Waking up from a nightmare: Let’s get to work

MommyWritesForFood
7 min readNov 7, 2020

Part one

It’s now official — Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be the president and vice president of the United States of America. As millions and millions of Americans exhale for the first time in a week (let’s be honest, it’s been years), we need to acknowledge that this is not the end of anything. This is the first day of A LOT of hard work that needs to be done by all of us.

I’m seeing A LOT of really dumb “think pieces” and “analyses” that claim Democrats need to take a good hard look and themselves and their strategies to find out why this election was ever close. Uh, yeah…Democrats, the Democratic nominee, the Democratic strategy, none of that was really the problem here.*

The problem was, of course, Donald Trump and how millions of Americans have witnessed what he has done to this country and its citizens and still voted for him in record numbers. More than 62.9 million Americans voted to give Donald Trump a chance in 2016. At least 70.3 million Americans (as of this moment) voted for Donald Trump to keep his job. THAT is the problem.

A number of groups have had some success having in-depth, face-to-face, person-to-person conversations with Trump supporters, understanding what their focus issues are, what is stressing them and how Donald Trump (and his ideology) are not the answer. Unknown are any lasting effects of those conversations or if those people just go back to watching FOX and yelling, “Make libs cry.”

On a larger scale, in order to move forward and make progress to erasing the Trump legacy of cruelty, lies and hate, anyone with a desire to make headway and make this country a truly better place will need to go over, around and through those Trump supporters if they insist on remaining Trumpists. If you can’t behave like a basic, decent human being, you are irrelevant. After all, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” — Socrates

Ready to get started? What do we need to do?

First, and probably most importantly, THERE IS A DEADLY GLOBAL PANDEMIC RAGING, IT IS GETTING WORSE IN THIS COUNTRY AND IT IS TRYING TO KILL YOU.

Your tangible action: Stay as close to home as possible until positive, hospitalization and death rates go down.

If you cannot stay home, wherever you need to go, wear a mask. If you see other people outside of those living in your house, everyone should stay outdoors, everyone should wear masks and everyone should stay at least 6-feet apart (that is a tipped over Christmas tree apart). Unless you can quarantine yourself from other human beings for two weeks before being indoors with people not living in your house, do not be indoors with them. That means no indoor Thanksgiving celebrations, sorry.

There was a national lockdown, things “opened up” again and, turns out, Americans can’t be trusted to do simple things to save our own lives and health in the face of danger. So, you’re gonna need to live more like we’re in lockdown mode for awhile longer.

2. Want to bring back American jobs? Support your local businesses.

This is easier said than done during a pandemic and it is not fair to put the survival of small, local businesses, restaurants and bars on your back.

Your tangible action: Do your part, order a burger for takeout from a locally-owned joint, get your holiday gifts from small, local stores, but then contact your senators and representatives and (click here) BEG them to support the RESTAURANTS ACT. And, while you’re at it, ask them to get to work offering aid and support for SMALL BUSINESSES in your area (no loopholes for big, multinational corporations).

Saving small, local businesses and jobs during a global public health crisis is bigger than individual consumers, it requires the commitment and financial backing of national government. That is exactly what government is there for.

3. Donald Trump railed against refugees around the world, but particularly Muslims and those from Mexico and Central and South America. People in dangerous, life-threatening situations, desperately fleeing their homes and seeking help found themselves met with inhumanity, separation from their families and physical and sexual abuse. Not acceptable.

Your tangible action(s): Welcome newcomers into your community as kindly as you can, in whatever way you can. Life in America can be greatly easier to navigate when you are able to speak some English as a second language, so find an organization near you and ask how you can teach ESL classes (or how best to support English language learners). You don’t have to be a pro! A few training sessions are usually all you need to help your neighbors and community members. There’s a pretty comprehensive list of ESL programs here. You can also contact these programs and ask if they need tutors/mentors or “study buddies” so people can practice their English (if being the teacher is not quite for you).

Don’t have the time to teach ESL classes, but have a few bucks or airline miles to donate?

KIND (click here) is providing free legal representation, medical and social support to children entering the U.S. immigration system on their own.

You can donate airline miles to Project Corazon for refugees, asylum-seekers and attorneys traveling to represent them, click here.

And always remember, that “big, beautiful wall” that Trump was going to build a Mexico was going to pay for?

15 new miles were built, 350 miles of existing wall were repaired and 221 miles are under construction. At the most generous definition, 586 miles of wall were built on a border of 1,984 miles. It has cost $15 BILLION and Americans paid for all of that. At a minimum, Donald Trump and his minions have shattered the lives of more than 545 families, but, while there are no official public numbers yet, we know those lives are in the thousands (or more).

4. More than 65 million Americans were cool with Donald Trump bragging: “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

That means millions of boys getting the message that it’s okay to touch, kiss and grab other’s genitals without their permission. That means millions of girls getting the message that it’s just gonna happen to them — they’re going to get grabbed, kissed, groped and possibly forced into sexual contact without saying yes.

Your tangible action: Whether or not you have kids yourself, you likely have kids in your life. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, mentors, teachers, etc. As important grown-ups in a kid’s life, you have a duty to be a safe person and to be open and honest about them when it comes to who gets to touch them, when and where, that they’re in charge of their own bodies. And, if someone ever disrespects that, you’re a safe person to talk to about it (or can point them in the direction of a safe person they’re comfortable talking with).

It’s never to late to start, here are some good resources (click here) and here.

Also, contact your local school district and ask if they teach consent to all students of all ages as part of their regular curriculum. If not, ask them what the process is to get this included in the curriculum and go from there to make it happen.

5. Donald Trump and his minions have worked tirelessly to mock and insult Muslims and ban them from entry into the United States. All while pretending he would defend “religious liberty” (the constitutional and legal definition of which is very different from the hard-right marketing definition). In the U.S., freedom OF religion also means freedom FROM religion.

Your tangible action: Our Muslim friends, family members, neighbors and community members are still hurting and marginalized. Check in with them and listen, REALLY listen. Help where you can.

If you don’t have any close Muslim friends/family/neighbors, you can learn more and connect by participating in a virtual panel or presentation by the Islamic Networks Group (click here).

Also, contact a local mosque in your area and ask if you can help them in any way . Like other religious organizations, many have food pantries and are in need of items that may be scarce during the COVID-19 pandemic. You may even be able to volunteer and help serve a Ramadan (or other) meal with your neighbors and community members.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the “let’s get to work learning from our mistakes and erasing the horrific legacy of Donald Trump and his followers” series. It’s going to be a long series, we have a lot of work to do…

*Author’s Note: I do not officially belong to any political parties and I think having to “choose a side” when choosing elected officials is dumb and counterproductive. It turns elections into a football game with “my side” and “the other side.” I’m not writing from a “Democratic” or “Republican” perspective, but from a “practical realist” perspective.

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MommyWritesForFood
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Freelance writer, social media & communications consultant. Want to pay me to do work for you? MommyWritesForFood@gmail.com