We Get Letters: Where is the Line?

To the 68+ million Trump voters,

Where is the line? Where is the point of no return? When do the excuses run out? When does the measure of your moral compass shift to the point of enough? Shame on you. You spit on the children at the border who will never see their parents again, You spit on the children who died in detention centers, You spit on the people killed by law enforcement, You spit on the people gunned down by white terrorism, You spit on those dying and dead due to coronavirus, You spit on people who no longer have their jobs because of the pandemic, You spit on history, You spit on patriotism. You choose hate over love, violence over peace, regression over progression, money and power over humanity. I know that my accusation against your patriotism hurts the most. Not the lives lost, nor the children displaced,  you were not enraged or moved by the anguish of the 250,000+ lives lost in the pandemic, and because you voted for bigotry, therefore You are not patriotic. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote “There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love,” and Your inability to vote to trump hate, to extinguish the mounting divide in this country, your inability to vote to mend a Nation, tells me you do not hold deep love for this Nation, not one that includes me, and you have erred on the side of hate.  

This election felt like a violation of my spirit that had been holding on to the last remnants of hope. A violation of my deepest dreams that saw a bright future. It felt like unreciprocated love. The election was never just about getting Biden elected. It was about telling the world, telling ourselves, and our neighbors that vile bigotry and hate will not be tolerated. It was about acknowledging our history and putting an end to the perpetual cycles of systemic racism in America. It was about rejecting the belief that the almighty dollar is worth more than a human, about rejecting the sickening individualism that allows us to turn away from humanity. This election was about putting our foot down and saying everyone deserves to be loved, comfortable, and happy.  Instead, it signaled to so many young people like me, that hate continues to thrive and permeated every recess of our country; there is still so much work to do.

I pick myself up because I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams answered, and someday, maybe seven generations from now, my hopes and dreams may too be answered. And though I am hurt, I thank you. I am grateful that You have reminded me that for the next decade the rights of my sisters and my own rights will be subjected to scrutiny, challenged by federal appointments that will attempt to dismantle the work of my predecessors. You’ve reminded me that this election is only the beginning, reminded me that morals alone don’t go as far as I once believed. Instead I will look to the mobilization and action of the people threatened by your bigotry and hate, turned toward the course of change under the banner of love and justice.. So I thank you, and I pray and hope there isn’t anything after death because you paved your path, you chose your road and that road is not leading you anywhere, but down. 

Sincerely,

Maaso
Pasadena

Got something to say, email Managing Editor André Coleman, at andrec@pasadenanowmagazine.com