Photo by Michael Marais on Unsplash

I learned in 2016 that I couldn’t trust most white folx. While I’ve been digging in, doing the work, trying to coalition build and help people come to terms with their anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and racism, I learned about the depths of anti-Blackness in many other people of color communities: Asians, Hispanic, Indigenous, Arab, etc. I naively thought that these groups would come together to defeat fascism and the obvious racism. I grossly underestimated these groups and their steadfast desire to be seen as white and their utter disdain and hatred for Black people. The only voting bloc that voted like Black people were Jewish people. I don’t know how many of this group is Zionist, so I’m definitely not claiming they are our allies here either. They were the only group who saw the fascism on the horizon and voted in their own and all of our best interests while whites, Asian, Latiné, Indigenous, and Arab communities came out hard for fascism. Perhaps it has to do with generational trauma? Perhaps it’s because both of our communities have experienced their own holocaust? If that were the case, then why did Indigenous people come out for fascism at more than 60%? Why did Arabs, many of whom are most concerned about the ongoing genocide and 76-year ethnic cleansing come out hard for fascism? They have generational trauma as well. I don’t understand.

So, my lesson in 2024 is that ain’t nobody got us but us. Black people in this country, the descendants of enslaved people anyways (including American descendants, Caribbean descendants, and any descendants of chattel slavery), are the only people who understood the assignment and did the work. Not just on Election Day but on all the days previously. We’ve educated others about antiracism, anti-Blackness, their own racism, systemic racism, systems and processes, history, politics, all of it. And honestly, it’s been exhausting and damaging to our own health. Check out the literature on weathering. We’ve been intentionally putting ourselves into positions that harm us emotionally and psychologically for the betterment of this country and the humans within it. And if you haven’t noticed, Black women have been dying from the labor of this work, not to mention all the other ways this country kills us. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m done. I have to turn my attention to protecting my family and protecting MY community, MY people. It is clear the country is more united now than in the last two presidential elections, united in their anti-Blackness and misogyny. The two things they can all agree upon.

My inner child is sad and scared. I’m having the more complete conversation with her that I wish my mom had been able to have with me when I was younger. This child is raised in the hippie kumbaya period, where colorblindness and a dream of racism dying out with the older generation was widely believed in the white community. I know because I grew up in a predominantly white Washington State, in predominantly white neighborhoods, and predominantly white cities/towns. So, she and I are having a convo and I tell her that the world will look down upon her, call her out of her name in a hundred million hurtful ways, and she’ll have to run at least twice as fast, twice as hard, be over qualified, and still be kicked aside.

Then I say: But baby, don’t believe them. You gotta know you are beautiful, brilliant, capable, and strong. You are kind, and generous, loving, and funny. Baby, you are the moon and stars, the sunshine and the rain. When people disrespect you, hold your head high and know that you descend from greatness. You are powerful and their treatment of you is a reflection of them. Do not expect them to save you. They won’t. Do not trust them so fast. Take your time. When they show you who they are, believe them the first time. And don’t allow anyone to disrespect you, you tell them that you KNOW who you are and they do NOT have the right to speak to you that way. Then keep it moving. Cuz baby, pay them no mind. They are scared playground bullies and will eventually tire themselves out with their unjustified hatred. Their behavior is a reflection of them. 

The adult me: The reality is that a bunch of people of color – VERY FUCKING SEPARATE FROM BLACK PEOPLE! – came, took the bits of goodies my ancestors fought, bled, and died for and when the moment comes for THEM to recognize that their life in this country is in large part due to the work Black people put in for over 400 years. And they just say, nah, fuck you Black people! THIS is what I’ve been trying to educate folx about for so long now. Stop lumping us into BIPOC and POC, we are not the same.

Now, we’re tiredT! And pissed! We feel the generational weight of our ancestors’ exhaustion. When I say we’re tired, I mean bone weary, blurry eyed, can’t keep our eyes open tired. I mean we are vibrating exhaustion – our bodies are literally vibrating.

Y’all on your own now. Have your little Women’s March, make your little friendship bracelets to “let us know you didn’t vote for” that flaming pile of human excrement, keep your little book groups. Miss me with all this “let’s come together” performative bullshit. There is no coming together. People voted. This is the country they want – filled with bigotry, hatred, and misogyny. And it’s already begun with random texts to Black people about reporting to the cotton plantations, trans kids being violently attacked, women receiving rape threats. I’m so happy that this has been unleashed and can now run it’s course while us Black folx step aside and let y’all deal with the mess.

Someone said (and I agree). White women and all those that have benefitted from our labor, you failed the assignment and you’re trying to get extra credit. The assignment was to talk with your communities. Press people. And yes, if necessary, change your proximity to some people as needed. Because trust me when I say, you keeping your relationships with your racist families and friends, tells me I am NOT and NEVER was safe in your space – whether your office, your home, or at the bar with you. You don’t get points for extra credit.  

AFTER you’ve had those tough conversations and changed your proximity to the racist people in your life, AFTER you vote like our lives and yours depend on it, AFTER you have done the work – the ACTUAL work, at that point and that point only, can we MAYBE come together. We’ll be here. But we ain’t doing shit more for any of y’all. You ungrateful, self-loathing, assholes. I hope you enjoy your brief stay in white supremacy land because they’re coming for you and will now have immunity in ways unseen in this country in the last 50 some years. 

