I have never defined myself by political affiliation. I
have voted all over the ballot based on the issues I believe in my whole adult
life. No matter what my views happened to be I have never been verbally assaulted by
my friends and family because of said views, until now. Suddenly I am a
“Liberal” and a “Left Side Enthusiast,” a “Feminist” and a “NASTY WOMAN.” Now, facing my mid-thirties I suddenly have labels. Suddenly all of my
morals and beliefs cause me to be filed into this small labeled box based on who
others think I am. I have never seen myself as one that can be labeled. I am
not Liberal nor am I Democrat. I am not Republican nor am a Conservative… I am
HUMAN. I stand for Human Rights, no matter where those rights lay their roots.
I was unaware that human rights could become so blurred based on party lines.
Given this realization, if I must take on labels to be a decent human being then
so be it. I guess I am a Liberal, Democrat, Feminist, Nasty Woman who happens
to advocate for the rights of pretty much everyone.
With that said, never have I witnessed an election polarize
so many families, so many friends. I've never, since my birth, seen the rights of the people stomped on with such indifference. You can say America isn’t divided all you
want. This is just the belief of a few. It seems to me that we are being fed “alternative
facts” by the spoon full and expected to swallow it like its nourishment being
provided for our bodies and minds. I didn’t realize being able to observe the
obvious made someone Democrat or Liberal. I always thought it made them perceptive.
From where I sit, it seems like we are more divided than ever. The far left and
the far right acting like toddlers throwing fits. No wonder people are
compelled to rise and resist.
In case you somehow have blinders on and have missed it. On Friday
January 20th thousands of humans revolted in violent riots against
the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States of
America. The widespread damage and chaos of these riots were overwhelming and
produced no positive results.
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| Inauguration riots 2017 |
Saturday
January 21st millions of human beings, worldwide, peacefully marched
in cities all over the globe in unity of different human rights. Again, last
night, January 24th, 2017 people marched in cities across the
U.S. in opposition of the pipelines that President Trump is pushing through.
They marched in recognition of the treaties that the Federal Government is
ignoring and in the memory of the lost loved ones of our Native American brothers and sisters whose
final resting places are being threatened in the name of greed. More marches
are being planned for various reasons. I’ve, personally, never seen a movement
like this.
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| A pipeline protester. Picture Courtesy of tigrignamovies.com |
I’ve never seen so many of my fellow humans so frightened of one person since… probably Hitler. America has always stood by our peoples’ basic rights. The right to assemble, to protest, is one of those rights and I will always advocate for it. I will never advocate for the right to riot, this is not a basic right- it’s a crime. Despite the difference in the two, it seems that the Government may now wish to target our right to assemble, as well as other basic rights. The combination of the given actions of the Trump regime in his first week is making some people around the world nervous.
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| Sign seen at the Women's March |
The March on January 21st, 2017, was lovingly
dubbed “The Women’s March.” It was, arguably to some, the single largest civil
rights protest in human history and serves as an excellent example of the
nervousness of the masses. Though it was called the “Women’s March,” it was
about so much more than just women. Everyone marched for their own beliefs and
for everyone’s beliefs. On that date, women, children and men of all
backgrounds, ages and ethnicity marched across the globe in recognition that
the direction the American Government is headed has the potential of being dangerous. They marched because basic rights are being infringed upon and
threatened. They marched because after all these years we needed to show that
we, the American people-and people of the world, will not be silenced when it
comes to the basic rights of others.
The people marched on the 21st and the 24th
because our planet is being threatened- All mention of Climate Change was erased from the White House website shortly after President Trump’s
inauguration; shortly thereafter the American peoples’ basic rights to be
informed of what is going on with our environment was taken from us. Our
National Parks and USDA silenced. Communication with the American public cutoff. Our EPA only allowed to resume communications after the black out order
if they agreed to erase mentions of climate change from their website. During this march,
many people of the world stood together and screamed that OUR WORLD matters.
That climate change is real. They screamed that we want to have a planet to
leave to our grandchildren. I have seen talk and criticism of how some of the protesters
acted in regards to their trash. Given that some were marching for that reason
and some were not- it doesn’t surprise me that there are human beings that are
ignorant to littering and its effect on our environment or that some of them
would be present during marches the size they were that day. We are talking
millions of people marching for various reasons. Luckily, museums are collecting the protest signs to keep.
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| A toddler with a self made protest sign at one of the many Women's Marches across the globe |
In America people are resisting in the name of our various
beliefs. The right to birth control, and (even though I am not in support of
it) the right of a woman to obtain an abortion. President Trump and VP Pence
have made clear their stand points on abortion, cutting international funding
to any facility providing or educating about abortion. Also, advocating and
pushing for the all-out outlaw of abortion in these United States and the
defunding of Planned Parenthood. As a teenager, PP provided me with the birth
control that kept me from becoming an unwed teenage mother with few options. We,
as a people, are outraged at Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education. As many
have said, our children deserve a Secretary of Education that actually cares about education.
We also deserve one that has had experience in education; a nominee that knows
the simplest facts about Federal Civil Rights laws like IDEA, that knows the
difference between “growth” and “proficiency.” Her confirmation will threaten
the basic rights of our countries most vulnerable-our disabled children.
The
people marched because healthcare for low income families, the disabled, and
the elderly is being threatened. The Republicans "solutions" aren't realistic solutions to many American families. We are being thrown to the wolves by the top 1%. All HUMANS deserve healthcare, period.
