I sat with my coffee in front of the TV––ready for a long haul. It was election night in America!
The rest is history . . .
When Hilary Clinton lost in 2016, I was angry . . . angry at people for voting for a cruel, narcissistic idiot––angry at Hilary for her senseless actions regarding her emails (she forwarded sensitive emails to her aide's husband's computer . . . and the rest of the saga, etc., etc.).
. . . I hardly slept on the 5th. Next morning woke up with an emptiness, an ache . . . immense sadness. I felt sad for the people who trusted a convicted felon and a rapist over an immensely competent, compassionate, genuine-smart woman . . . following her campaign I fell in love with the idea of a female president––I felt a personal connection with her––my heart grew affectionate towards Kamala Harris, her joyful laughter . . .
I browsed the internet for grief counselling materials. My niece, an immigration lawyer in NY posted a message on face book for many like me, mourning for their loss––"take a walk . . . find community . . . hug . . . be kind to yourself . . ."
Pundits, charlatans, amateurs and others will dissect Kamala's campaign––what went wrong, what felt right, who did what . . . being a woman, and a woman of color, and intelligent, and competent, and relatable, and beautiful, and highly-educated . . . she was too much––too many "negative qualities (???)" for America to handle?(!) . . .
Since her campaign kicked off, I started conversing with uber drivers on my trips about the up-coming election.
"I voted for Biden. Don't want to vote for Kamala," the Moroccan-American uber-driver told me. He has been in the US for over 3 decades. "She can't be a commander-in-chef."
"Is it because she's a woman?" I asked politely.
"No, no. Trump is the best. Good for economy, good for the country." He added.
"What about his Muslim ban? He might impose that again––his project 2025 indicates that," I tried to push him a bit more.
"Nah! He says many things––doesn't act on them." I was surprised by his conviction, trust in Trump.
The next uber-driver on my trip to D.C. was an Ethiopian-American. We chatted about my time in Africa, visits to Addis, Nazreth . . . injera, Ethiopian-coffee. We got friendly. And I finally asked him about the election. He had also voted for President Biden in 2020.
"All these talks about gays, transgender rights . . . it's against the Bible, my Church, my religion," he stated. "Can't vote for her."
"But Bible claims that God created humans in his (her) own image. And Jesus also said 'who will cast the first stone?' . . . should we be judging others?" I argued politely. "Remember how badly Trump handled covid? Thousands of people died, lost jobs . . . he crashed our economy to the ground."
He listened intently. "Okay, you have a point, I can vote for her," he agreed.
"My two daughters and wife will definitely vote for Kamala," he laughed.
My next research-subject was Syed, a 32-year-old Pakistani-American.
"I can never vote for her . . .," he retorted angrily. "Look what she has done with Gaza. She has to fix this." He had voted for Biden in the past.
"She's the vice President. Biden is the President. He makes decisions," I tried to reason. "The international alliances and the Arab countries also haven't done much towards bringing peace in Palestine."
This made him angrier . . . he began criticizing the American government, systems, life-styles, everything . . .
"If you dislike America so much why did you migrate here?" I was genuinely curious.
"I will leave . . . I will go to Saudi-Arabia––a Muslim country," he declared.
"Do you know that working people like you and me are called 'miskins' by the Saudis?" I tried to be kinder. "Miskin" in Arabic means a beggar, or miserable person––one who accepts alms. He was taken aback . . .
I gave 5-star ratings to every driver and added tips.
Now on a positive note . . .
On 2nd November at late night, I returned home from North Carolina. This time my uber-driver from the airport was Mohammed.
We began talking.
"I am from Afghanistan. Mazar e Sharif," he informed. He came to the US as a refugee two years ago. "Still learning English."
"Haley Shuma Chatur Asth? (greetings)?" Now it was my turn to charm him. He was overjoyed! I shared about my work with UNICEF-Herat.
Mohammed's mother works with UNICEF-Mazar. What a coincidence! After dropping me he waited near the curb-side till I entered the house.
. . . I bought a large bunch of groceries yesterday . . for the last two days I have been cooking and cooking . . . cooking de-stresses. I made: soup, stir-fried- snow peas, zucchini with shrimp, daal, egg-potato curry . . . (my son loves these dishes). And I want to forget about the world of politics . . .
This is my recipe for healing.
Nuzhat, thanks for your thoughtful reflections and vivid descriptions of the conversations with Uber drivers. So many of us are sad, frightened, disgusted right now. This is going to be a difficult four years to withstand. I myself voted for a different woman, Jill Stein, based on the need to oppose genocide, which Kamala could not bring herself to do--this is NOT just a fringe issue, but cuts to the heart of human rights and international law. Full disclosure: I vote in California, whose 54 electoral college votes ALWAYS go to the Democrats, no matter whom I vote for. Here are my five take-aways from the US election results:
ReplyDelete1. The motivating spirit of my country is NOT one of empathy and generosity, but rather of bullying and triumphalism.
