Editor’s note: This commentary is by Genie Rayner, a writer, author, and freelance editor who lives in Bennington.
At last count, almost 80 million Americans voted for the Biden/Harris team for president and vice president in 2021. The last count I saw for Trump/Pence was 70 million “and some change.” As I write, votes are still being counted in several states, so the exact numbers will change, but it’s clear that Biden/ Harris have won both the popular and Electoral College votes. (Just as I sat down to send this, Arizona announced its projected vote win for Joe Biden, so his totals are still growing over a week later.)
As soon as the numbers were indisputable and announced, people hit the streets – and social media – all over the country and the world to celebrate, but there were people who were sad and disappointed, even angry. In my reading since the election, some people have said that we are no longer the United States of America, we are now the “Divided States of America.” Someone else has written that “a new Confederacy” has emerged over the past four years.
At one of two celebratory gatherings at the Four Corners in downtown Bennington the weekend after the election, a friend had an important encounter:
“ … On Sunday we had a dance party …. Once again many driving by were happy to see the celebration. Until. Yep, a guy drove by in a truck and yelled, “Trump b****es.” Not unexpected.
“I was standing next to a gentleman who had tears in his eyes. He told me that he wasn’t sure I understood how close we came to fascism. He went on to explain how his family had fled Nazi Germany when he was a child. How they had suffered. Their goal was to get to the United States. His parents worked hard when they got here. They all became citizens and he said that was the proudest day of his life. Two other women there spoke up and said their grandparents had also fled to the United States. He was sad that he and his wife might have to flee once again from the country they love. The gentleman said he and his wife just couldn’t believe how far into the rabbit hole of fascism we had almost fallen into. That he had before seen this playbook being used. He asked me to stay vigilant. To always vote. To stand strong for the country that gave so many refuge. After all, we are a nation of immigrants.”
My thoughts have been similar. As much as I celebrated this election result, I couldn’t help wondering what will happen when speechwriter and senior adviser Steven Miller leaves the White House. Miller is the one who is ultimately responsible for the Muslim ban, the separation of asylum-seeking families at the southern border, children in cages, and who knows how many other horrors from the Trump administration.
All of that was done where the eyes of the nation and the world were upon the White House. What will happen when Miller leaves in January? Will he slither back under a rock, or has he become emboldened enough to continue his hate-filled mission out in the open? If Trump followers have their way, it will be the latter and we will see that rabbit hole open wider and deeper.
Almost 60 years ago, my family and I moved to Connecticut from Atlanta. The day we arrived, I asked my parents if people would understand my Southern accent. It turns out I had almost no accent, like my Yankee born and bred father, while my younger sister took after our mother, who was born and grew up in North Carolina. As disappointed as my 8-year-old self was, my parents told me there was something more important. They made it clear there was fully as much racism and ethnic bias in the North as there was in the South, but that it was more underground, harder to see and hear, and, therefore, harder to address.
Growing up, both realities existed alongside each other for me. When my Yankee grandmother found out I had a crush on a Jewish boy, she went into a tirade and demanded I change schools (I made it clear in my own invective that I would not). A few years later, when some of my Southern family and I were on a road trip and passed a highway sign proclaiming “Welcome to Klan Kountry,” their response to my “What the hell!” exclamation was akin to Donald Trump’s “It is what it is” comment about coronavirus deaths last month.
As awful as the last four years have been, Trump seems to have been the earthquake the entire country has needed. Ideological tectonic plates shifted in 2016, and women responded by the millions, running for – and winning – political offices in record numbers. Some police departments are beginning to address the “warrior mentality” in their ranks that has led to the brutal murders of Black men, women, and children. Communities nationwide are starting difficult conversations about centuries-old racial biases that seek understanding and reconciliation among their citizens.
We have to remember, though, that just under half the country voted for Trump and Miller again, despite their morally — and ethically — deficient policies. No longer that naïve, innocent 8-year-old, I see our still-divided country with eyes wide open and a grieving heart, even as I celebrate the potentials for a better country – and world – now. And, knowing there is still hard work to do, that we need to keep track of the Steven Millers among us, I echo the promise of my friend at the Four Corners:
“Yes sir, I will watch and stay vigilant. You have my word.”
