Many of us woke up today with the same thought–what just happened? Even after going to bed with a feeling of doom, we still clung to a small sliver of hope that perhaps when we woke up, suddenly the results would have changed. Sadly, this was not the case. The worst part is, how do we tell our kids that everything will be OK?
Last night, CNN anchor Van Jones emotionally revealed what many parents were feeling last night when they thought about the conversation they needed to have with their kids this morning, stating:
“It’s hard to be a parent tonight for a lot of us. You tell your kids don’t be a bully. You tell your kids don’t be a bigot, you tell your kids do your homework, and be prepared. And then you have this outcome and you have people putting children to bed tonight and they’re afraid of breakfast. They’re afraid of, ‘how do I explain this to my children.’”
He went on to say how American citizens who are not white men are afraid right now:
“I have Muslim friends who are texting me tonight saying, ‘should I leave the country?’ I have families of immigrants that are terrified tonight.”
For anyone who is not in a place of privilege, this election is life-changing–and not in a good way. How must it feel for someone who no longer feels comfortable calling America home, whether it’s because they’re waiting on a green card, have a parent who was recently deported, or are a Muslim-American?
Van Jones went on to say that Trump has a responsibility to the people–to assure them that he will be everyone’s president, not just for a certain group:
“Donald Trump has a responsibility tonight to come and reassure people that he is going to the president of all the people who he insulted and offended and brushed aside. When you say you want to take your country back, you’ve got a lot of people who feel that they aren’t represented well, either. But we don’t want to feel that someone has been elected by throwing away some of us to appeal more deeply to others.”
He is right. At this point, we can’t change the election results, as much as we may want to. We are all struggling through this election right now in different ways, as we all have different identities, whether we are Latina, Jewish, transgender, African American, etc. The only thing we can do now is talk about it, stick to our beliefs, and fight when we can. Basically, we need to figure out ways to survive–and not lose hope in the changes we want to see and be in the world.
Watch Van Jones talk about it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYsgjNZparM
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