I’ll never forget voting for the first time four years ago. I’ll also never forget the complete crushing I felt in my heart when my unshakeable doubt of Hillary Clinton winning was stripped away with the announcement of America’s new president.
I’ll never forget seeing my family cry, and my teachers failing to come to school the next day because of the pain.
I’ll never forget how powerless I felt.
To some, terrified may be a bit dramatic. But I stand by it. I’ve never been a bleeding heart, ride or die true patriot of America, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t hurt to see the many – and I mean many – TikToks of other countries so deeply concerned for us this past couple of years.
Every chance Trump has had to “make America great again” has been used to further divide us, and condemn the ones who do not need condemning. He’s given power to racist, homophobic, and xenophobic people, and has given them the comfort to be it boldly.
There is absolutely nothing more terrifying than seeing young children, with no real understanding of politics, so casually parroting the hateful things they hear their parents say.
There is nothing more terrifying than having to wake up another day to read that just weeks later someone else’s loved one has been made into a hashtag because of an unjust killing by the police.
There is nothing more terrifying than watching Trump discredit science and facts, and completely disregard the lives of all Americans just because he didn’t want to cause a panic. Now, more than 231,000 of them have died.
As a Black woman in America, it has been absolutely terrifying to watch how the things people have fought, bled and died for have been washed away with just 140 characters, or with the willful negligence of our nation’s leader.
So why would I not be terrified by the idea of four more years? I can only imagine what another term with Trump could look like, and would absolutely love for it to remain in my imagination. Every day Trump proves that he’s not afraid to do whatever it takes to get whatever he wants, and another four years seems like an unfair life sentence for BIPOCs and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Sure, life isn’t a fairytale. We can’t just defeat the villain and have things as they were instantly restored. However, I would like to not be scared of the future because of obstacles that have been set higher by a man who’s supposed to be a leader for all of us, and not just for some of us.