2. The dark forces of misogyny, racism, nationalism and tribalism lurk just below the surface of polite discourse.
3. Consent continues to be manufactured by a handful of mainstream media channels, aided by disinformation and rumor-mongering.
4. The most existential threats of our time—climate change, nuclear war, genocide, A.I., and new emerging public health threats—do not even register on the prioritized talking points of both major parties.
5. Far from representing the “shining city on a hill”, the beacon of democracy, the refuge for “huddled masses, yearning to be free”, the USA has once more revealed its true colors as a profoundly nasty, vindictive, exclusionary and unequal society.
Nevertheless, I still somehow believe in hope. Now is not the time to give up or lay low. Progressives must not make war on liberals. Call friends. Talk to strangers. Raise awareness. Educate. Survive. This too shall pass….
A vote for Jill Stein was a vote for Trump, Fred.
ReplyDeleteA) Not in California, where the Democrats always take the entire 54 Electoral College; votes; b) Not if one refuses to accept the Manichaean choice of two u acceptable options; c) Not if one sees the value of registering a solid rejection of both genocide-enabling parties; d) Not if one believes in trying to change a binary equation into a multi-party system (cf. Einstein’s adage: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.")
ReplyDeleteNuzhat I feel your pain. I have never felt so low. How could a convicted felon and much more win? Does not America deserve better?A data based factual analysis is needed and we all need to work from its results. I was in London a week before the elections. Like you I took Uber drivers, Pakistani, afghans,Eastern European and I started my talk with Unicefs work in their countries and my personal experience of their people. Moving to America one and all condemned America for its genocide (their words) in Palestine, support of corrupt US backed Govt In Afghanistan and an ineffective UN, too liberal (women related) unable to feed their children although they work hard, and so that sentiment was reflected across the pond in US results. These were men and on questioning it seemed that the spouse and children thought otherwise except for the economy . I don’t know how the trump govt will act on these issues but there seems to be a wave for a strong leader aka male! May we all regroup and work for a better humanity🙏🏽
ReplyDeleteHi Rohini, appreciate your thoughtful opinion. Agree with you.
Delete"Your body, my choice" ––harassment towards women surges online after Election day––as reported by the media. Welcome to the trump world!
I decided to take a break from TV news channels . . . but couldn't stop reading online. There were several reasons for Kamala Harris's loss I am sure but mainly as claimed by many reputable news sources, point towards insufferable misogyny and racism in America––Americans' testosterone-pumped-false-impotent-masculinity possibly propelled a trump 2nd term. Hispanic and Latino men, Zen Z electorates (both genders), white women, young African American men, Arab and muslim Americans, Indian Americans all played a part. Interestingly, women including younger females were vital to trump's win as well: 47% of white women, 37%Latino women voted for trump (1 in 3 white women are pro-life)––they chose a cruel, criminal and a conman over an incredible, competent, honest woman who had spent her entire life in public service . In Pennsylvania, a large number of Ukranian-Americans joined the trump-band-wagon as they clung to their conservative values . . . (party over 2 countries––adopted and native!!).
ReplyDeleteEconomy and jobs are stated by Latino and African-American men as the reason to vote for trump . If there is no democracy, there is no fair economy, no justice, no equity in social, political and economic arena.
I understand the pain and fury regarding Gaza––Palestine deserves its freedom and dignity and right to survival. Unconditional weapons supply should have never happened––43,000 Palestinians died. The perils of the hostages should not be ignored, either. But can trump fix the problem?? Has he ever fixed anything? During his previous term he has always sided with Israel/Netanyahu and his far-right positions . . . not sure what will happen now.
I wonder if PROTEST votes will get the expected traction.
There is so much information out there. One can form her/his own ideas about this election. These issues crowd inside my brain day and night . . . I worry for normalcy, our safety, and global peace . . .
Dear Nuzhat,
ReplyDeleteI am sure you heard what Fatima Bhutto ( niece of late Prime Minister Bhutto said: “ Harris’s support for Israel’s Genocide in Gaza is a betrayal of true feminism”
Also our conflict with Israel did not start on the 7th of October, kindly read “ The Hundred Years War on Palestine”
by Rashid Khalidi
The Nakba ( Catastrophe) in 1948 compounded by the war in 1967 when the rest of Palestine was occupied
imposed upon us, women and men a long lasting
Struggle…….
A Palestinian Feminist
On a completely different tack - I have a sister-in-law in Cape Town who doesn't drive, so is obliged to take Uber taxis which are, according to her, almost all driven by Zimbabweans. She notes that the drivers are much better educated than the local taxi drivers, and the standard of discussion/debate would grace an Oxford Union Debate. I look forward to her next letter in which I anticipate some references to the US Presidential election.
ReplyDeleteThe comment above is from Ken Gibbs.
ReplyDeleteNuzhat - yes, so many of us were angry, stunned, and felt betrayed. So along with your cooking (which sounds delicious), don't forget to go out and take those photos.....the results will bring you lots of smiles.....
ReplyDelete