Anyone who knows what the process of change feels like, knows that change and transitions are hard. Moving, career changes, deciding to start a family or take a leap in life. These are things that create a level of anxiety. For many people that have moved to Charlotte, this may be something that may not seem as "new", but for many people that have gotten into a routine, change is scary.
"Change",is President Obama's slogan that he ran on, created a ripple effect across the country. If we take the time to reflect, people that were most moved and positively effected by his Presidency were those that got swept from the bottom and were able to move around more freely. The people that were able to be helped by the Affordable Care Act, energy policy, and the financial industry reconfiguration, these people became less burdened by the difficulties of life, and were able to live to tell about it.
President Obama's changes set new precedents and gave people of under represented backgrounds a platform to speak out comfortably and openly about racial injustices and minimizing of discrimination based on a part of their identities. The strength to move forward with statements against giving up personal beliefs and norms to be accepted into a public sphere of what is seen as "normal" from the perspective of white androcentrism ( or the white male experience as the "normal" way of life) was challenged, a change that was a benefit to many, but also was uncomfortable for the individuals that looked like traditional leaders of our society, for example, white, christian, males over 30, etc.
Change actually has many stages and we survived the steps that are known as, pre-contemplation, contemplation, and experimentation. Basically, we elected a President that brought a multicultural perspective to America, and it was a trial period to see if we were ready. The answer is that the people are ready for a person prepared to lead and that is willing to give us a voice along with a stronger presence; our leadership on the other hand is not. Traditional leaders are using the system to remain traditional and androcentric. Placing their desires above the well-being of the people, but this should not be seen as resistance, their actions are ambivalence.
Transition can be difficult, many times in different ways people can be ambivalent, or scared. From what we have witnessed there are groups that have been able to speak unquestioned and act without thought to consequences. The thought that these changes can happen scare them. They may look like or even be our open-minded family members and friends, but the emphasis on giving up old traditions that are no longer useful or bad habits that are damaging to those around us can be stressful and cause anxiety. This is the voice that has been given the largest platform in the recent months. This is the voice of the old "It's always been this way" person. The American that spoke valiantly of John Wayne, this is the person that was thought of when speaking of "traditional cowboys". This period of America is over, and for those of us that are embracing the new America, we need to do so with understanding that these individuals aren't resisting the change, their uneasy about it. They are terrified of it. That's okay.
We are in a stage ready for action, and that means that we are ready to keep the forward momentum going, but what we must focus on is opening up a space to allow the ambivalent to speak their "fears", if they are not able to have a safe space for their fears, then they have a history of acting out and bringing destruction to a forward movement. We don't want that. We want to allow for the release of the anxiety and stress that changes bring, so that over time, they can relax and realize that there is no danger to them.
For the leadership within this re-structuring, they may be maintenancing these changes through supportive legislation, advocacy through community involvement, and educating the community on proposals that may restrict or remove some of the reforms, which means that the community may need to step in, through protesting, voting, and calling legislators.
What many of us should be doing is making sure that the good changes are available for the people that need them. Working to keep what's good may include building a network, which has been done through social networking, however, to have and create resources on a local and state level for the sake of moving forward we also need to have specific places to go, websites for information, and news outlets that focus on legislative reform, etc. For some people it may include working toward local and state elections, making sure that candidates keep the innovations that excited us so much available in the years to come throughout their terms, and it may also mean getting rid of the ones that don't. It is important to actively stay aware of off-year elections as well as mid-term elections, and keeping eyes out for candidates that can and will bring helpful and meaningful development to the community. In my state, of North Carolina, we are holding a special election in the upcoming year, and, as a community, we are looking for ways to be involved and to create enough of a stir that the current General Assembly can be balanced out more evenly.
The last stage of change is Relapse, or falling into old behaviors, it is completely normal for some things to return to where they were at one point, or for some people to not change and to push for an old agenda, this happens. What needs to occur is forward momentum regardless. Modification of life is a part of living, in order for us all to be able to do it productively, we need to be able to move forward and keep our focus on our goals. We are all here for a reason, it is important that we continue to push for positive and uplifting changes. By educating the future generations, staying aware and informed on what is happening around us and paying attention to people effected by laws policies, we can keep track useful and useless reforms. We look at our community, what good changes have been made, and what changes need to occur and we work toward them.
Community and environmental change takes action and choices. We are all at different levels, in different places in our development and we have to be open to what that means and how we can make the most of our presence as a community. For those of us in the action stage, please remember some of us are in maintenance, and some of us are in contemplation. As a country, we are at action, and many voters are going to enter experimentation through taking on different roles, let's encourage this and build support around making sure that these experiences are reinforced for the better. It is our job to make America what we want it be, lets make it an America we are proud to live in.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Let's Not forget (blowing off steam).
I am writing about this election, and I realized that I am angry. I am so angry, and I have not written about it because I have not protested, I have organized. I believe in love, but I also believe in accountability and American's deserve to see someone held accountable. We deserve an explanation.
What Can I do? I asked myself and I have seen so many people ask "what can they do?". There were so many people looking forward to an election that was going to move America forward. When America took a step 50 years back, we all didn't know what to do. Throughout the election there was so much turmoil over both candidates. Truthfully, Bernie Sanders turned America around.
His perspective and conviction opened the doors to the American future. When he spoke of creating a functional economy and the "stress on the American working class" was like an angel singing from the heavens. Was he perfect? Definitely not. He was so removed from the people of color that he had to refer to charts and demographic information to be able to speak of the experience of Black Lives Matter and racial oppression, as did both the other major candidates. He was not the most perfect candidate, but he was more informed. He made both the Clinton Campaign and the Republican campaigns have to speak on very significant truths of the flaws within the American system. Bernie Sanders proved himself to be my representative.
