Saturday, June 3, 2017

Trumpism vs Democracy

On the 134th day of the Donald Trump administration, I have all but stopped the political music that I learned to love as a child. It ran through my head and through my life as the sounds of hope, which sang out in music like..  WE SHALL OVER COME, O FREEDOM, SAY IT LOUD, I'M BLACK I'M PROUD, PEOPLE GET READY, I AIN;T GON LET NOBODY TURN ME AROUND, and many more. These wonderful tunes of inspiration have always been with me throughout my life so when I stopped hearing them, I also stopped watching the news and keeping up with the lunacy that I knew Donald Trump was creating. This withdrawal was intentional because I was in a state of shock that America elected such a flawed individual to sit in the oval office and it went against all the political excitement that my parents and family instilled in me as they taught me how to operate and survive under governmental and social oppression that I grew up knowing in Atlanta, Georgia's segregated society. With all the enthusiasm of a well-purposed activist, my mother taught us the value of voting and how excellent our changes were when we used our right to vote in every election. "There is no such thing as a minor election," I remember my mother telling a neighbor when she was registering them to vote for the first time. With all her wisdom, hope and prayers for the future, she never imagined the likes of a Donald Trump would sit as president of the United States of America in the 21st Century.
     It is difficult to watch this imitation of a president issue out orders that affect the lives of all the freedom loving people who treasure the laws written in the Constitution, protecting people of color, gays, lesbians, the elderly, women, and all those stricken with long-term, life-threatening illnesses that require long term care. He has butchered the rights that we have gained from generations of protest marches, letter writing campaigns, sit-ins, and all the demonstrations that would even the playing field so that our differences will not deter us from experiencing life and liberty throughout our nation. And he has done it so blatantly with a measure of cruelty that only compare to those dictators he appear to admire and those person who hate democracy in any form. This uninformed, poorly educated, hateful man is now living in our White House. He has used his new found power to bring our country down on the world's stage, showing no humanity and no regard for our country's future. His complete disregard of our school system, the environment, and the world crisis that affect our existence on this planet. It is shocking and revolting. Seeing all the people he has in his cabinet and those sitting around him as advisers is like watching a horror movie come to life every night on my television set. When did we as a nation start looking up to men who are mean, liars,and abusers? It is obvious to me that this man is enjoying dismantling our democracy and the democratic principles that are the foundation of our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence, and our Bill of Rights; these documents represent our long history as a freedom seeking country. It is our legacy of freedom that we have joyfully told and retold for the lifespan of our nation's growth and development since its inception. Those wonderful ideals that propelled us to greatness among many nations has suddenly disappeared and is being destroyed with the birth of the Trump era... An era that demeans, belittles, and destroy the American dream and our country's dream of spreading democracy and freedom throughout the world. Not only are other nations looking at us... We are looking at ourselves and asking... "What the F?"
         Do we allow this anti-American president to continue dismantling our country's principle and its reputation in the world or do we unite to rid ourselves of this fatal decease called Trumpism? Raised to be an activist and a lover of freedom, I can no longer hide out in my complete frustration with the chaos that this egomaniac has created because being an American means standing up to oppression, hatred, prejudice, and injustice. Being an African American citizen means that I must do what my mother did... Organize our citizens to protest and resist the growing oppression and the injustices of Donald Trump and his entire administration while urging our Congress to stop him from taking us down this dark, fatal path that he is determined to create for us and the many generations that will follow us. As I recommit myself to the struggle for human rights, equality, and justice, I also commit myself to teaching our young people those freedom songs that meant so much to all those seeking the dream of a true democracy for all people. I will teach the meaning of those songs and use them as a catalysis for recapturing the ideals this country has stood for and fought for... Holding a candle up to the world once again, saying that America will be... once again the land of the free and the home of the brave.  

Friday, June 2, 2017

The United States Under Trump

Being a Southerner, I am accustomed to "the white backlash" that made its sudden re-appearance this past November 2016. Overt racism and bigotry has raised its ugly head while black people are being verbally and physically abused with increasing incidences of murder and police brutality on the American Streets in rural and urban areas of our country. This regression of the civil rights of people of color intensified when Donald Trump took the podium as a presidential candidate, spewing hatred and racist propaganda on the airways completely uninhibited. He demeaned women, blacks, Mexicans, gays, Hispanics,  & Muslims on television in front of our precious children. As a presidential hopeful, his complete lack of respect and rudeness was a new phenomenon that we all witness in total disbelief and white America responded, thinking that he will restore their racial superiority while allowing corporate America to take over and control our government.
     What was America thinking?
      Did our fellow citizens think that this racist business man will accommodate their concerns for jobs, unjust imprisonment of people of color, environmental protection, protection of our social security program, the education of our children, and fairness in the marketplace in regards to insurance coverage for ourselves and our families?
       How did America accept the fact that he refuse to this day to provide our citizens with tax information that we required of every presidential candidate for decades?
       It is my belief that fear and hatred drove millions to the polls to vote for this man in hopes of re-establishing the dominance that whites held over people of color before the strides of the Civil Rights granted to minorities. The N words is being bashed about, repeating the insensitivity and grief in all spheres of American life today. I repeat my question... "What was America thinking?"



 

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

H. Victoria Hargro Atkerson. Author, Writer


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