Inauguration-eve 2017

When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, I remember the night almost moment-for-moment. The streets of Seattle were filled with elated and uplifted celebration. Black and white, man and woman, brown and whatever-the-hell else came together and shared a drink, shared a hug, shared a high five, and when the cops told us to disperse, we did. And we picked up our trash on the way out.

When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I remember less of the night. Tequila helped me through it, I'm only slightly ashamed to admit. But the truly upsetting thing was that the very next day, America woke up to actively violent assaults against LGBTQ, black, female, Mexican, and Muslim people... basically anyone not white and male, set to the ACTUAL chanting of "Trump! Trump! Trump!" [Just as a side note, this is not anecdotal. I was a part of those celebrations in Seattle and more than a handful of my personal friends were violently assaulted by people chanting "Trump! Trump! Trump!" within 48 hours of his election.]

This fascist, misogynistic, racist, dangerous card from the discard pile of humanity's deck was raised in privilege, has run countless companies into the ground on a whim, and has actively incited violence against the people of this country. He has sexually assaulted women. He has disparaged nearly every group of American society (aside from white men, of course). And he ran on a platform of building a wall around our country (cool idea, Berlin - I mean China - I mean Trump) and Muslim Registry (great plan, X-Men {the first film} / Nazi Germany). And he has threatened to use nuclear force against rebel and terrorist factions, most of which are impossible to precisely locate.

Tomorrow, this uncaring, unsympathetic, ignorant, volatile, childish, thin-skinned, child of privilege takes the keys to the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. This man who does not believe in scientific evidence... This man who can look at a video of himself speaking and immediately deny that he ever said those words... This man who has consistently lied to his constituents, has bought his way out of every lawsuit pending against him for fraud, sexual assault, and whatever else, this man who has done seemingly everything in his power to divide this country... will take control of it. With a no-conflict-of-interest clause to boot.

So whatever happens... Whatever shitstorm this brings down... However many people are hurt, put out of work, taken off of their healthcare, are murdered in hate crimes, are put in camps, or whatever else might happen... WHATEVER happens in the coming months or years before we can remove this tyrannical puppet-of-Russia from office... WE. HAVE. TO. BE. BETTER.

Those of us who get it.

Those of us who are "woke."

Those of us who are brown, black, female, queer, etc.

Those of us who don't buy in to the manipulative and impossible rhetoric.

Those of us who understand what legal fallacies are.

Those of us who are up on our Aristotle.

Those of us who know what EMPATHY is and who feel it.

Those of us who often don't fight for ourselves, but will fight for the "other."

Those of us who have given up on optimism and are barely holding on to hope...

WE. HAVE. TO. BE. BETTER.

We lost.

We lost this country.

We lost our safety.

We lost our peace of mind, our faith, and our trust in the Constitution that's doing its best to protect us.

But we have NOT. LOST. EACH OTHER.

We will not go quietly into the night. We will not give in without a fight.

Hold the line. Stay with me.

And now, my watch begins.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Pussyhat to finish knitting.