The president is a figurehead, a spokesperson, and a mascot.
And this is what I think a lot of idiot Bernie or Bust white people didn’t get.
The president’s primary power lies in the president’s ability to define what it means to be American in the eyes of the American people. As a figurehead, as a spokesperson, as a mascot – when an American president expresses an opinion, it becomes An American Opinion™.
There are laws in place to protect marginalized groups. The president doesn’t have the power to nullify existing laws. However, the president has the power to tell people “This law is silly. Let’s ignore it.”
That’s exactly what Trump did in the debates, when he vocalized his support for stop-and-frisk, and doubled down on his support of the policy even after being reminded of the fact that it had been ruled unconstitutional and illegal.
Look at what’s been going on in this country over the past year. The BLM movement wasn’t created because of unjust laws. It was created because racist white people broke just laws and then faced zero consequences for doing so. Racist white jurors acquitted racist white criminals because they believed that it was okay, and normal, and right to break laws protecting black people, and to violate the rights of black people.
“But both candidates are racist people.”
I don’t need white people to explain to me that both candidates are racist people. I already know that, better than most.
I know that black inmates from private prisons worked as house slaves for Bill and Hillary when they lived together in the governor’s mansion in Arkansas. I know that US incarceration rates skyrocketed during Bill Clinton’s presidency. I know that “No Child Left Behind,” spearheaded by Hillary Clinton, was the foundation for today’s school-to-prison pipeline. I know that private prisons donated millions to Hillary’s campaign this year.
But where Hillary’s campaign portrayed her racist history as a series of embarrassing, shameful mistakes, Donald Trump’s campaign flaunted his racism like a medal of honor.
Here’s what white people need to understand – marginalized people aren’t scared of Trump, the racist person. We are scared of Trump, the racist figurehead, the racist spokesperson, the racist mascot.
We don’t care how Trump feels about us personally. We don’t have to live with him. But we care what Trump says into his megaphone, from his position of power, on national news. Because the views he expresses validate the racist, homophobic, and misogynist views of the people we do have to live with.
I’ll say it again:
When an American president expresses an opinion, it becomes An American Opinion™.
We have to ride the bus with the people who voted Trump for the president. We have to apply for jobs from the people who voted Trump for the president. We have to go to college and work with the people who voted Trump for president. We have to buy our goods and services from the people who voted Trump for president.
Those people now think that it’s okay, that it’s acceptable, that it’s normal to make our daily lives a living hell, because Trump said so, and because just about half the voters in this country agreed with him.
I am not afraid that Donald Trump will try to throw me in a concentration camp.
I am afraid of the 60 million people who I now know would either stand by and let him, or actively help him if he tried.
Thoughtfulfangirling 