I held out hope.
My denial and disbelief quickly turned to anger that night, and for the foreseeable future, that’s where I’ll stay. It’s also where tens of thousands of protesters across the country, including those here in Chicago, continue to dwell.
And moments before Obama’s remarks, Hillary Clinton addressed the country too, wearing purple to symbolize the unification of red and blue (as well as the dignity and purpose of the suffragists). She urged the public to accept the election results and to look to the future. “We owe him an open mind and a chance to lead,” she said of Trump.
We can’t accept the normalizing of white supremacy, as some media outlets and everyday people ignore it or refuse to name it—instead sanitizing it with the “alt-right” label coined by its proponents, or depicting its leaders as benevolent or benign.
We can’t just “get over it,” as we have with previous defeats at the ballot box. What Trump has wrought isn’t ordinary. And at every level, with the fullest force, there must be unity in resistance. v
