This nation rests upon division.
Division of human beings who are categorized by what color their skin is, what nationality they are, what sexuality they are, what gender they were born as.
This nation has proved to be one of competition, of insecurity, of discrimination and of vacant minds.
The other day I had a conversation with a good friend, an old friend. He said to me, “I would rather have a racist, sexist, bigot for president, than a criminal for president.”
He was referring to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
This isn’t a rant about how much I disagree with Trump’s policies; instead, let’s talk about what my friend said. Let’s also talk about how I responded.
After he said this, I responded immediately, “Unfollow me and block me.” Now that is too much of an overreaction, mixed girl, you may be thinking. Some of you might not understand why this even affects me so much.
First of all, yes this is personal. You may not relate to what I feel, or even care. Hillary Clinton and her email scandal; I simply don’t care. It isn’t personally affecting me, hurting me or anyone else for that matter. Let me just get that out the way. Complete and utter honesty, am I right?
Now back to this friend of mine. Why was I so angry with him? Because even though you would rather have a racist president, I wouldn’t. You know why? I am an African American, and this will affect me personally.
Not only will having a racist president be the idol for many young white Americans that grow up with me, to one day affect my future but this, the new leader of the free world, ran a campaign based on “Making America Great Again,” by building walls, denying a woman’s right to choose and deporting millions of immigrants.
This is now the face of this country that I live in and care so much about. Now this may not affect you, my friendly white friend with nothing but friendly intentions, because you are a white male and having a white male president is perfect for you, as it will affect you only positively.
You might as well have said, “I understand you are black, but I am not. So your well being in this country has no affect on me.”
I could even go as far to say that this man that you are accepting, looking at him is like looking into a mirror. You see yourself, you see a white man, you see a powerful man, and you see one who disregards anyone who is different from him.
That is why I am cutting off all contact with you; because what you are accepting simply is against me as a person. I cannot relate to you anymore or see you as someone who really cares for me.
Now at the end of reading this, you are probably calling the Ku Klux Klan to report me as a reverse racist. No, that isn’t the case.
I don’t hate white people. In fact, I’m sure a lot of them would agree with me. All I’m saying is, by thinking the promotion of racism is OK, then you are against me. By thinking sexism is OK, you are against me.
By thinking homophobia is OK, you are against people I love and respect. By thinking Islamophobia is OK, you are against people I love and respect.
If, in any way, you think bigotry of any kind is OK, then I simply cannot communicate with you, relate to you or think of you as someone who cares about me. I love my country, but right now, I am not loving what it stands for.
I will definitely miss Barack Obama. I am not surprised that our country has come to this. A hateful country. A racist country. A divided nation.
Keely Bryner is a biracial 15-year-old student at Odyssey Charter School in Altadena.
The post A broken friendship and a divided nation appeared first on Wave Newspapers.