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| Joe Biden and Kamala Harris need to heal this country torn asunder by Donald Trump. |
OPINION
Upon hearing about Joe Biden's victory, the joy and relief I felt this Saturday morning was tempered with the knowledge that America is in the uncomfortable throes of massive change.
We're not immune to the joyous enthusiasm coming from the celebrating crowds spilling into the streets of our country, and we mustn't lose sight of the historic selection of Kalama Harris -- the first woman, first Black, first Asian American as vice president -- but I cannot rid myself of the gnawing recognition of the hard task facing us as a nation to overcome the hatred and divisions that have been exposed in the last four years.
The vote was too close. I expected ... I wanted ... a landslide in favor of Joe Biden; a 180-degree repudiation of Donald Trump and all that he represented.
I expected ... I wanted ... America to reject Trump's lies, cheating, bullying, fear-mongering and racism, not to mention his inadequacy for a job that requires intelligence, diplomatic finesse, compassion and empathy.
Mainstream pundits say the overriding factor driving Trump's millions of fanatically loyal supporters is the economy but people of color have a different answer: racism.
It is frightening to say that almost half of America voted for Trump. They wanted his fascism, his racism, his rejection of science, his coddling of white supremacists and his economic policies that benefited his rich pals. Nevertheless, almost half the country voted for ignorance over knowledge, lies over truth, and fear-mongering over tolerance and understanding.
We have to acknowledge that many of Trump's followers have a fear of losing the privileged status enjoyed by white people -- and we have to emphasize, his support was overwhelmingly white -- since they bumbled into the New World.
They are afraid of the demographic shift in where people of color will outnumber Whites by 2040; they're bothered of seeing infants of babies pictured on jars of Gerber baby food; they're uncomfortable of seeing mixed-race couples on TV commercials and they're frightened of the growing number of racially mixed marriages growing in our country.
They maintained and perpetuated their status at the top of the social and economic ladder with the self-generated myths and legends of the America that never was. So ingrained is this version of U.S. history that most of us consider these tales to be absolute truisms.
With so many people voting for Trump, my belief in the inherent goodness of the American people who believe in the Constitution, fairness, justice, and tolerance -- was dealt a might blow.
Our self-image of what an American is was perpetuated and reinforced by the plethora of lies fed to us from the history books we memorized, the heroes we were told to worship, to the images of beautiful people thrust upon us by art history books and today's popular media.
Trump fed off of and nurtured the fears of Whites, who have dominated America's culture for so long. Even though the vast majority of Whites never attained the benefits of the top 1%, they were mollified by the belief that their path to top of society was attainable simply because of the color of their skin. And that as bad as their personal situation might be, they were always a rung above any person of color.
Trump made racism acceptable and ignorance a virtue. Fear and hatred have come out of the shadows and into the mainstream. Attacks on Americans of Asian descent continue, driven by the racist rhetoric from the White House. White supremacists are bolder, encouraged by Trump's reluctance to speak out against them. Trump supporters are on "standby," as you read this, ready to storm the seats of government in protest at what they are being told was an unjust election.
As Biden and Kamala Harris repeated over and over during the campaign, Trump and his the beliefs he espoused are "not who we are" as a nation or as a people.
And that is the question, isn't it? Who are we?
Almost half the voters preferring the chaos of Trump with his whims and tantrums just so they can maintain their place in this society. Even if his backers are on food stamps, unemployed facing a dim future, they could always fall back on their belief that they are a notch above people of color.
In his four years, Trump has unleashed the demons hidden behind the curtain of civility and it won't be easy putting them back in their place. Racial resentment, held back by social norms, broke the dam and manifested itself against people of color
During the pandemic, urged on by Trump's racist rhetoric, his followers have increased their attacks on Americans of Asian descent. Recent immigrants from Asia joined other Asian Americans as targets of ignorant and fearful racists. For the first time, they got an inkling of what Blacks have suffered through for centuries making them align themselves with Black Lives Matter activists. In order to do so, AAPI had to face up with the racism and colorism that has been inbred into their own cultures for centuries.
The healing process will require a great number of Americans to admit to the racism that has built into our institutions that has suppressed the progress towards equality for all Americans.
It falls upon us to take a good look at ourselves and what we aspire to be. I say "us" in an inclusive sense, not in the context of "us and them," but "us" as the US, as all of "us" together.
We need to admit that there is a dark side of America that we must address and purge first before we can move on to redefine what it means to be an American. Clearly, almost half of our country supported a liar, a cheat, a philanderer, a bully and a racist. That means our reckoning as a country is yet to be resolved.
With Biden and Harris leading us, we need to redefine what it means to be an American that the world can look up to, respect and welcomed but that can't be done with only half a country.
In order for democracy to flourish, it must have a well-informed public. Not only do we have to reaffirm our commitment to a free press, but we must also seek reforms in our educational system that allows the best education for as many people who want it and a history that tells the truth, not the myths and legends that gives one group of people privileges and power over other groups.
The attempts of the Trump administration to undermine our public school system is one of the great underreported stories of the last four years. The glorification of the uninformed and the anti-intellectualism that was part of Trump's strategy to appease his base of supporters. Uninformed people are fertile ground for the lies and misinformation that comes from White supremacists and Confederacy-lovers.
The America we thought we were, never was. The America we aspire to be -- which includes all of us, is up the road. That hard journey will be uncomfortable but it is a path that must be taken despite the obstacles and detours that lie before us.
Our country has always been and will continue to be a work in progress. We must never shirk from seeking justice and equality and allowing for the pursuit of happiness if we want a country that provides those opportunities and benefits for all of US.
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