UCSD students marched throughout Muir, Revelle, and Warren Colleges chanting “Fuck Donald Trump” and “Not My President” in response to the results of the 2016 presidential election at approximately 12 a.m. Nov 9. Estimated numbers ranged from several hundred to thousands of protesters.
“Trump does not represent me. I am not a racist. I am not a rapist. I do not grab women by the pussy. I am a Mexican American. He should not be our president,” said Valerie Garcia, a first year Revelle College student marching with other protesters.
Raise your hands if you were crying, anxious, and/or had a nervous breakdown last night because the election night was a terrifying reality for children of immigrants, marginalized groups, and women in general. And if you were on Twitter or Google checking on the live poll updates like I had been since 7:30pm after my second midterm last night, here is a friendly hug over the internet to ease some of the pain. (Seriously though, thank goodness for real-time interaction with other like-minded individuals in an online “safe” space...)
Last night’s trending hashtags were the following:
#Calexit: or “California’s Brexit” in response to the blue state being ready to secede from the rest of the United States
#AmeriKKKa: as told from Urban Dictionary, the “cynical corruption” of the U.S. relevant to the “worst deeds and attitudes” of its government; also used to focus on the evil history of the KKK
“Harambe and Hennessy”: the frustrations of voters writing in Harambe as a “joke” or protest vote (over 11,000 people actually voted in Harambe as a way to make a mockery of this election)
#Kanye2020: an allusion to one of Kanye West’s (in)famous rants at an awards show when the rapper and fashion mogul said that he was interested in running for president
#AmericaIsOverParty: after Pennsylvania put the nail in the coffin for the electoral vote and Clinton no longer had a chance
#NotMyPresident: from frustrated voters who were not happy with the results and do not want to support the president of a racist bigot like DT
While there were a lot more trending topics on Twitter, these few caught my eye last night because I was able to find a lot of others who were in the same boat as I was. Election night felt like a cruel joke with an onslaught of memes and “the people’s” honest reactions to what would happen if Trump were elected. As we connected over a shared anxiety about what would happen to our families and friends online, my roommate and I happened to be at the same bus stop in person but broke down while waiting for the 41. We then walked home together buried in silence and congregated in the living room to pull our devices out, some leftover coffee cake, a bottle of wine, and OJ for my upset stomach.
Our readings regarding social media use and politics have never been more relevant to what’s going on right now. As we see more and more of the “imagined” audience participating in these online mediums, it is apparent that millennials are no longer the only ones “running” cyberspace. There also seems to be a rather prominent methodology to witnessing the political madness when voter information was pulled from last night’s election. Based on this graph, I think it’s safe to say that there is a huge correlation to active political participation from certain groups and demographics. (Interestingly enough, a wider gap as to how much voter suppression was occupied by the minority vote when exit polls showed the lack of polling locations in particularly low-income areas.)
And of course, the next 4-5 hours were miserable. Completely daunting. Sure, it was all “jokes” at first (although the memes have lost any potential for comedic effect on me after seeing so many people throw away their votes for Retweets and Likes) but it slowly dwindled down into a real existential threat. Questioning our existence on this soil, why we matter, having to look at getting a medical marijuana card to get through the sleepless nights now, and looking into applying for a Visa in other countries that will accept us. (My roommate jokingly received 2 marriage proposals last night from some friends she studied abroad with).
It seems silly to recount what happened last night, but as children of immigrants (especially with parents who don’t speak English fluently) my heart was racing for the fate of my people and the fate of others who I readily support in open arms. DT has vehemently stated how much he hates working with China, has been compared to Hitler’s ways, reiterated that he wants to build a wall to block the border, and has a pending trial for a rape case -- but he’s now the elected president of the United States? Like my fellow Triton said, Trump does not speak for me or my family. He does not represent my values nor does he care for us.
Speaking of losing our voice, “The Nightly Show” was abruptly cancelled a couple of months prior to this year’s election when ratings for Comedy Central had supposedly dropped… the timing, however, felt a little suspicious when Wilmore was invited to the correspondents dinner and received an uncomfortable backlash from calling Obama his n*word. As a prominent voice for Blerds and minorities everywhere, Wilmore subsequently had his platform taken away from him--despite there being a contract for a certain amount of episodes--and “The Unblackening” as he called it become even more apparent when both presidential candidates at the time were pandering to the Black community and LGBTQ community.
None of this is just a simple coincidence. When Van Jones called this election a whitelash last night, it was also in response to how many angry White voters were agreeing with Trump when he suggested that “making America great again” meant the forcible removal of the “Other” or non-whites on U.S. soil. That immigrants are not welcomed here, and that there would be some kind of policy preventing us from entering American soil if the Republican party was given the opportunity to do so. A wall. A barrier. More aggressions faced against us. Especially if Trump won the presidency.
And so he did, much to my dismay. So how are you not freaking out right now? Even though U.S. history was never of particular interest to me, I am sure that this will go down in the books as one of the most shockingly divisive elections ever covered by the media. With a majority of the midwest supporting Trump, a full Republican 4-year term, these very politics threaten the existence of many others like me to their core being because of how normalized DT’s hatred has been for us during this campaign. I’m terrified and I feel myself slipping away from family, friends, work, and school due to how much time is going to be invested in making sure I don’t have another breakdown.
I have many questions that are left unanswered… like how much was the so-called “media” to blame for this election? I read a quote that said the media has “blood on their hands” now for treating Trump like a real candidate when he wasn’t even remotely qualified, and for treating Clinton like a real criminal even though she isn’t. Why did we even have a third-party option when that would have split the vote in the first place?? Did social media have a role in this election turnout when voters actually put down Harambe on the ballot and posted it up for Retweets and Likes on their profile? Could Bernie really have been the better option for us if he were put against Trump or is the DNC the one to blame?
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