POST ELECTION MEDITATIONS – WOMEN AND STRUGGLE

I have plenty of post-election thoughts to share, but will have to break my natural stream-of-consciousness writing style and create a series of posts to avoid publishing tomes. This is still a blog, after all …

Perhaps a good place to start is a discussion about women’s personal connection with Hillary Clinton being so close to punching a hole through America’s gender bubble and become the first woman President — only to see this quest denied with the election of Donald Trump.

I recall sitting in my living room in November 4, 2008, with tears in my eyes, watching the televised election results confirm that Senator Barack Obama will be elected president of the United States.

Like many people, the emotions I felt ran deeper than Obama’s incredible achievement.

I thought about the people of color I know, or know of, who were harassed or brutalized by law enforcement officers.

I thought about a family member who died in police custody.

I thought about my ancestors in the South who were not permitted to vote.

I thought about the White kids stuffed in a brown Cadillac who pulled up to one of my friends and ask for directions — just before blasting him with a shotgun.

I thought about Hegel. And anyone who’s ever quoted him or thought like he did.

I thought about how children of color can never be denied this moment, and could now add President of the United States on their list of aspirations available to pursue.

Being an African descendant male does not allow me to fully express the thoughts of women across the world who followed the Presidential election two nights ago, but I can imagine that the centuries of women’s rights abuses and the struggle for equal rights were not distant memories.

More meditations to come …

song currently stuck in my head: “jaco” pat metheny group