You feel it. Its a combination of despair mixed with rage. Its the combination of hopelessness mixed in with anger. Wondering how, we as a nation, truly got to the point that we are at now. I refused to give Cheeto attention in the primaries, ignored all references of him during the election and haven’t allowed myself to truly digest the results from November 8th. Yet even though I refuse to utter his name or acknowledge his existence, he is still POTUS.
My anger and rage are temperate at the moment, but it is also 8AM on the Monday post inauguration and I need to hold myself together. I’ve shuffled the shoulda wouldas for awhile now. Hell, I wanted Bernie to win and slowly grew defeated after that fire went out. It’s a feeling of numbness that has hardened like a callus throughout my life. Ignoring the ways of the world because the rules were not made with me in mind. The founding fathers of this country weren’t really interested in blacks or women so there has always been tension. I came out the womb feeling resistance and that pressure has yet to ease up. Thankfully I came out the day before Independence Day and have always found a way to rage against the machine. Still in the moments of chaos and rampant when everyone is silent. Ingredients for a real revolutionary.
The Women's March of Saturday was a breath of change that was felt around the world. Women of all ages, races, religions and beliefs coming together in various shades of Pepto-Bismol, as a protest again the powers that be. I was out there. Attended the mass confusion that was the LA edition that started out with fists high and chants roaring and ended up a circus for all those needing attention. I went home the moment I saw a sign that read "Batman for President" refused to come back out for the rest of the night. It was in that moment that the end of the world flashed in-front of my eyes and everything around me seemed like an episode of Black Mirror.
Blatant hypocrisies flooded the streets of Downtown LA. I think my favorite part was watching girls with climate change shirts, throw their signs in the trash after they were done marching. Pretty sure they got the picture for IG before they did so though. I left there without a real clue of what we were all gathering for, beyond women’s rights. I say beyond because everyone came out protesting some other agenda. I just wanted the memo with all of the organizations and chants so that we could practice in unison. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.
I left there without a real clue of what to do and thankfully I have some awesome activist friends who posted clues on their FB. So, in the spirit of working collectively with others we have attached some additional actions for everyone to take as a whole as well as some guides to just dealing with life.
TOP 5 WAYS TO SURVIVE WEEK 1 OF CHEETO ADMINISTRATION
- Stop participating in FB and Twitter beef and take those feelings to the Senate. The Women's March organizers have created 10 Actions for the First 100 Days.
- READ AND SUBSCRIBE TO THIS LIST
- Stop copping with alcohol *
- Alkaline your body.
- Meditate in the morning.
* If no-one is going to say it I will. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, FIRST. Black Lives won’t matter to others if they don’t matter to you. Meaning, stop poisoning your body daily. Alcohol is a poison. If you can’t cut it out – cut it down to once a week. Happy hour really isn’t happy when you’re dehydrate from the inside out.
I will be back with more survival skills next week but for now, soak this up.
