because we need to start figuring out a plan for the future that extends beyond lamenting the election results and playing the blame game.
Anti-Blackness was on the ballot disguised as a presidential candidate
White people walked into the polls a week ago and placed their votes to uphold white supremacy, white patriarchy, and white privilege. They voted in favor of whiteness and nothing else.
They didn’t want Kamala just like they didn’t want Hillary. They barely tolerated Barack Obama, and we all saw the collective backlash from white people that a Black man was in the Oval Office.
White people are not interested in Black people being their equals or even being perceived as being better than them. History has shown us this time and time again.
These white people were not going to let a Black woman ascend to the highest position in the country, and we all should have been prepared for that.
Black people only secured the right to vote in this country in 1965 through the Voting Rights Act, and 59 years later, there were still attempts to stop Black people from voting, including bomb threats in the Blackest counties in Georgia.
The whiteness game is still the same whiteness game that has been played throughout America’s history; only the players change, but the game stays the same.
On Saturday, “Aunt Jemima” was trending on X, formerly Twitter. When I clicked on the trending topic, I saw tweets from people all over the MAGAsphere cheering and saying their newly reelected president would be bringing back Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, the Redskins, and every other offensive thing they believe “woke” took away from them.
“Let’s say buh bye to pronouns, DEI, pride displays, child mutilation and drag queen story hour! And BRING BACK CHRISTMAS, Aunt Jemima on syrup bottles, statues of our forefathers, and insult humor!! Make America SANE AGAIN!” one person wrote.
Another tweeted a graphic showing the former logos for Uncle Ben, Aunt Jemima, and Land O’Lakes butter as well as the former mascots for the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians – two professional sports teams that changed their names and their logos in the face of criticism over their usage of slurs against Native Americans and Indigenous peoples.
The caption on the tweet said, “BRING THEM ALL BACK” in all caps.
They are serious about this.
Source: The Washington Post / Getty
When they went into the voting booths last Tuesday, they weren’t voting for president. They weren’t voting for a person they believed would do what’s best for the country.
They voted for the person who would do what’s best for them, and what works best for them is if racism, white supremacy, and anti-Blackness continue to have a permanent place in American society.
The “progressive movement” that they are so against is one that threatens the status quo. They are against anything that will level the playing field for Black people because as I said before, they don’t want Black people to be their equals.
Those people filed into the voting booth and put their names and their votes behind the man who ran an entire campaign on anti-Blackness – a man who promised to uphold whiteness for them if they got him into office again.
They voted for the further subjugation of Black people.
And be clear: this isn’t just the racist white people who did this. There are plenty of white people who smile in our faces on a daily basis and pretend to be our allies and friends that walked into the booth and voted for Trump because deep down, they are worried about their tenuous grasp on being the “majority” in this country.
They are scared.
And because they are scared, they voted for a man who doesn’t have a plan for America that actually benefits all of America and all of America’s citizens.
His plan involves more racism, more xenophobia, more anti-immigrant rhetoric and antagonism, and more white supremacy.
We knew this would happen, though.
Just like when the people in 2029 sent the T-800 back in time to save Sarah and John Connor from the T-1000, we have plenty of history behind us to understand that the whiteness in this country is never going to act in the best interests of us as Black people.
Lest you think this is about Democrats vs. Republicans, let me assure you that neither party is working in our best interest.
We don’t have time to cry about the election anymore.
Please get over your sadness and reckon with the fact that this country doesn’t give a damn about any of us. A lot of the people elected to serve us truly only serve their self-interests.
Yes, we’ve been through worse before, and like our ancestors, we need to fight back.
We have to organize. We have to plan. We have to build community. We have to put our energy and our efforts into enacting social and political change.
This isn’t about who is to blame. This isn’t about which party is better. This is about our humanity.
This is about our lives.
We all we got.
Are we ready to fight for each other?
Let’s find out.
Monique Judge is a storyteller, content creator and writer living in Los Angeles. She is a word nerd who is a fan of the Oxford comma, spends way too much time on Twitter, and has more graphic t-shirts than you. Follow her on Twitter @thejournalista or check her out at moniquejudge.com.
