I’m sitting here this morning, my heart pounding in my chest, my brain spinning uncontrollably, trying to find words, having a difficult time putting it all in an order that makes sense to my brain and my soul.
I am trying to find a way to calm my daughter’s anxiety. I am trying to answer her questions.
How do I explain to her that people now feel they have been given permission to judge her based on the color of her skin?
That they can openly harass and deny services to her family members because of who they chose to love?
How do I try to calm her fears that old white men are going to tell her what she can and can’t do with her body?
Please, someone, offer me the words to explain this to her, because right now, I have none.
Brain Drops 
Humans like status quo. We now have Trump as president…but I believe he will have little support from congress or the courts, thus grid lock. (I’m in favor of gridlock.) Women have found their voice and express it today. An example…discrimination is considered a crime today. And more women are open about this crime when they are discriminated against. So I don’t see power going to “Old Angry White Men.” I see a lot of status quo. I see women continue to be empowered by our culture and I see Hope. I see Hope not because of Trump…but because of young women like Amy who won’t take shabby treatment and hide it away. These young women will expose ugly truths, taking power from those who perpetuate it regardless of who they are. Dean and Dan are great examples of upstanding men who fight for women’s rights. I will focus on these men and others like them to hold bad people, men & women, accountable.
I hold another reason for Hope. My niece, (raised in deep-south, small town, Tennessee), married a man, born in the US as a US citizen of Filipino parents born in the Philippine Islands. They live in very small town Mississippi. Both are accepted completely in the community. No racial slurs, no skin color negative comments…only just regular members of the community. Hope needs to be grabbed and cherished.
It’s interesting to talk to Amy about her take on everything that has taken place over the last year or so. As we sometimes forget, she is considered a person of color in addition to being female and sadly gets treated differently because of it. And that is the biggest thing that scares me. I grew up seeing the racial divide and thought maybe we had moved past it finally. I guess only time will tell.