The Aftermath of the 2020 Election

It’s been one week and five days since election night, and a week and a day after President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris were called to win this historic 2020 presidential election. It felt like the fate of America rode off this moment. Shoot, it felt like the fate of the world relied on this election honestly.

Since that glorious Saturday morning, when the race was called for the two Democratic leaders, Donald Trump has been claiming a “rigged election”- of course because, ya know sore loser. But when the race was called on November 7th, many of us exhaled a collective sigh of relief. For a moment it felt like things were looking up and hopeful; however, my relief quickly soured into paranoia. I probably should’ve laid off the news, but shortly after Biden-Harris won, 45 continued to 45 and pretty much worked to ruin the moment with his antics. Since then, I feel like I’ve low-key been living with this underlying fear. Seeing the reaction of Far-Right supporters made me want to hide. I’ve even been seriously considering getting armed and moving into a neighborhood I feel more accepted and safer in…it’s 2020 people, and that’s sad. Then the results from exit polls (where you could see the hard divide in race amongst voters) coupled with the rage of 45-supporters, and their migration/slinking to dark corners of the web like effin Parler (where actual bigots now congregate in under the veil of “free speech”) made my mind spiral. It was a lot to take in after experiencing this brief sense of euphoria. I’d say in the aftermath of things, I’m hopeful and the overall weight and stress of this election has been lifted but I’m majorly disappointed in a pretty large subset of people, especially the people I’d assume would understand why the MAGA mentality and it’s bunkered-up leader have been completely toxic to American culture. I seriously won’t be able to look at the American flag the same way for a hot minute, or people I’ve known, or neighborhoods I used to frequent. It all seems tainted to me. I know things can change and perspectives can shift, but right now- I’m just like dang man, you don’t see us or our hearts and you really don’t understand why we see this guy and his Trumpology as a threat.

Of course more strangeness has happened since then…as a matter of fact, yesterday was the lil “Million Maga March,” insert eyeroll here for these people continuously bopping off of Black folks. Seeing them ranting, brawling, (again) diminishing the American flag with bigoted flags and just the hatefulness…was scary. Sigh, this is the country people of color are supposed to feel grateful for. If I ever thought a repeat of the Civil Rights era were to happen, I’d say it would be right now, it’s been insane. But at least world leaders have been acknowledging the historic win with congratulatory messages and well wishes. It kinda let me know this victory wasn’t made up in my mind, we weren’t being gaslit, and the spurious claims of cheating -through a massive conspiracy- were just too ridiculous to fall for.

So all isn’t lost, I have faith. I know there is so much work for us to do and I’m dedicated to the cause. And on top of that, Twitter memes and TikTok have been golden and keeping up my spirits. Gotta laugh to keep from crying right?

Anywho, this is a just another post where I’m in my feelings. I’m feeling good…feeling cautiously optimistic and ready to receive the goodness of the future of our country. We’re stepping into a new era of America. January 20th can’t come soon enough. How are y’all doing after this wild 2020 election? <3

-D. Wright