When the Sanders campaign was not able to follow through with the election America truly lost hope. In a true objective opinion, I have to speak of what the true issue was. The Sanders Campaign had received so much difficulty from the Democratic National Committee that America was not feeling the Clinton campaign. Not that I will ever identify in complete alignment with an America that only allows Americans to have two sides of a true story, but the Democratic party had betrayed America so hardheartedly that this presidency may not ever allow a true recovery.
The closed primary elections, not allowing people to vote if they didn't register as Democrats? What America is that? Voting is an American Right. It is a constitutional right upheld, and primaries that don't allow for people to vote are IN VIOLATION of that American right. I have been betrayed by the Democratic party and they opened the door for a Trump Presidency. I hope they are patting themselves on the back. Hillary Clinton has shown that she does understand politics, she has been around the White House for over twenty years. I am drawn to believe that if Hillary Clinton truly believed that a woman could have won the white house, and having a woman represent our country was what she felt was best, she would have mentored a woman representing the younger generation, they all would have mentored a younger representative. Instead, not only was this election full of people that didn't relate to the younger voters, but the candidates did not relate to the current issues. Donald Trump's awareness of twitter made him understand that he needs to keep his thoughts in 40 characters or less, and unfortunately that worked in his favor. It opened a can of worms that I personally did not see coming.
We now have to figure out how to move forward as we watch what was once a hopeful democracy become a place where hate groups feel as though they can speak of inhumane beliefs and act on a disgusting lack of humanity. They allow fear to drive their limited primal understanding of a complex world. Instead of celebrating variety (the spice of life), we have people that will justify creating sickening acts like Dylann Roof, or John RK Howard. Those that feel like it's safe to publicly diminish someone because he or she is different. People that don't deserve a platform, have been given one.
We must continue what Bernie Sanders started and draw on our states to be representative of what's right. We must work to make sure that our discomfort is felt not just by us, but by the representatives that are not respecting our voices, so that they will need to understand that our discomfort is also their discomfort. Unhappy people, means unhappy business. We must draw on the example that Bernie Sanders set by being willing to challenge the status quo. To invite other parties to participate in representing our beliefs through local and state forums. We must work to be the change. For anyone that feels differently, this is my opinion based on how I saw this election play out. There has not been much emphasis on the wrong doings of the Democrats since the primaries, and that is alarming. We can not forget that many voters were discouraged this election, we can not forget that the candidates were not perfect this election, and we can not forget that America deserves better in the years following.
What Can I do? I asked myself and I have seen so many people ask "what can they do?". There were so many people looking forward to an election that was going to move America forward. When America took a step 50 years back, we all didn't know what to do. Throughout the election there was so much turmoil over both candidates. Truthfully, Bernie Sanders turned America around.
His perspective and conviction opened the doors to the American future. When he spoke of creating a functional economy and the "stress on the American working class" was like an angel singing from the heavens. Was he perfect? Definitely not. He was so removed from the people of color that he had to refer to charts and demographic information to be able to speak of the experience of Black Lives Matter and racial oppression, as did both the other major candidates. He was not the most perfect candidate, but he was more informed. He made both the Clinton Campaign and the Republican campaigns have to speak on very significant truths of the flaws within the American system. Bernie Sanders proved himself to be my representative.
When the Sanders campaign was not able to follow through with the election America truly lost hope. In a true objective opinion, I have to speak of what the true issue was. The Sanders Campaign had received so much difficulty from the Democratic National Committee that America was not feeling the Clinton campaign. Not that I will ever identify in complete alignment with an America that only allows Americans to have two sides of a true story, but the Democratic party had betrayed America so hardheartedly that this presidency may not ever allow a true recovery.
The closed primary elections, not allowing people to vote if they didn't register as Democrats? What America is that? Voting is an American Right. It is a constitutional right upheld, and primaries that don't allow for people to vote are IN VIOLATION of that American right. I have been betrayed by the Democratic party and they opened the door for a Trump Presidency. I hope they are patting themselves on the back. Hillary Clinton has shown that she does understand politics, she has been around the White House for over twenty years. I am drawn to believe that if Hillary Clinton truly believed that a woman could have won the white house, and having a woman represent our country was what she felt was best, she would have mentored a woman representing the younger generation, they all would have mentored a younger representative. Instead, not only was this election full of people that didn't relate to the younger voters, but the candidates did not relate to the current issues. Donald Trump's awareness of twitter made him understand that he needs to keep his thoughts in 40 characters or less, and unfortunately that worked in his favor. It opened a can of worms that I personally did not see coming.
We now have to figure out how to move forward as we watch what was once a hopeful democracy become a place where hate groups feel as though they can speak of inhumane beliefs and act on a disgusting lack of humanity. They allow fear to drive their limited primal understanding of a complex world. Instead of celebrating variety (the spice of life), we have people that will justify creating sickening acts like Dylann Roof, or John RK Howard. Those that feel like it's safe to publicly diminish someone because he or she is different. People that don't deserve a platform, have been given one.
We must continue what Bernie Sanders started and draw on our states to be representative of what's right. We must work to make sure that our discomfort is felt not just by us, but by the representatives that are not respecting our voices, so that they will need to understand that our discomfort is also their discomfort. Unhappy people, means unhappy business. We must draw on the example that Bernie Sanders set by being willing to challenge the status quo. To invite other parties to participate in representing our beliefs through local and state forums. We must work to be the change. For anyone that feels differently, this is my opinion based on how I saw this election play out. There has not been much emphasis on the wrong doings of the Democrats since the primaries, and that is alarming. We can not forget that many voters were discouraged this election, we can not forget that the candidates were not perfect this election, and we can not forget that America deserves better in the years following.
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