Is unifying behind the president-elect something you can morally and ethically justify? Ask yourself these questions.
I was chided by an acquaintance yesterday, someone who does not know me well at all, because my frequent use of the hashtag #NotMyPresident is not unifying. She is of the opinion that, with the election being over, we should all put aside our differences in the name of unity. She finds my unwillingness to do so to be shameful, despite the fact we agree on the issues over which I find myself unable to support the new administration.
Let me be clear that I do not, at this point, condone the many street protests that are taking place, either. The violence that occurred overnight in Portland, Oregon is especially inappropriate and unhelpful to any meaningful actions that might need to be taken. The president-elect, as unsavory as his election might be to millions of us, has not actually done anything yet that carries any substantial power. One of the reasons mainstream Republicans had difficulty supporting their nominee was because he has a long and well-documented history of saying one thing and doing exactly the opposite. Until he proposes offensive rights-limiting legislation or, after being sworn in, commits acts of hate, street protests are meaningless and lack any authority.
However, that does not mean that unity behind this new administration is an option, either. For those who are considering abandoning their morals and ethics for the sake of unifying behind a president-elect who can’t be trusted, we strongly suggest you ask yourself these five questions.
1. Do you support sexual assault against women, diminishing the severity of rape, and perpetuating a culture of violence against women?
Despite having won the election, the president-elect is still scheduled to go on trial December 16 for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl. Let that sink in for a moment. While any rape is horrible, we’re talking about a 13-year-old. This is the shamefulness of the person who was elected president. To support him is to support his actions. Anyone who unifies behind this man is saying to all the little girls in the United States, “Hey, rape isn’t really all that bad.”
In addition to the rape charges, the president-elect is also facing numerous allegations of sexual assault. His response to those allegations was that he would sue the women making such statements once he is sworn in. Do you support victim blaming? You do if you plan on unifying behind this president.
The president-elect has an extremely misogynistic attitude toward women as demonstrated by his conversations not only during the campaign but across most of his public life. When Fox News anchor Megan Kelly questioned the nominee about his behavior, he called Kelly a “bimbo” among other things. His long history of insulting women is well documented and inexcusable.
Apparently, those facts don’t bother some people. If your morality and ethics are such that you can excuse and tolerate someone whose words and actions are actively and consistently anti-women, then you have elected someone who shares those values. For the rest of us, though, this is a disqualifier. We cannot and will not support anyone who does not treat women as equals for any reason. Therefore, we cannot and will not unify behind the president-elect.
2. Do you support the mistreatment, registration, and deportation of people based upon their religious beliefs?
In a November 10, 2015 article, the New York Times reported that the then-candidate for president supported registration for all Muslims who reside in the United States. When asked how that different from Nazi registration of the Jews prior to the Holocaust, the candidate’s reply was, “You tell me.” He has also stated, in multiple interviews, that, “We’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely. We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.” As a candidate, the now president-elect has been extremely harsh in his words about Muslims, including the possibility of an open ban on any Muslims immigrating or even flying into the United States.
This rhetoric and attitude have had a devastating effect since the election. Repeatedly, Muslim women have reported having their hijabs yanked off their heads in public. American Muslims, people who were born and raised here just like the rest of us, no longer feel safe. Some of the most devout have even warned other women to not wear their hijabs for fear of violence against them. The hate perpetuated by the president-elect is very real.
Unifying behind this president-elect is showing support for this kind of hate, disregard for the religious freedoms of the First Amendment, and bigotry toward people simply based on their religion. Can you imagine the backlash that would happen if the same statements were made against Southern Baptists? Muslims have the exact same rights as Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, and every other religion in the United States. If you can’t deal with that, you need to find somewhere else to live. We’re not going to tolerate such hate toward our Muslim friends.
3. Do you support the denial of basic civil rights, including the right to marry, based on one’s sexual identity?
Blame the vice president-elect for this one. As Governor of Indiana, he attempted to enact one of the most egregious and damaging anti-LGBTQ laws in the country. Hoosiers immediately revolted with industry from all over the world showing support by removing their business and conventions from the state. The then-Governor was forced to back down and amend the law to protect everyone regardless of sexuality. However, as vice president-elect, he has made it very clear that this administration “will be anti-LGBTQ and anti-women.”
Once again, it is the attitude of the incoming administration that is setting off real violence in the streets. Tuesday evening, a Calgary film producer visiting Santa Monica, California, was beaten to a bloody pulp for being gay by supporters of the president-elect. Is this how it is going to be? Does anyone actually think we are making America great with this sort of behavior?
Our LGBTQ friends have made some great strides in terms of establishing their rights as citizens over the past eight years. Now, all those rights appear to be in jeopardy under this new administration with the vice-president leading the attack. There is no way anyone of reasonable mind can unify behind a government that fails to condemn hate and is threatening to remove the rights of people based upon their sexuality. We are morally and ethically required to fight against any such activity.
4.Can you support a president who shows complete disdain and disrespect for people of color?
Someone apparently failed to tell the president-elect that white people no longer make up a majority of the U. S. population. Here are just a sampling of his documented statements about people of color:
“Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” (source)
“Laziness is a trait in blacks.” (source)
“And if you look at black and African American youth, to a point where they’ve never done more poorly. There’s no spirit.” (source)
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.” (source)
The list could go on and on for days. The fact is that if you’re not as pasty white as he is, the president-elect has no respect for you. None. In fact, one of his primary goals within his first 100 days is to enact legislation that would provide inner-city police more powerful weapons in dealing with alleged crime and violence in urban neighborhoods. If you thought police violence against people of color was bad before, it could get a lot worse under this administration.
