AMERICAN HISTORY X

This Nation’s foundation was built on shaky ground. From the massive land grab from indigenous peoples to the enslavement of Africa people to women being seen as only baby making machines, America hasn’t been so great for everybody. The creation of a racial caste system meant that we would be separated (based on how quickly we could get sunburned) for as long as we lived in A-Murcia. The leaders of the so-called “land of the free” worked hard to continue their disenfranchisement of black folks: from Jim Crow to the Dredd Scott Decision, to racist policing of black communities, to the KKK, to even freakin’ separating black and white swimmers in Lake Michigan.

The 1950s through 1970s saw both the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. The only thing black folks ever wanted in this country was equal treatment under the law and recognition of our human dignity.

Fast forward to 2008. President Barack Obama became the first African-American President, and a specific segment of the American people lost their goddamn minds.

During the Obama years, we saw the controversial murder of Trayvon Martin, and the rise of Black Lives Matter. A modern-day civil rights movement had arisen. Like all black movements before, they faced fierce criticisms just for highlighting even in the era of a black president that black people’s lives weren’t viewed as valuable. The Tea Party and The Grand Old Party of angry white dudes did everything to undermine President Obama’s moderate 1970s Republican agenda. For eight horrible years, CNN and NBC looked like BET (Michelle Obama tho) to the silent majority.

But they were not very silent. Just check Twitter or YouTube.

In November 2016, our country faced Whitelash from that silent majority.

Trump’s American Horror Story

In 2012, Donald J. Trump proclaimed himself the leader of the anti-Obama birther movement. Even his Botox-faced immigrant wife number 25 questioned Obama’s country of origin. The birther movement, the murder of countless black folks at the hands of cops, and the New Jim Crow were all born out of good ol’ American racism.

Time and time again, liberals, conservatives, and non-black colored folks have said, black people always talk about race and racialize everything. They seem to forget that this country was founded on the ideology of white supremacy and black inferiority to make the Founded Fathers feel better about owning black folks. Donald J. Trump embodies that doctrine.

He rode a wave of American culture’s worse aspects of celebrity worship, wealth obsession, sexism, and good ol’ fashioned racism all the way to the White House, in his upset victory over America’s least favorite ‘abuela’ Hillary Clinton.

The one thing I respect about Trump is that his hatred is equal opportunity. During his campaign, he targeted black folks (The Blacks), women (Grab ‘em by the pussy), immigrants (Mexicans are rapists), Muslims (Ban them), and the handicapped (Poke fun at the disabled). He ran a despicable campaign, and 62 million “Real American Patriots” gave him the needed Electoral College votes to gain the White House. The man has aligned himself with the Alt-Right (an updated suit-wearing, face-punchable version of the Neo-Nazis), chosen an old-fashioned Southern racist to be the Attorney General, and just nominated an anti-marriage equality judge to the Supreme Court. He is the face of what America is and what it’s always been: a white supremacist nation.

We’re All Niggas Now: Welcome to Trump’s America

Black folks collectively have been seen as paranoid, having to live with double-consciousness in this country. Now, unfortunately, we’ve been proven right about the whole damn thing. It turns out we weren’t all that paranoid, were we? We’ve been racially integrated into burning house as Dr. King once famously said.

It has always been a burning house. But now everybody, not just black folks, knows it.

Trump seems overly determined to keep his campaign promises of rolling back the hands of social and environmental progress back to the days of slaving-owning, tobacco growing “Founding Fathers.” The only people’s rights who are not under attack are his biggest voting bloc: Cis-gendered, heterosexual, heteronormative, Anglo-American males. (Hey, I gotta use my fancy sociology degree for something right?)

In Trump’s America, everyone not part of that small group will face their collective “Negro wake-up call.” In this new Trumpian era, all people who aren’t straight white males will become the target group for disenfranchisement and abuse by this new administration.

Black voters knew what type of fuckery Trump would bring upon this nation. Too bad no one listened until after the fact. So, in Trump’s America, we’re all niggas now. Happy Black History Month and pass da hot sauce.