When my cat died suddenly on the night before Election Day, I knew Donald Trump would be elected president, and I began to mourn both events at once. It was one of those moments of superstitious premonition — amplified by the fact that she was a black cat and I’d long referred to her as my familiar — that seem spooky only when they then turn out to be true. Before she died, I’d assumed, along with nearly everyone else in New York City, that Hillary Clinton would win.
After all, how could a competent, experienced politician lose to a crudely bigoted caveman? Why would working people — many of them struggling in Midwestern towns whose economies no longer thrive — vote for a man made famous by yelling “You’re Fired” on television? Even more curiously, why would an accused serial rapist receive more white female votes than a qualified woman?
Blame the elite feminism that Clinton represents.
This post first appeared on The Rag Blog.
I finally think I’ve understood why we’re so obsessed with zombies.
The discarded shroud, the rustling in the weeds, the vaporous apparitions seen from Pocatello to Lake Wobegone, the ghost army of admirers… we were forewarned that he was back but failed to pay attention.
On Halloween eve the “New” Nixon Library launched an expensive newspaper advertising campaign, inviting us to “discover how Richard Nixon’s legacy continues to shape our world.” He was the hero, the ads claim, who “protected the environment… desegregated schools, ended the Vietnam War.” “Buy tickets now,” the Library urges.
The unthinkable has happened.
Donald Trump’s bid for presidency is no longer a comedic farce but a political reality that should not be underestimated or taken lightly. This political upset represents a catastrophic blow to working class women, communities of color, immigrants, Muslims, and LGBTQ populations.
Where do we go from here? What can we do right now to organize for the most vulnerable? What political forces can we muster to challenge the Trump administration? And how does this election relate to the global shift to the right and the rise of fascism at home?
Akwugo Emejulu, Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, examines the politics of whiteness central to Donald Trump's presidential victory.
Can you see it? Do you now understand its influence and importance? Will you finally realise what is at stake? Many people of colour already understand what is going on because of a learned knowledge that ensures our survival; as Patricia Hill Collins argues, “Black women cannot afford to be fools of any type for our objectification as the Other denies us protections that white skin, maleness and wealth confer.”
I am, of course, referring to whiteness: that political project to defend and enforce the racialised social order of white supremacy.