You think police brutality is bad now? It’s gonna get worse. You think you won’t be deported because you pass for white? Think afuckinggain. You will be rounded up and deported wherever that flaming pile of human excrement and his criminal syndicate decide. You think because you have a Green Card and immigrated the “right” way, that you’ll get a pass? Nope, read up on the Japanese concentration camps, Mexican Repatriation, the Chinese Exclusion Act, study the Supreme Court and their decisions throughout history regarding citizenship (who gets it, who gets it rescinded), and study the actual history some hateful racist folx are trying to ban.

And come they will. Maybe not at first. But they will. And when they do, I will have zero fucking sympathy for so many of you. I’ll be asking who you voted for before I lend a helping hand. So many of you voted against your own best interests. If you voted for that pile of garbage, I’m gonna laugh and saunter away. Karma can be a real bitch I hear.

So, my friend positions are all taken. The quotas of Asian people, South East Asian people, Latinè, Arab, white, etc. are all taken. There is not waitlist and I will no longer be accepting applications. 

The friends I have are the ones doing the work. I know how safe I am in their company because they are doing the work and do not allow racist people into their lives. They’ve set firm boundaries for themselves and those they love. I don’t have to be hyper vigilant with them. New people, I don’t know you like that and I don’t trust you – cute little blue friendship bracelet or not. In fact, the bracelet will have be running faster away from you. Because here’s what so few of you understand, Black people cannot trust any of y’all out the gate. I’d love to lament how hard that is for me (see the above paragraph about the hippie kumbaya kid), but I have to work that out on my own and I’m not ready to share this just yet. Suffice it to say, I am always fighting my own Pollyannaish general operating system.

All y’all think a presidential candidate must deal with your individual issue and a protest vote is the best and will teach them/us a lesson. This isn’t McDonald’s or Burger King, you don’t get politics the way you want. Our politics have ramifications around the globe and impact all the people in this country. While some folx were busy calling President Biden, Genocide Joe and Kamala, Kampala, and waging a campaign for Jill Stein, they helped elect the fascist who wants to be a dictator, is in bed with both Putin and Netanyahu, and has a whole plan that was advertised early about his plans.

Plans are already underway building immigrant “holding” facilities – a fancy name for concentration camps and the POS and his crime syndicate are indicating that they will start mass deportations on day one. Good luck in the lottery that will become your life if your surname is not “American” because he absolutely meant you too. And they’re already working to bring the Handsmaid Tale to life – congratulations those who want to be trad wives. I hope your husband treats you well and doesn’t rape or beat you. And congrats Arabs, because Kushner is already talking with Bibi to level Gaza and build waterfront settlements. But perhaps that is part of what drove the Arab vote. Because I know that Jordan and other Arab nations have been eyeing parts of Palestine for a long time.

We’re all fixinta feel the hurt. The difference is, we Black people are built for it. Our government has never stopped waging war against us, has genocided us, has held us in slavery for generations, and when we freed ourselves (if you do not know this history, then you need to go back and learn) we had to find a way out of no way. We have never had a ladder, the generational wealth, the cushion, or the soft end of this democracy. We’ll survive, like we always do. Y’all aren’t ready for what’s coming for you.

In the words of Ancestors Malcolm and Pac, the Black woman is the most unprotected and disrespected woman. That was true yesterday and all the days before, and it’s still true today. The America we woke up to the day after is the same country my great great grandparents lived in, the same damn country. For all the “progress” that’s been made, it has never been fast enough (always moving at the pace of white comfort), it has never been complete, and it is always on every ballot in every election. The same as any marginalized group.

So, what do we do? I don’t know what y’all are fixinta do, but I’ll be over here, minding my own Black business. I will no longer be taking any applications for friendships from white, Latiné, Arab, and any male people. All my slots are full up and I don’t have a waitlist. If I don’t know you in real life, I don’t trust you if you fit any of these categories. And the intersectionality doesn’t matter to me. White LGBTQIA2S+ people are just as anti-Black and racist as their cis-het siblings. Poor white people are just as anti-Black and racist as their wealthier siblings. Disabled white people are just as anti-Black and racist as their non-disabled siblings. And frankly, I haven’t seen anything in Arab, Asian, or Latiné intersectional communities to lead me to believe they are any less anti-Black and racist than white folx. So, I’ll be working in, with, and for Black people, period and with the communities I’m already a part of. When y’all have dealt with your shit, maybe I’ll widen my circle but I’ll let y’all have your moment of reckoning.

If you respond, “not me, I didn’t vote for him” or “not all white women” or anything of the sort. Yes, this is about you! And with all disrespect intended, fuck you. Who the fuck do you think you are? You think you get a cookie because you did the thing? You think I need to pat you on the back for your good deed? You think because you didn’t vote a certain way that I or any of my siblings feel safe in your presence? If I don’t know you like that, I don’t know you like that and I’m not inclined to vouch for you either, or have you around my Black people.

Anyways, I’m done ranting. Go on about your life and do whatever it is you do.