We seem to have reached a crossroads. There is no reasonable explanation for why Vice President Kamala Harris is not the first Black female president-elect of the United States.
Many voters will try to condone their choice. However, when you consider the man that has been chosen you have to pray to God for understanding. America is like a roller coaster up in the air going around and around. Imagine there is no place for the roller coaster to go because it is divided into two sides. Both sides are vying for an exit to the ground. There is no side willing to change its exit route, so the roller coaster keeps rolling.
This is the division we live with today. Nothing will change until the people change.
We must begin to treat others as equals and vote qualified people into office. A person who is not a liar and cheat, one with a good work ethic, who is knowledgeable in government affairs, full of empathy and love of country.
Donald Trump is not fit to do all that is required to keep us safe from tyranny and oppression. He is available to the highest bidder. His total disregard for Black Americans and immigrants is beyond measure. Everything is by design, and his Project 2025 is part of it.
Latinos were some of Trump's most ardent backers, when all he speaks of is ridding the country of “illegal” immigrants. Latino men, Black men, women, and young people voted for Trump. There can be no other conclusion than that we live in a racist America opposed to the vice president's gender, interracial marriage, and her own skin color.
Yes, racism in America is alive and well after lying dormant over the years. It was awakened from the time Trump first became president. A man that can call Rep. Nancy Pelosi—a White woman—a “bitch,” can call America a “garbage can,” and can start an insurrection is like the devil incarnate.
Who else would label and frighten people and accuse Black immigrants of eating cats and dogs? The vice president-elect, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, even accused the Haitians of stealing the animals they were alleged to have consumed.
We are lost at sea and have lost our bearing. It is a very sad time for America. Even worse is knowing that highly educated family members voted for Trump despite it all.
Black and Latino men are living in the past, trying to go back to a time when women could not vote. We, however, are not going back. Never again will we be men’s handmaidens. We have been in captivity far too long.
If the Democrats had only realized that Trump had no fear of losing this election, they might have paid closer attention to his actions. He was far too confident; he said and did any and everything he wanted to do. No one who is afraid of losing would commit to the degrading actions of Trump and Vance.
We the people must continue to stand up. We must never vote a felon, sexual predator, or insurrectionist into office again. We must be ready to start organizing, phone banking, and knocking on doors.
We must also keep an open line to the almighty God on high, praying and asking him to let nothing harm the United States of America and all the people who dwell in it.
Dorothy Dempsey is a senior citizen who loves to write. She thanks God for allowing her to share this gift through published articles in The St. Louis American, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Belleville News, St. Louis Catholic Review, and in various books.
