Even though Trump won, we still need to keep moving forwards.
It has now been over a week and we are still trying to get through denial and shock.
Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States. This is not just a bad dream.
The faster we accept this reality, the better.
On November 9, 1989, a wall came down in Berlin. On November 9, 2016, America elected a president who campaigned on building physical and metaphorical walls. Nevertheless, Trump is merely a symbol of a society divided to tragic extents.
How we got here is no mystery. With endless articles and videos already analyzing what went wrong, there are various simple and complex factors used to explain what happened.
What is more important now is where we go from here. Do we declare our loss of humanity and take solace in the fact that we live in Canada? Surely not. America and Canada can both take lessons from what happened and change the way we try to engage in politics.
Not everyone will hold the same ideas and views as us, but it is time we stop shutting ideas out, insulting people, classing them as ignorant or “baskets of deplorables.” As we have seen, these strategies do not work anymore.
This will be a test and will require the best of people more than ever. As we have seen, the old ways of name and shame will not work any more.
Half a country voted for Trump as a form of revolution. Indeed, conditions had been created whereby millions of Trump voters refrained from declaring their views, until they stepped into the voting booths. This predicament had been reached through the normalization of certain ideas and the demonization of all others.
Going forward, there needs to be an increase in discussion and a decrease in insults. If we want to fix legitimate harmful ideologies, we need to be more tactical about it.
The fears and uncertainties are bigger than just Trump. They are in the dark side of humanity he has unleashed.
I have a scarf on. Passed by someone on the platform today and he says, “Your time’s up, girlie.”
— Mehreen Kasana (@mehreenkasana) November 9, 2016
It has only been a few days and we have already seen a glimpse of what the future might hold with the emancipation of racism, sexism and pure hatred. This will be a test and will require the best of people more than ever. As we have seen, the old ways of name and shame will not work anymore.
My mom and my sister are actually having the conversation on whether or not they should continue wearing hijab for their own safety
— Sulaiman (@Mcbrownie) November 9, 2016
The result of the election go beyond the half of America that is being called racist, sexist and bigots. Beyond these people, it was because many felt alienated from what is considered “normal” ideals.
Woman punched in the face by man at Brooklyn restaurant after she “expressed disappointment” about Trump’s victory https://t.co/ohTnnUo34D
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) November 14, 2016
In Canada, it’s prudent for us to take note, learn what went wrong and not let it be repeated here. We can no longer suppress any kind of voice, even a politically incorrect one; they need to be carefully addressed.
This is the only way we avoid the type of built up revolution like the events in the United Kingdom and the United States.