(Blog continues after Healthcare picture below)
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| Some Healthcare facts for you from http://healthresearchfunding.org/universal-healthcare-pros-cons/ |
Per New YorkStates Department of Health these countries have universal healthcare, yet we
in the U.S. do not:
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| Copied from the New York State Health Department |
Why you ask- because at some point we must stop seeing
everything through red and blue tinted glasses and start seeing life from the
viewpoint of others. I was taught as a little girl to LOVE OTHER PEOPLE. What
has happened to that?
The people of America are rising-up because all we have done
for domestic violence is at risk. Crisis Centers are at risk. At age 15 I
watched my mother thrust into a life of abuse. I watched her thrive
from the help she received from the local Women’s Shelter. These places are
important. No woman or man deserves to be in a situation where their lives are
at risk at the hands of another. No child deserves to set under a table and
scream as one parent assaults the other in front of them. This happens daily in
America, all over the world. Without the guidance of Women’s shelters and
Family shelters a lot of these individuals have no clue how to live a life
without abuse. Why would any person be OK with cutting programs like this? It seems, according to USUncut.com, President Trump plans to cut 15 major Government offices. One of those being the Office of Violence Against Women. This particular department makes up around $480 million per year. That breaks down to $3.50 per taxpayer. I don't know about anybody else but it also makes me nervous that talks of cutting this office are happening at the same time that Russia is voting to decriminalize some forms of Domestic Violence.
I was told by friends before the election that Donald Trump was for LGBT rights, despite what I was hearing online and in the media. They were all saying that there was nothing to worry about. I really tried to believe them. That was until all mention of LGBT rights were erased from the White House Website. Just poof, gone and no replacement is put up. It creates an uneasy feeling when a party is notorious for infringing on the rights of minorities and then things like this happen. As a result, people assembled and marched in the name of LGBT rights. I hope that they are creating a phenomenal page in support of LGBT rights and have yet to launch it, somehow I won't hold my breath. Under the Obama administration we saw great strides in the rights of the LGBT community, including but not limited to the legalization of Gay marriage. Under Trump's administration, who knows what will happen. I may just be crazy but I don't see how judging who and how someone loves is a political issue to begin with. Love is love to me. I watch some people preach about being nonjudgmental Christians then stand together in the same breath and judge others based on who they love because of their own personal religious beliefs. I am scared for my friends who are in the LGBT community. I'm scared of what will come of President Trump's Supreme Court appointment this week. I am hopeful that he won't turn the clock back decades on the rights of many people I know and love, and many strangers I aspire to meet.
Also, yes, as the name of the march suggests, people are resisting because to them it feels like
women’s rights are being threatened. It is easy to see why. We elected and inaugurated
a President with dozens of sexual harassment cases in his past (whether founded
or unfounded, they exist) and an ex-wife that tells of his notorious womanizing. A man that, on tape, talked about grabbing women by “their
pussies” shortly after marrying his beautiful wife. A human being that sat and
talked about how money and power make it OK to do those things to another human
being. I will never understand how any person, any woman, could hear his words
on that tape and be ignorant to the damage caused by them. The most powerful
man in the world- talking about the gender that births your generations like we
are meat. Like we are beneath men. Like we are toys. It’s disgusting. It doesn’t
matter what we wear, say, or do for a living- our basic rights and our intimate
areas are not up for grabs! That should go without saying. I don't care if he was planning to run for office when he said it or not, the point is that he did in fact say it. It is indicative of the type of man he is. We are living in a day and time where women go to college and still receive less pay than their male counterparts. (I was going to link the White House page on gender inequality to this section; however, when I visited the site it too had been taken down as of 1/25/17) This part of the movement isn't about whether men are afforded clean air and water while women receive dirty air and water, as was so ignorantly stated to me earlier- it's about the fact that after all these years there are still women who are oppressed, in our country and in others.
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| Woman marching at the Women's March. January 21st, 2017 |
America was born of resistance. A resistance full of immigrants.
My family immigrated 100’s of years ago, from mostly Ireland. We all come from
backgrounds like this. Yes, we have an illegal immigration problem in this
country. I have seen it with my own eyes. I also have a brain and it tells me
that a wall isn’t going to solve this problem. Some of his other ideas may
help, like stopping the “catch and release” tactics used by border control
where we expect the immigrant will appear in court later. Building a wall
though! A majority of undocumented immigrants overstay their visa. I do not see how a wall of any size will possibly combat that problem. Walls are born from hate and cost money we obviously do not have. Don’t
tell me Mexico will pay us back for it without a solid plan as to how he plans
to accomplish that either. Now his call for better vetting procedures I am all for! I am hopeful of what his ideas for how to revamp our vetting process will be. I am also somewhat hesitant to hear them, It seems as though they will include a ban on travel to the U.S. from muslim countries. We have yet to see for sure though. To tell you the truth though, it really gets to me that we are even discussing building a wall when there are American's without health insurance, veterans being provided sub-par healthcare after sacrificing for our country, and middle and lower class families that work their butts off and still can't afford their premiums and co-payments.
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| Woman at Women's March. January 21, 2017 |
It has become increasingly obvious that a large part of the
world has a message for anyone that will listen. It is being screamed from
every corner that women have rights, minorities have rights, immigrants have rights, Democrats have rights, Republicans have rights, HUMANS have rights. Those are
beliefs I can stand by. I believe in the rights of humans, whether those other
humans are “Liberals,” “Red Blooded Conservatives,” or
otherwise. Despite our viewpoints on the issues we are still human beings. If
all of that makes me a Democrat or a Liberal, a Feminist or a Nasty Woman- then
so be it. Bring on your labels. I'll wear them proudly.
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