[pjw] Analysis: After the election: Where do we go from here? (AFSC 11/9)

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hi
Joanne from Recruiter Watch forwarded this piece from the American Friends 
Service Committee regarding the outcome of the elections. (AFSC, like PJW, 
is a 501-c-3, not affiliated with any party, and can't take a stand for or 
against any candidate for office.) It's passionate, it's thoughtful, and 
it's inspiring. I hope you will think about it and pass it along.
dan h
peace and justice works

  https://www.afsc.org/blogs/news-and-commentary/after-election-where-do-we-go-here
After the election: Where do we go from here?
News & Commentary  |  By Dina El-Rifai, Nov 9, 2016

     I am an immigrant. I am a Muslim. I am a woman. Each piece of my
    identity has been picked apart, threatened, alienated, and attacked
    during these incredibly long several months that have led up to this
    election. Each piece of me now needs to heal. Just as each marginalized
    piece of our country needs to heal.

    Black. Mexican. Muslim. Native American. Woman. Latinx. Immigrant.
    Refugee. Differently abled. Jewish. LGBTQ. This election season has
    been exhausting. As millions of people buzz about the election results
    and about America's new president, many will forget about you--the
    communities that have been attacked, tokenized, propped up, pushed
    down, and picked apart in the race for the White House. This piece is
    about and for you.

    You who desperately wished to be humanized but instead were
    objectified, pathologized, degraded, and ruthlessly spoken of like
    specimen and pawns during debates between candidates who never really
    stopped long enough to listen to your community. You who has a target
    on your back and carefully calculates your every move every day because
    of the color of your skin. You, the indigenous people, who continue to
    be violated, attacked, and stripped of what you are wholly entitled to
    and what is yours. You who refuses to be a pawn in "war on terror" and
    "war on drugs" policies that have targeted, surveilled, occupied,
    detained, incarcerated, and killed entire communities of color here and
    abroad. You without clean water. You who had to disconnect from media
    when the Trump Tapes were released because sexual assault hits too
    close to home. You seeking to be validated by a society that refuses to
    recognize your identity, your experiences, your traumas, your needs, or
    your humanity. You who have already experienced the violence caused by
    the xenophobic policies implemented under the current administration
    and perpetuated on the campaign trail this election season."

    Audre Lorde, Black feminist and social activist said "caring for myself
    is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of
    political warfare."

    This is your time. This is your time to support your community, to
    organize, to invest in yourselves. Own the agency and power of your
    community. Influencing change does not begin and end with the election
    season. This is our time to uplift our communities.

    With President Obama still in office until January, this is the time
    for communities to mobilize, organize community forums, and put
    pressure on Obama to do more before he leaves office. Let us call on
    him to reverse his increased detention and deportation policies that
    tear communities apart.

    People in Denver accompany a fellow community member, Manuel, to a
    court hearing on his immigration status. Photo: AFSC/Gabriela Flora

    This is our time to advocate for humane policies, including immigration
    reform that promotes healing and centers the dignity and worth of each
    person. This is our time to mobilize against Republican and Democratic
    policies that support detention, deportation, militarization of law
    enforcement, and the destruction of communities of color.

    Come January, it is up to us to hold the new president responsible and
    accountable. It is up to us to create a movement and to change the
    dominant culture and narrative. To demand that it is more important for
    our communities to be invested in than for communities abroad to be
    droned and destroyed. To demand that the new administration reject
    racist policies that perpetuate racial and social control of our
    communities. To demand policies that center humanity, equality, and
    justice for all people. Build coalitions, identify community needs, and
    amplify.

    Our communities deserve to heal. With healing, with love, with
    solidarity, will come justice and liberation.

About the Author

    Dina El-Rifai

    Dina El-Rifai is the Public Policy Fellow in AFSC's Office of Public
    Policy and Advocacy in Washington, D.C.