Dylan Brogan
More than 73 million Americans chose the side of the Muslim ban, the side of scapegoating Latinx migrants and separating their children at the border.
The election victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who will become our next president and vice president, is a testament to our country’s ability to fight fascism with the mechanisms of an imperfect electoral process. And while the promise of a better America decidedly won the election for the Democrats, we have also come face to face with a jarring reality.
More than 73 million Americans, and counting, voted for Donald Trump in either an endorsement of white supremacy, an ignorance of it, or an utter lack of care for its ramifications. Two of those are unconscionable, one of those is unbelievable.
More than 73 million Americans chose the side of the Muslim ban, the side of scapegoating Latinx migrants and separating their children at the border, the side that labeled Mexicans as rapists, and the side that called on the Proud Boys, a neo-Nazi group, to stand back and stand by. There is no question about it, a vote for Donald Trump was not an accidental co-sign of his rhetoric this time around. It was a clear indication that for millions, blatant white supremacy is to be rewarded with four more years of authoritarian leadership.
Importantly, these Trump voters are not some far off populace that is no longer relevant now that our side has won; these Americans are your friends, your family and your neighbors. They are your children and your colleagues — they are people who have chosen to defend a president who will go down in history as an immoral stain on American democracy.
It is in this reality that we find ourselves having lost just as much as we have won. Republicans have abandoned what we assumed was the norm — that white supremacy is wrong — in an attempt to maintain their hold on power. The party of constitutional values is keen to degrade the integrity of the executive office just to refill its coffers on the backs of minorities; Jim Crow has rebranded in the United States as the canonization of fiscal conservatism. Indeed, our legacy of segregation and racial inequality has never been remedied.
Thus, America has reached a juncture in her pursuit of freedom; once again we are forced to look at the reality of our deep moral wounds. We can only meet this moment of electoral victory with brief joy, and let our heartbreak drive us forward towards change.
To my fellow white Madisonians, it is time to take accountability for the white supremacy that you maintain and benefit from.
To the quiet Trump voters, you might not have put on a white sheet yourself, but you allow one to be draped in front of you as you insist on seeing through a lens of white privilege and white comfortability. You would not be afraid of equality if the preservation of your power did not depend on the degradation of others. Please be reminded that the most insidious form of racism is not the one that proudly wears the white hood, it’s the one that sits quietly and chooses the side of violence against BIPOC in the spirit of misguided self-preservation.
To those who have stayed silent while your loved ones have voted for Trump — you lack the courage to fight for a world where others hold power and not just people who look like you. You do not wear the white sheet, but you starch it and hang it up to dry. You must remember that the maintenance of the moral character of our country depends less on our ability to differentiate right from wrong, but more so on our ability to fight wrong when we see it.
Nov. 3 is not the end of this chapter in American history, it is the beginning of a long and introspective journey forward to right our wrongs — 73,138,295 is a number we should have never reached.
Nada Elmikashfi recently ran for state Senate and is chief of staff to state Rep. Francesca Hong.
