If you were within 10 feet of me on Election Night, you probably heard me tell a lot of people to go fuck themselves: Gary Johnson, third-party voters, the white-cis-heterosexual population, the electoral college, etc. I blamed a lot of people for why a candidate who embodies rape culture and ran on the values of white supremacists won the presidency this year. But now that the shock of the election results has passed, I realize that the only person I should blame is myself.
All throughout election season, I intentionally decided to remain apolitical. I thought that if I cast my ballot then that was enough, that I had fulfilled my civic duty and I could be on my way. This belief was coming from a place of extreme privilege and for that I apologize.
We now have a federal government that is entirely Republican, a party that has repeatedly fought against the rights of women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. Someone said to me that if we wait two years, we could take back Congress. And, sure, in four years we could take back the White House, but this is the same type of thinking I was using. An institution like the United States government that is riddled with oppression cannot be changed using the channels that the institution itself promotes.
Instead of just waiting, what we need is radical education. We need to understand the intricacies and nuances of our government so that when we need to fight it, we can use the system against itself. When we need to move beyond the system, we must understand our rights to do so. We need to understand the rights of others, so that we can empower them when the system tries to brush them aside.
In addition, we need to learn how we can become involved instate and local levels of government to ensure that these levels promote a political policy that is humane and just. Engagement is needed outside of the government as well, in the heart of the communities that voted hate into office. While we don’t need to tolerate the oppression promoted in our towns and cities, we need to try to communicate with the average voter perpetuating it.
Education is needed economically as well. We vote every day with the purchases we make. We need to stop funneling money into businesses that don’t value their workers, the environment or the communities in which they thrive and we need to start supporting businesses that do.
Lastly, education is needed about each other and ourselves. If you come from a place of privilege take time to listen to those who do not, so that you can better support them from day to day. Learn how to amplify their voices, rather than your own. Also take the time to unpack your privilege and the ways that you might perpetuate it. Just because you’re a good person doesn’t mean that you escaped from the internalization of hateful ideologies.
I know that some of you are far ahead of me on all of this. I apologize for the redundancy and being so late to the game. But for those of you who are somewhere where I am, I hope you more closely scrutinize the way that your daily actions could be impacting the world. Regardless, I wish you all safety, hope and a whole lot of anger.
Janel England, a News Editor for the Voice, can be reached for comment at JEngland17@wooster.edu.