The rippled effects of a Trump presidency are yet to be seen. However, the looming question — how could this happen at all? — still stands. With the reports that approximately 53% of White Women voted for Trump, one can’t help but wonder why? The demigod’s rude rhetoric included anti-women and sexist remarks and was spewed savagely throughout Trump’s campaign.
Many women remarkably stirred towards social justice, put their pantsuits on, and went to work to elect “Her.” But the glass ceiling so many women shattered has also left shards of glass that crush many women coming behind them, including minorities and marginalized societies. When feminism is on trial and male pundits hold the key, no woman is safe.
In the upcoming weeks and months as cabinet members are announced and a Trump White House begins to become a dreaded reality, where do women stand? What will be the take on women’s rights? Can the obtuse grandiloquence spin be turned around from what existed during the fight for the White House? Once in the White House, will women be pressed upon to take a regulatory backseat?
All these questions remain to be potentially answered. We have to ponder things that are particularly germane to human rights, and that many thought had already been tackled. Thanks to Fannie Lou Hammer, Susan B. Anthony, and Janet Reno, changes in the commanding nature in which women advocate for education and equality had been cultivated. To come so far to only take steps that tread backward is oppositionally disconcerting.
America, rather than forward movement, has the ruckus of choosing a President who is on the record using defamatory language against women, sending women rights and equitability back in time. To use one’s position to spew reprehensible hate is not what makes this country great nor advances the plight of womanhood.
Therefore, this letter stands as follows….
• To the 53%, you do know when he said “grab her by the pussy,” he was talking about you.
• To the 53%, you do know when he advocating against a women’s rights, he was talking about you.
• To the 53%, you do know when he peered over his wife’s shoulders while she was voting, he was shaming you.
• To the 53%, you do know when he made fun of a person with a disability, that could have been you.
• To the 53%, you do know when he interrupted and used “Nasty woman” during the debate, referring to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that target may have been you.
Women are warriors and we fight on. In the words of a warrior who won the popular vote, Secretary State Hillary Clinton said while conceding, “Never doubt you are valuable.” Perhaps, when there is some doubt, we have the 53% that refuse to make women’s right a priority. Unfortunately, the ending results are less than a remake of history from the perspective of having a first women presidency, and more of a transgression back in time. Notwithstanding, hope goes beyond any percentile polling data. It’s in the hearts and sheer will of women who wake up and dare another day with concerted intentionality. The nation’s next best action now is to further accountability on the parts of all of those in office and to come being the barometer for change with the voice of solidarity.
Top photo via Facebook/Women For Trump
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