Back To November

Back To November

I am sure I am not the only one who was looking forward to one more month of reveling in the glory of Barack and Michelle Obama’s beautiful presence in the White House.  But unfortunately The Donald has already infiltrated the presidency and is prematurely ruining ALL THE THINGS, so we had no such glorious final month.  I wish we could go Back To November (like Taylor Swift’s song “Back To December”, shout out, LOVE that song) and make it alright. Change something, do SOMETHING to make the outcome different.  But alas, here we are and here we will stay for at least four years.  

Reading the news about The Donald's "presidential" choices reminds me of group projects in college when we had to hand everything over to the lousy member of the team for a week.  And that person gets to do the presentations and just generally ruin all the work everyone else has done but there is literally nothing you can do but watch them get an F for the whole group.  That is where America is right now.  We get to watch this ignorant egomaniac present America's worst experiment to the world, screw it up, give up, toss it in the trash and go back to his other projects. 

If we could go Back To November, what would you do?  Maybe if we had created small town outreach programs like they do with AIDS education for tribal communities in Africa.  We could have told The Donald's fans how Hitler came to power through hatred of minority groups.  We could show them pictures of what people look like in diverse places such as New York City and ask them if New York appears to be struggling due to all of that diversity.  I mean, I love small towns and I love a lot of white working class people who apparently feel marginalized.  But the fear of immigrants and Muslims that The Donald is selling is not going to make their lives better or America greater. 

We have always been a nation of immigrants.  Around 1830, German immigrants settled in Cincinnati and the neighborhood of Over The Rhine.  The people there had their own newspapers, churches and German cultural centers so that they could maintain a part of their heritage while becoming Americans.   However other residents in Cincinnati were threatened by them, blaming them for any problems that they could.  Immigrants were supposedly taking all the jobs. And since they didn’t speak English fluently they weren’t “becoming American” fast enough for massive groups of “nativists” who tried to literally invade and attack Over The Rhine.  Because of prejudice, minority communities tend to create their own safe spaces and their own cultural identity.  These communities are not dangerous just because they don’t celebrate Holidays the same way you do, or because they speak differently.  They aren’t scary because they have a different skin color or socialize in a way that is unusual to you.  And they definitely aren't taking anything away from us.  Lazy, unimaginative people don’t up and leave their home country for the unknown America ahead of them.  Strong and courageous people do that. Ambitious immigrants are our past, present and future; they are one of the many things that make America great.

What if we could go Back To November and let people know that all those lost manufacturing jobs are NOT COMING BACK to the U.S.?  They just aren’t. And that is ok.  Our economy is strong right now and while the jobs might not be the same as they always were, that is also ok.  IT jobs are booming and all they require is a little training.  Citibank (where I work, please see me if you want a job here, they are offering referral bonuses up to $3000 per person!!) is begging people to come apply.  Seriously begging, there are signs on the highway and everything.  Immigrants haven’t stolen any manufacturing jobs, the jobs have moved overseas, and the only thing that brings them back is giving the companies millions of dollars.  Things change, jobs change, America changes….but it is already great.  

So if you could go Back To November, what would you do?  Maybe instead we should look to what we can do now. Perhaps that group project can be reclaimed from the lousy team member before it is too late. We can continue to fight for justice and against prejudice and never lose sight of the America that Martin Luther King dreamed about.  Instead of back, Let’s "keep moving forward." (We can thank Walt Disney for that much better quote than The Donald's not so great one.)