An Election Reflection

A black garbage bag covers my window. I put it up, because without it, the sun shines in and blinds me from what I need. My screen. I need to get curtains. I need to do a lot of things .But my screen calls, so I spend a lot of time with it. I used to work at a school with people, but now I work in an attic with a screen. I’m lucky to have the attic, the screen, and the job. I keep telling myself that.  

Here I am, on my day off, back in the attic. I usually don’t do this. It’s bad for my health. On my days off, the screen is closed and the attic is empty. I try to get out past the black garbage bag and into the sunlight. I am grateful for those times.

However, today is no ordinary day. (In fact, ordinary is not a word we use here in 2020). But of all the days in 2020, this is the big one. Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Election day here in America. Like many Americans, I already voted. I took the opportunity to vote by mail. Millions have voted by mail or at early polling places. In many states, the voting has already surpassed the 2016 turnout. The electoral process is changing before our eyes with so many new opportunities to vote. 

However, like many Americans, for the first time in my life, I’m anxious about the electoral process. In 2016, then candidate, Donald Trump, questioned the validity of our elections, but who was he then? What power did he yield? 

Four years later he is our incumbent president, and we live in a different world. The Russians and other foreign powers are openly attempting to undermine our election. A global pandemic has sent our population into their attics, living on screens, behind black garbage bags. Millions have spilled into the streets in reaction to the consistent stream of videos emerging of police brutality against people of color. Far left anarchists have hijacked these protests and incited violence and rioting. Far right militia groups have responded and clashes have been seen across our country. 

Meanwhile, the president does not call for calm. He continues to cry foul even as big tech like Facebook and Twitter continue to flag his messages. 

So, what do we do? How do we cope, and what happens tomorrow? I‘ve talked to so many people that feel powerless. I have friends who are police officers that feel abandoned by their country and powerless to stop what they see as the coming violence. I have friends who are activists that want to have their voices heard but fear that peaceful protest will be met with police brutality, milita intimidation, or planned anchary. I myself have felt the push to join one side or the other, but I refuse. These lines in the sand were drawn by those who want us to fear each other. It’s time to kick up some sand.   

Why can’t an American flag and a Black Lives Matter poster coexist on the same porch? 

Everyone talks about the coming civil unrest. In all my studies of history, I can promise you one thing: Civil unrest cannot happen without civilians. If in the coming days, weeks or months, as we get pushed to join one side or the other, I encourage you to make a different choice. Anarchists on the left may want us to storm the cities and tear down the structures of our society. Reject this. Our societal structures are not perfect, and need reform, but they provide rights and freedoms enough that people still flock to our shores. Far right militias and the president himself might call for armed resistance if they feel like the election was “stolen” from them. Reject this. Our democracy has proven election after election to be free and fair. The only thing different in 2020 is the rhetoric from the president which is not founded on facts.  

If you walked through the streets of American today and asked 100 people if they knew what was going to happen in the coming days, weeks, or months, I am confident you would get 100 “I have no ideas.” Although this may make us feel powerless, I encourage us to see the power in this. We have the power to reject extremism on both sides. We have the power to not take sides and force the extreme factions on both sides to return to where they belong. The margins of society. We have the power, let’s execute it. 

Reject hurtful media of all kinds. Don’t repost device rhetoric. 

Reject calls for rioting and looting. Violence and destruction are not a means to an end. 

Reject the generalization of groups. Regardless of what you see in the media, remember that most people of that group are good. 

Reject unfounded claims. Research further and push each other towards the truth.   

We can do this! In fact, we are the only ones that can. It’s on us to hold on to our democracy and pass it on to our children. No one is going to do it for us.  

Peeking through the bottom of the black garbage back covering my attic window, I can see the Chicago skyline backdropped by a beautiful bright blue sky. It’s election day, Tuesday, November, 3 2020. It’s time for me to get off my screen, come out from behind the black garbage back, leave the attic, and head out into the sunshine. I encourage our country to do the same.