“Black Lives Matter” is not an opinion. We cannot unify behind a president who does not protect the best interests of people of color, who does not respect their lives and their contributions to the fabric of our country.
5. Do you support the denial of health and reproductive rights to women?
We’ve already established that this administration is anti-women, but what matters now is that the entire political structure in Washington is ready to wage a full-scale war against women. Over the past six years, the Republican-controlled Congress has tried repeatedly to limit, freeze, or completely destroy funding for women’s healthcare, especially when that healthcare involves a matter of choice. With the election of this new president, all legislative roadblocks that prevented Congress from achieving their evil plans are removed. Women across the United States are in grave danger.
Healthcare is a tremendously serious issue for women, especially when it comes to pregnancy and child care. Thanks to increased insurance coverage and support for non-profits such as Planned Parenthood, the United State’s unreasonable high rate of infant mortality has gone down in recent years. Make no mistake, however, that should the funding for those programs be removed, which would happen if both the president-elect and Republican-controlled Congress get their way, those deadly numbers would once again skyrocket. More women would die in childbirth. More women would have unplanned pregnancies. More babies would die from disease and distress before they are one year old. More women would die of cancer because they wouldn’t have access to early treatment programs. The devastation across our country would be severe.
I understand that not everyone agrees on a woman’s right to choose. Most of those who fail to agree on that topic, however, are men, who have no right to even have a voice in the conversation. Women alone should be in control of their bodies. Government has no business telling them what to do and men, especially, have to business trying to force women to do what they’re told. To remove funding for women’s healthcare is a form of legislative rape. Congress has already proven its willingness to commit, if not outright fondness for rape against women’s rights. Now, they have a president willing to sign that legislation into law.
I cannot fathom how any person with the ability to reason above the level of a six-year-old can support or unify behind such intent. To unify behind the president-elect on this issue is to stand up and tell the world that you hate women. There is no excuse. There can be no tolerance. We cannot unify behind such policies and we must do everything in our power to keep them from becoming law.
I could take this list on and on forever, but I don’t have time to type it all and you probably wouldn’t read the whole thing if I did. Five questions are sufficient enough for anyone to decide whether or not they can morally and ethically justify unifying behind this president-elect. I know I can’t. On each of these issues and more I plan on remaining very diligent, very vocal, and very adamant about stopping any moves on the part of this new administration that in any way threatens my family, my friends, or my freedom of expression. As long as the threat remains, there can be no unity.
#ADayWIthoutImmigants
Protest aim to emphasize how dependent America is on immigrant labor
The Short Version
Major protests are planned in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, and Chicago to bring attention to the amount of immigrant labor in the U.S. Several restaurants are closing for the day and demonstrations are planned in an effort to bring attention to what are considered unfair and potentially illegal actions on the part of the 45th president’s administration.
A Bit More Detail
The messages started appearing in my social media feeds around noon yesterday. “Carry ID,” they warned. “Everyone riding the red line who looking Latino or Middle Eastern is being stopped. Know your rights.”
The warnings were directed toward immigrants living and working in and around Chicago. Rumors are swirling that immigration officials are conducting or planning to conducts raids across that city this week with a goal of rounding up some 20,000 illegal immigrants. Immigration officials, of course, don’t speak regarding any plans they might have for raids and such. They’d hate to ruin their own surprise.
Naturally, once again, the immigrant community is scared. Anytime immigration officials start casting broad nets like this, they end up violation the rights of people who are here legally and have often been accused of mistreatment toward those whom they plan to deport. The frequency and brutality of those raids has increased since the new president was sworn in three weeks ago.
This issue is real and more than immigrants are paying attention. A survey of over 100,000 people found that millennial women are especially plugged into the immigration debate, moving the importance of that issue up from 8th place to 3rd in just three weeks. Among women 22-35, the immigration issue is so important that they have altered their shopping patterns based on a brand’s perceived stand toward immigration.
#ADayWithoutImmigrants has organized well and in many cases includes the support of employers who depend on a significant number of immigrants to keep their business running. The Washington Post has a running list of restaurants that will be closed today in support of the protest. Other cities as diverse as Minneapolis and Austin are participating in the protests. The overall effect could be considerably disruptive, especially as the loss of sales tax revenue for the day is likely to be considerable.
What this all comes down to is the fact that we are a nation of immigrants built on the back of immigrants and dependent upon the hard work and labor of immigrants. At the same time, as a country, we have fought this battle before. Groups we now consider mainstream, such as the Irish and German populations common across the North, were once given the same abusive treatment as Latino and Middle Eastern immigrants are now experiencing. We seem to have difficulty learning from our past mistakes.
Whether the protests are effective remains to be seen. There has been some concern that those participating any kind of immigrant rally could become targets for immigration authorities. Already, rumors that immigration officers could be staking out churches and public schools has frightened a number of immigrants, including those who are here legally, into hiding. Churches in Colorado and Chicago are already taking a stand, allowing undocumented people facing deportation to claim asylum within their walls. However, doing so comes with some risks. Courts have disagreed as to whether church pastors and staff can be charged with aiding a fugitive when they provide asylum.
While the protests may not keep ICE from making raids in Chicago or elsewhere this weekend, they do have the effect of bringing the topic to the forefront of the national conversation, making the topic of immigration one that is impossible to ignore.
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