Dear Man Who Mansplained Me,
Thank you. Thank you SO much for explaining to me how scary it is being a Trump supporter in a post-Trump world– how scary it is for you to have everyone know you voted for and supported a racist, sexist, misogynist. I can only imagine what it feels like to be a 20-something white man in America today. It must be tough to have every law cater to you and to be the most privileged person in America. I really appreciate you sharing how scary it is to share that you voted for Trump, because you’re “afraid of what your friends will think.”
I had no choice but to sit and listen to you since we were stuck in class. So, while you rambled on and on about your fear as a privileged white dude in America, I thought about how the number of hate crimes have reached nearly post 9/11 levels and people are fearing for their lives. I thought about how the people that used Nazi salutes at an alt-right conference voted for the SAME candidate as you. I thought about the day after the election, and how there were hundreds of reports of hate crimes.
I thought about how the Vice President-elect once backed a law requiring fetuses of miscarriages or abortions to be buried, or how our President-elect had a lawsuit filed against him for raping a 13-year-old girl, but she later dropped charges due to death threats. Then my mind wandered to the dozens of derogatory statements our President-elect has used toward women, with the most infamous being “grab ‘em by the pussy.”
So while you felt the need to share with me just how hard it is for you, a white man in America, to live your life, I only find it appropriate to share some of my thoughts with you.
I don’t care about your fragile white boy feelings. I actually care more about chewed gum on the sidewalk than how threatened you feel in a post-Trump elected world because you voted for him. While you’re scared that someone might call you racist , or sexist, or misogynistic like your president, the rest of us are scared for our actual lives. So excuse me if I don’t find your complaints more important than my right to exist. While you probably woke up that post-election Wednesday and scrolled through your frighteningly red Facebook feed, the rest of us were thinking of game plans on how to survive the next four years. We were organizing coalitions and preparing to protest. We were consoling one another and wiping away each other’s tears. We were preparing to rising up against people who hold ideals like yours, preparing to take down the systems of power that perpetuate the ideas and violences committed by your President-elect.
Oh, and if you are really that scared about sharing who you voted for, maybe you should think real hard about why.