Written by Chaline Lobti
“The point we’re at, recognize it. Yesterday’s election tells us exactly where we’re at. We are at the stage of rebellion or death,” said Rose Clemente during a lecture titled “The Day After: Civic Responsibility & Social Justice Beyond the Ballot.”
“The system of white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism, last night, showed its complete face,” Clemente continued. “It showed that they don’t know what to do with us, so they will enslave us, imprison us, restrict our movements, impose racial surveillance, institutionalize more and more white supremacy openly in all institutions, including higher education, politics, economics, entertainment, sexuality, and when that fails to stop us as it always has, they will kills, they will choke us, either literally, or through economic injustice. And when that fails to stop us, they will attempt to build walls.”
The results of the presidential election understandably have left many students on campus feeling very unsafe, whether it is physically, emotionally, mentally, or all of the above.
This election has left many shocked, emotionally distraught, and unsure what steps to take next. Rosa Clemente, a renowned Puerto Rican Black-Latinx journalist, political commentator, community organizer, hip-hop activist, and 2008 vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party, gave a lecture that focused on the aftermath of the elections and what it means for the United States.
CC students agreed that Clemente’s lecture and speech were empowering and gave hope for action.
Her sentiments resonated with the crowd, especially with the Black and Brown students, and queer and LGBT students, who now look towards an uncertain future with great apprehension. It speaks to the fear that students have for their lives and posits the decision of either choosing to fight or living in fear of their lives and livelihood.
Clemente, after reading a little of the president-elect’s first 100 days, told the audience of students, some of whom had begun crying, that Americans must continue to resist.
Students were also in accordance when she said the blame does not lie on the minorities who supposedly did not vote (although they did), or on Donald Trump himself, but rather on the “system of white supremacy and [the] corporate duopoly for giving us Donald Trump.”
She also told the audience to not only put the blame on Fox News, but also on other news networks such as CNN and NBC who gave over $2 billion of free ads in order to gain a rise in viewership. They placed capitalism over lives and livelihoods.
The urge to fight and continue to resist the system and this president-elect strongly resonated among the students. A majority of the questions asked of Clemente had to do with how to effectively fight and build the resistance. She empowered the students to begin thinking of ways in which to act against this abominable part of history.
A student that attended said, “[Clemente] has placed people in [a] direct action mindset,” stressing the great importance that lies in not complying with the system. Students should not and cannot afford to support and hope for success for such a president, even if citizens have the smallest care for humanity, or regard minorities and/or people from the LGBTQ community as beloved ones.
One of Clemente’s final points was that citizens aren’t fighting for their civil rights or public policy in this particular fight, but for their very lives and humanity.
She warns that the fight they might become involved in will probably be frightening, but citizens cannot afford to let that fear “of what we don’t know, outstrip what we do know.”