Pain. That is what I see when I look at the television, magazines, and social media. Pain after seeing the result that the election has yielded. No one bet on the one who won, no one. A winner who has been involved in a thousand and one controversies, controversies of all kinds, but none about his sympathy. A person who has verbally assaulted Muslims, Latinos, women, and non-heterosexuals. A person who has literally instilled fear all of the people that do not agree with him.
I am currently in my fifth year in the United States, a country that has given me a lot — a college education, a job, families, life-long friends, and love. And now, for the first time in five years, I feel scared to go out into the street. I fear being able to face those human beings who have come out of their caves to claim the power they believe they deserve.
I have always liked to walk in Goshen, it’s something that gives me, or gave me, peace of mind. Since the eighth of November things have changed immensely. Nothing has changed in the facades of buildings, absolutely nothing, everything looks the same, but there is something in the environment, or maybe in my heart, that tells me that this world that we see now is currently in the process of changing. Every time I see my Latino colleagues, I see fear in their eyes, and that is something that no human being deserves.
I look at social media and I read messages from people I know well writing in favor of Trump. Does that surprise me? Not really, and I’m not going to hate them for it either. But it’s true that today I have a hard time talking to them, looking them in the eyes, or having any kind of interaction with them.
As I told my relatives, this does not directly affect ME, but we are talking about a violation of fundamental human rights. The rights for which our ancestors have fought for so long, and that now, in a fit of rage, we decided to throw overboard.
Remember, this is not a joke that we can laugh about in a few years. We are facing the president of a country considered the most socially influential in the world. A guy who can solve any problem by a tantrum and the push of a button. Were they looking for security? Well they found chaos.
I see tears on the faces of many people that have woken up knowing that this a reality that is going to last, at a minimum, for four years. Tears of pain, sadness, deception, and uncertainty.
Really, America? You could have changed the future and you decided to return to the past. To a time when human rights were not respected. And that’s where I do not agree with the current president. I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican, in fact, I can’t even vote in this country since I am an international person, but I wish for all of us to have the same rights. Because WE ALL deserve them.
A man has been named president, who, despite changing to a more moderate agenda, continues to think about what was said during his campaign. A man that doesn’t think about equality or love. A man that sees all of this as just another business on his list, without fixed ideas, without electoral programs, but above all, without justice.
These are the words that came to my mind the day after the election, words addressed to the country:
“United States, you have shown me many things throughout these years. But now, just as I was starting to feel a love for you, you have hurt me deeply. You have disappointed me, showing your racist, sexist, populist, segregated, and intolerant side. You, who is known as the diverse and multiracial country, you have decided to take thousands of steps backwards to demonstrate that the only thing that matters to you is power and that you really don’t want to take in the people that come here and help you.
I would like to know more about your future and be able to say that everything is going to be okay, but right now I’m just not sure because your cavemen have decided to come out and I do not know when or if they will decide to return. I would like to tell my girlfriend that the country that has seen her grow is not racist or bad or sexist. But I can’t, because these elections have have demonstrated that there are a lot of people that don’t believe in the freedom for which others have fought.”
Disappointed, I tried to transform that anger and disappointment by creating conversation and connection through this blog. A blog that helps us to know more about the people around us, those people that Mr. Trump once pointed out as the ones who are guilty for the problems of the United States. Because I, after having met these people, suffer for them. I suffer for the future that we are giving to these people and everyone else who will be coming, and I also suffer for the people that I love in the United States and for the country itself, which does not deserve this suffering. But if we allow ourselves to be open and vulnerable, to connect with each other and support each other, I do believe that we can whether this storm, and maybe even come out stronger on the other side.
Let us fight with love, because only love allows us to truly understand the people around us.
- LUIS PÉREZ LERTXUNDI