‘We Have Just Begun to Fight, and Fight We Will’
Donald Trump’s campaign manager and the Republican Speaker of the House Wednesday morning told America that the people have given the President-elect a “mandate.” That’s false. While we respect the Electoral College results, and the fact that he will be our next president, Donald Trump lost the popular vote, and thus, has no claim to a mandate. None.
In fact, the people have spoken against the very ideals Donald Trump stands for.
“Drain the swamp”? That’s why Americans, as usual, returned the overwhelming majority of their elected representatives – Congressmen and Congresswomen, and Senators – to Washington.Â
This was not by any means a “change election,” given President Barack Obama’s popularity, which exceeds Ronald Reagan’s at this point in his presidency.
This was the result of a brilliant con man, a liar, a fraud, a misogynist, a fascistic bully, activating the remains of a changing society: people who see their last grasp – and gasp – of power that was handed to them as their birthright in a nation whose election of a Black president has not done enough to absolve its original sin, slavery, slipping away.Â
But what’s done is done.
Today for many is a day of shock and mourning, and it is for us at NCRM too.Â
But Tuesday night, after having prepared a lengthy article announcing America had just elected its first woman president, then realizing several hours of work would likely be in vain, I remembered it was exactly eight years ago to the day: Election Day 2008, that Barack Obama’s historic win was coupled with the passage of California’s Prop 8.
And Prop 8 was the reason we created NCRM: to fight for equality, to fight for civil rights, to help educate, and to help guide people through challenging times.
That was our mission eight years ago, and that remains our mission today.
Sure, I originally founded The New Civil Rights Movement to fight for the right of same-sex couples to marry, but quickly NCRM became much more than that.
Today, in the wake of one of the most devastating elections in U.S. history, we here at NCRM rededicate ourselves to our mission of fighting for civil rights, for LGBT people, for women, for immigrants, for minorities. And for unmasking and exposing the hate and hypocrisy that always leads to harm for the most vulnerable in society.
The American people chose Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.Â
Our vision of – and our fight for – a nation and a world based on equality and equal treatment, respect for the American ideals we were taught to believe in, and facts and truth is even more important today than it was when we began this journey eight years ago.
Donald Trump does not have a mandate. Hate does not have a mandate. Racism does not have a mandate. Misogyny does not have a mandate. We do. People who subscribe to a vision of equality, diversity, and fairness.
And with your help and support, I proudly say we have just begun to fight, and fight we will.
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David Badash
Editor and Publisher
The New Civil Rights Movement
P.S. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Feel free to email me.Â
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