Can you support BLM and Trump?

When we’re voting for a political candidate, it’s not like ordering a burger from a restaurant where you can customize it to your liking creating your perfect mouthwatering masterpiece. And if you must know, my perfect burger consists of a thick ground beef patty topped with American cheese, grilled onions, peppers, and mushrooms topped with crispy jalapenos and avocado. YUM!

With all the advancements in the year 2020, it should be possible to just build a candidate that checked all the boxes, made them absolutely perfect in every way and a snappy dresser, but alas it’s not happened yet and I’m officially tapping some super-smart Gen Z kid to work on that.

But until that happens, we have to pick candidates with qualities and ideas that we love AND ones we hate. We often have to choose between the lesser of two evils, having to ignore shit you hate to get the shit you love. It’s a dangerous game of chess because is what you’re gaining good enough to ignore what your ignoring. And will what you’re ignoring rear its ugly head after the election is hopefully won in your favor.

LORD! The absolute anxiety of it all!

This year’s election is arguably the most important of our lifetimes. There is A LOT at stake and for the BIPOC community, racial equality and equity are the biggest stakes of all. Y’all have Google, so I don’t need to go into great detail regarding the modem day Civil Rights movement that is happening as I type and you read this post. In the wake of the death of George Floyd, America has is finally listening to her friends and is trying to break up with racism. But like any trash ass man, racism is refusing to leave the home he’s been so comfortable in for so long. That man don’t work, pay no bills, and just drives around in her car all day long with the gas she put in there and be having the nerve to be late picking her up from work! And I heard he may be trying to cheat with some bitch named Russia, but you didn’t hear that from me.

TRASH! TRASH! TRASH!

Many of you reading this post have been putting in the work to not just be “not racist” but to become actively “anti-racist” and have been coming to grips with your own hard truths about racism in America and finding out, you may have had a touch of racism in you. You are seeing it more in your family and friends and are having to address it all. For some of you, it’s been overwhelming. And it’s been a real test of your political awareness. Understanding that your vote is not just about you, but about your friends who is struggling to pay student loans, the nice family down the street who is going thru a time of unemployment, your kid’s teachers who takes money out of her pocket to buy school supplies.

Yesterday on my IG stories, I came across a post of a girl who posted a black square for #blackouttuesday in support of the BLM movement; “I see you, I hear you. I stand with you”, and then over the July 4th weekend she posted a photo of herself along with friends and captioned it “Fuck your feelings. Trump 2020 bby” while holding a Trump 2020 flag. My vanity for attention would like to point out she got 172 likes on the BLM post and 648 on the July 4th post; take from that what you will. After a ton of backlash, she issued a statement and in part, it said, “There is a middle ground between being a Trump supporter and supporting the BLM movement”.

So let’s dive into that. Can you support BLM and Trump?

Supporters of Trump say they voted for him because of his economic policies. They wanted a shakeup from the Republican establishment. His stance on immigration. Changing policies to better help small businesses; I mean who knows business better than a businessman right? Bringing back coal mining jobs. His tough-guy New York City lingo. His tough stance on China. But ask some of those same Trump supporters about his rhetoric, and many say they don’t support that. They don’t support his decisive, at times racist, misogynistic rhetoric, and wished for the love of God he would stop tweeting. They call it a distraction that is tearing the country apart.

And it may come as a surprise to some, those same people think racism is a problem. They are opening their eyes to their privilege. They are understanding systemic racism. They are having those tough conversations with their family and friend and I have no doubt it’s been tough for them. They support the BLM movement; may have been to a march or two. But they also still support Trump.

Trump has called the BLM movement a “symbol of hate“. In 2015 a then-candidate deemed the group quote “trouble“. He blasts the removal of Confederate statues, calling the men who fought against the U.S for the right to keep black humans property “great heroes“. Did I mention he called the BLM movement a symbol of hate? Now let’s go back to this girl’s comment, “There is a middle ground between being a Trump supporter and supporting the BLM movement”.

Can you spot the issue we have here?

If you vote for Trump because he is shaking up the Republican establishment, you also vote for his misogyny. If you vote for Trump for his New York City lingo, well that lingo can be decisive and you voted for it. And, if you vote for Trump for his economic policies you also vote for his stance on the BLM movement. And if you are truly in support of BLM, you can’t be in support of him. His hatred for BLM puts a target on the backs of the people who support the movement. His supporters go hard for him and some want to do harm to anyone chanting Black Lives Matter.

And by supporting him, you are in a way supporting that. No, not it a way, you are supporting that; full stop.

Like I said at the top of this post, he’s not a burger and you can’t pick the toppings you like and leave out the ones you don’t. You have to take it all. And eat it. I don’t envy you.

So that’s it. That’s my take.

And this is not me saying don’t support Trump. If you support him, support him. It’s no skin off my nose. This is me saying don’t support me and him at the same time. It can’t be done.

XOXO,

Shanna