The United States of America. Not only Canada’s neighbor, but also an influential and close friend to us in all regards. This past election, our friend is conflicted, divided, and in trouble. Thousands of Americans took to the streets to protest Trump’s presidential victory, chanting phrases like “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA!”, with nearly half a million people whom tweeted with the hashtag #NotMyPresident. A large population of Americans are very far from accepting and, instead, are absolutely shocked and furious regarding the surprising election results and the events they foresee happening throughout the next four years under a Trump presidency.
I’m in Canada, yet when I walked into school Wednesday morning, I felt a despondent atmosphere– the hallways weren’t as chatty as usual, my teachers seemed dull, and it wasn’t surprising to have overheard Donald Trump’s name in conversations.
Why exactly are people so severely upset and dismayed worldwide in regards to this election? Why does it matter anyways?
Most people are not upset about Donald Trump’s presidency itself, but the division and hatred he has spurred between racial, gender groups and minority groups… he has unleashed and awoken prejudice ideologies.
Most people are not upset about Donald Trump’s presidency itself, but are upset with the division and hatred Trump has spurred between racial, gender groups and minority groups and how, despite this, a majority of Americans still voted for him. Normalizing the objectification of women, scapegoating immigrants and refugees, mocking disabled people– these are three of the many loathsome notions Donald Trump has made apparent either at his rallies or through previous recordings of him. Individuals that use to hide their prejudice beliefs in guilt or embarrassment, are now proudly expressing them in public because they feel these beliefs and values of theirs have been validated by business tycoon Donald Trump.
Just how severe is this? It’s only been about three days since the election results came out, and yet attackers professing their support for Donald Trump have been accused of innumerable physical and verbal assaults, thefts, and racist vandalism targeting minority groups, especially targeting Latinos, Muslims, LGBTQ members and African-Americans (x). These hate crimes are alarming- burning a truck belonging to a transgender women, death threats to African-Americans, and bullying Muslim students are just some of the hate crimes discussed in this article. Hate crimes are surging, religious and ethnic minorities feel threatened, and immigrants feel unsafe (x).
It will take time and a collective effort to heal up the societal divisions that have grown as a result of the 2016 US Elections. The difficult question is, how do you successfully challenge someone’s ideologies when they themselves are unwilling to change? How do we rebuild trust amongst so many ethnic groups after so much has happened? Where do we start?
President Trump, it’s your turn now to take the lead.
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