SO, WHAT NOW?
I must confess that I feel kind of lost, kind of empty, kind
of afraid and kind of mad. Driving home earlier, and on the wake of the
insurrection of January 6th, which has taken days to sink-in. Having not been in this space before, I needed
to understand it.
I feel lost because although all the writing was on the
wall, I never expected to see what I saw that day. Not in the U.S. Not living
in Santa Barbara, our share of paradise. I felt the same feeling I felt on 9/11
watching the violent images at the Capitol: incredulity, and yet, it was all
real. I felt, like many others did, that this country was far from becoming one
of those countries in which a nut-head gets to power and never wants to leave
it, placing his country and its people in the verge or extreme hunger, and constant
social unrest. Well, there you have it. We have our own version of it right
here; a “leader” who only takes care of himself and those around him, IF they
do as he says, whether legal, good, decent, or not. This is our reality now,
unfortunately. Was he a good “leader”?
Some might say yes, “he did good for the economy.” But is that all that we must
judge a president by? Is the economy the only standard? Up for debate.
Emptiness: Yes, because the question is, what now? Do we
have any options other than accepting the fact that our country, as we know it,
does not exist anymore? We do not have what most of us value so much: peace. I
have lived enough years to foresee what is there and what is not, and to maybe
make a prediction or two. This is not the country that I always admired and
loved. A beast, with a familiar name, was unleashed: Hate. When this happens, we
must always watch over our shoulders. We would never know whether it may charge
us, bite us, or try to kill us. When we hate and distrust each other, as human
beings, what do we have? How can we work together? How can we go back to what
we thought we knew about each other? I do not have answers, and sadly, I do not
feel much hope.
Fear: Of course, if there is no trust among us; if our views
are so different, what can we expect? Peace means nothing to those who believe
they can take a country with violence, based on nothing but on the lies they were
told, which perfectly plays with their leaders’ insatiable hunger for power. If
you try to tell them otherwise, with reason and evidence, they will still disregard
you. My father used to say, “People will believe what they want to believe.” Americans
are well-intended people, with values, and integrity. We are also prudent and
quiet, for the most part. We do not like to create controversy, and much less verbal
confrontation, so most of us keep our values and opinions quiet, and let the
noisy ones raise their voices without challenging them. That is a problem.
I am a Latina, and although I might look as white as the
next person, and I have enjoyed the same kind of privilege, many in my family have
not, and I fear the racist and discriminatory environment in which my children
and grandchildren will be living in the future. I am not a person who brings up
discrimination frequently in conversations. However, the hate that Trump unleashed toward blacks,
Latinos, Jews, and women, has no limits, as we all realize now. Hate is,
precisely, the fuel that ignites this violence. It is the undercurrent. The noisy,
violent individuals come from all walks of life, but their common thread is discrimination,
and the preservation of their privilege. They do not believe in Democracy, they
like leeches, just benefit from it. They want to keep in check those who they
perceive as a threat. It is a very scary notion for some to accept, but if we observe
the images of the mob at the Capitol, we will see the Confederate flags, and
the discriminatory messages written on their clothes. Is there any doubt?
This re-ignited hate, obviously, started with the election
of Obama. Many felt that their country was overtaken and wanted revenge. The election
of Trump was their retribution. With him as president, and his servants in
Congress, those who felt threatened and disfranchised before, felt that they
belonged, and felt safe to express their hate.
So yes, this new reality makes me mad. For me, my family, our
community, and for our Country. This is not what most Americans want or look
for. This social unrest is imposed upon us, and unfortunately, we will have to
deal with it. We might see more acts of violence in the future perpetrated by radicals.
These radicals may expand their reach, and recruit, and radicalize more people:
maybe some of those we think we know and trust. Trump’s legacy, as I see it, is
the beginning of a slow dismantling of our society, if we allow it.
So, this is a call to action for those of us with real American democratic values: speak up and push back on every discriminatory comment, joke, and aggression, against you or those around you, no matter how big or small it may seem. Let the radicals know that they have a steep hill in front of them, and that getting to the top will not be as easy as they’d like it to be.
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