2018 Midterm Elections

The South did not have all of the successes I would like to have seen last night. I woke up to some good USA news but still knowing that the South was lacking. I’m not sure why I expected better. The South just can not get away from supporting racists.

These aren’t the results I’d desperately hoped for, but the poll performances in Florida, Texas, and Georgia were much stronger than I’d expected and I’m overjoyed to see the diversity of the winners; just think, many representatives do finally resemble the populace they serve.

What I don’t understand is the hate toward the Georgia Governor candidate, Stacey Abrams. It feels awfully racially charged to me. And yet when I raise my hand to point out hateful posts and comments from fellow white people, I’m hearing “They always want to make it about race, but it’s not.” Sorry, but I’m not buying it. Much of it clearly is and a large swath of people in this state are living in denial. Contributing more hate and defending that hate with hate is deeply wrong. Shouldn’t we feel this in our bones?

Before the election, I saw many comments about Stacey’s weight, her teeth, and other physical characteristics. Nobody had anything to say about actual issues. It disgusted me. I just don’t understand this. Look at the men in office. They aren’t anything to look at. No GQ models in that group. But if a woman runs she can only by pretty by stereotypical standards? That is a big racist and sexist double standard.

This is so typical, though, of insecure folks, and unfortunately, it’s not always men making those comments. So many women get catty about how other women look when it’s less than the ideal. It makes me sad.

I feel like in Alabama the only way a Democrat wins statewide is if the Republican is a pedophile. What is that about?

I think it reeks of racism. We Southerners, no matter our skin tone, pick up on not only overt words and actions but also the subtleties of prejudice. Among many of my white acquaintances, it was always just under the surface.

As much as white people hate to be called racist, a whole heckuva lot of us get all ginned up when it comes to people of color. The US won’t move forward until we truly and honestly grapple with the history of race. It needs to be called out and confronted for what it is. It needs to be dragged into the light and considered. We owe it to ourselves and to each other, to be honest, and forthright, and to be dedicated to growing towards a better community and nation.

And if you want me to go against my grain and say something remotely religious then here . . . . before there can be atonement, there has to be an acknowledgment of the sin. Those amongst us who now have the cover to be openly racist will never acknowledge their sin.

I noticed a few years back that for some white folks, as long as there is someone obviously more racist than them, then they are not racist (at least in their own minds). People also want to treat racism like it’s an all or nothing thing, but based on my experience it’s more like a spectrum, or we could say there are levels. Some people are perfectly comfortable in a work setting with people of color but will never have them in the homes (and so and so forth).

Here’s the thing y’all . . . even as folks who fight racism, we have to acknowledge our own embedded vestiges of subtle, racist thought. If we grew up in the South, it’s hard not to have some of that. So in my experience with white folks in hard denial, I often open by acknowledging my own history of grappling with it. We white progressives like to think we’re “woke” but we’re still children of the South and all the baggage that includes.

I long for a day when the government isn’t run by middle-aged and old white men who don’t live in the reality that the rest of the USA lives in.

A day for when our government is representative of the diversity of our nation and the racist white people don’t choose everything.

A day when a government can’t tell me what to do with my uterus or decide whether I should be outpriced on future medical treatment because I was sick a few years ago.

A day for when people realize that the intense fear they have of anything or anyone different than they are is overridden by the realization that it’s ok to be different.

A day when people running for office don’t talk nasty about each other on commercials and just tell me all the great things you want to do to make the world a better place. There is enough talking nasty in this world. Set a good example and stop it. Don’t be like the President.

A day when no one can buy an automatic weapon. You really don’t need it. Really. You don’t.

A day when we realize that mental health is just as important as physical health. Take care of your brain people.

A day when I can have a cocktail in a restaurant on Sunday and I don’t have to wait until after 12:30pm when the church people let out. It’s time for the antiquated religous based Sunday blue laws to go away.

I’m so happy that a record number of congressional seats went to women candidates last night, including history-making wins for Muslims, LGBTQ, and Native American women.

Maybe this whole change thing is just going to be slower than I want it to be. But we are 100 years away from women earning the right to vote and I think we should be further along than we are. Maybe I’ll never see it in my lifetime but I sure hope so.

I know the fight, the moral arc, all of it, was never meant to be quick or even reasonable and we have to keep working to reclaim decency.

Watching Kemp through this whole ordeal has made me spitting mad. I believe southern politics has a special burden to bare. Our current national administration rode to victory on the disgusting “Southern Strategy”. We will have a harder time than the rest of the county dealing with this entrenched ridiculousness. But for a few seconds, the Georgia maps were purple and the rest of the country gives me hope.

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