I voted. Instagramed my voting sticker. Facebooked a few inspiring posts to get my peers to participate in the election as well. I smiled so big when I picked my 9 year old son up from school and told him that I “rocked the vote!” He was upset I went without him, but I told him he can stay up just a little later that evening to watch the election numbers come in. That worked for him and we darted home to sit in front of the TV to watch Hilary Clinton take the position of the new Commander in Chief!
As the hours rolled by the coverage on CNN began to bother me. My 9-year-old had to color in the color of which party won which state for his homework and I began seeing red (literally). He asked, “what’s going on mom?”. All I could do was sit in silence, because I was thinking the same thing. How was Donald Trump really taking the lead from a woman that has committed most of her adult life to public service and had experience in the White House? How could we have gone from 8 amazing years with President Obama to electing a racist? How could this bully and womanizer be anyone’s choice for President?
Another hour passed by and my 9-year-old son began to fall asleep. I told him to pray and go lay down and that things would be better in the morning. But now that the numbers are in and Trump has won. Things won’t be better in the morning. What do I tell my son when he wakes up in the morning looking for information on who the next President will be?
I’m clueless on what to tell my black boy living on the West Side of Chicago with a set of “working class” parents. I can’t lie and say Hillary Clinton won. I can’t lie and tell him that everything will be okay because I don’t know if that’s true…since Donald has became the President elect our stock market has already began to drop. Trump has already showed us his temper so war with another country is almost a given.
Black America is on pins and needles to see how “Making America Great Again” is going to work for us as a whole, because it doesn’t seem like we were included in the plan. Parents are battling with the same thoughts I have. How do you explain to your child that sometimes life doesn’t seem fair and you’ve got to just roll with the punches? We as a people have to be honest and upfront with ourselves and our children. We don’t know what the future may hold, but we know who holds the future. Keep praying and trusting God and taking life one day at a time because there is no way we can change America’s vote. But we can change how we view America and our communities. The next 4 years won’t be easy, but if our Ancestors made it so can we.
Be strong.
Keyonda Pyles
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