Once Harris is Elected, Can We Stand Up, Fight Back — Together?

Disagreements and in-fighting aside, there will still be work to do.

Happy Election Day!

I hope you have made room for all the feels that you will be feeling this day and the next. I have been trying to remain calm these past few days, including repeatedly breathing this prayer. I have been motivated to pray because there is a great deal of turmoil in my soul, and I suspect I am not the only one.

I have written before about the roller coaster ride of the presidential race and the toll it has taken on relationships between acquaintances, friends, and colleagues, but at this point, I am more concerned about the damage the in-fighting has done to future coalitions, both local and national once Trump is defeated.

Yes, I understand the historic and transformative nature of electing the first Blasian female president, but because of my commitment to stopping the US-backed Israeli genocide and pushing for a commitment to a policy change by the Democrats, this season has not been marked by excitement but disappointment —

Disappointment in the hubris of straight white progressives who have been lecturing historically marginalized communities about the dangers of an oppressive government.

Disappointment in the willingness of so many to buy into the idea that justice is a zero-sum-game and to engage in oppression Olympics — as if choosing to stand against genocide means that we are less committed to the strugggles other marginalized communities.

Disappointment in the shift that the Democratic party has made to the right as it panders to “country over party” conservatives while taking for granted and alienating left-leaning progressives.

Dissappointed in acquaintances and colleagues who have questioned my intellect, have doubted my committment to justice, and have chastized me for not falling in line with the Democratic party.

Disappointment in the posturing that, should Harris/Walz lose, is ready to place the blame squarely upon those who may choose not to vote Democratic (Predominately brown?) rather than to call out the overwhelmingly white communities that will undoubtedly vote for Trump/Vance.

And even so, I am mostly disappointed in the rifts that have been created amid generational and political coalitions working for a more just world.

It is the last one that has me the most worried about the future regardless of who is elected because there will still be work to do. I wonder if we will be willing to do that work together after so much venom and vitriol has been directed at so many of us, especially those of us who have consistently called for the Democratic party, the Biden administration, and the Harris campaign to change course on Palestine before we would publicly and full-throatedly support her candidacy and the Democratic platform.

I am not surprised our calls for policy shifts didn’t work because the current Democratic party chose to ignore so many of us who have been committed in the past. As the Tea Party and MAGA movements have pulled our political discourse to the right, the center has followed suit, and so has the Democratic party.

I have been a lifelong liberal California Democrat. I was raised running around the halls of the state capital building in Sacramento, worked on multiple campaigns, and at one point had aspirations for political office. Honestly, I have not moved much over my lifetime, but the party has shifted so much that I now occupy a left-of-center ideological space. Seriously, I am by no means a radical leftist (Seriously, people, we own property in the Bay Area and are more bougie than we care to admit), but since context matters, maybe now I am significantly out of step with the Dems.

I want to have faith that we will be able to find common ground again, but it is hard for me to envision when so many seemed to have quieted down as a nod to strategy. So here is my big question —

“When Harris is elected, what will those of you who have been saying some version of, ‘Get her elected first and then push for policy changes?’ do in collaboration with those of us who have pushed for policy changes before offering our support?”

Under a Democratic Harris administration . . .

• Will you now push for a change in policy on Palestine: enacting a weapons embargo, ceasing military aid, and helping to rebuild Palestine?

• Will you now push for an end to border cruelty and a change in immigration policy?

• Will you now push against policies that keep people trapped in poverty?

• Will you now push for a ban on fracking and new oil pipelines?

• Will you now push for the end of suppression of free speech and the demilitarization of college campuses?

• Will you now push to end police brutality and the prison industrial complex?

• Will you now push for universal healthcare?

• Will you now push for federal access to gender-affirming care?

• Will you now push for the end of the death penalty?

• Will you now push for campaign finance reform and the elimination of Super PACs and lobby groups, foreign and domestic, that have such a significant influence on election outcomes?

• Will you protest against the injustice this administration enables?

• Will you publically critique and confront the wrongs they commit?

• Will you put “country over party” when the moment/s arrive?

• Or will the administration be given pass after pass because the Democrats are in office?

At the end of the day and the day after, will you be willing to critique and challenge the party you so vociferously supported while chastising the rest of us for speaking up all along?

To be fair, while I am primarily addressing people who disagree with me, I also point the coalition question back at myself. TBH, I have been keeping mental and actual receipts from folks who have disrespected me through their fear-mongering, shaming, and insults, assuming that I would roll over and compromise my very clearly stated values.

I am more than salty about these interactions.

So yes, I’m also angry and hold some grudges. The truth is that, despite my resentment, I will need to recalibrate my view of those with whom I will work in the future. I must recalibrate because, no matter who is elected, there is suffering, violence, and oppression to address, and we will need all of us working together to keep moving forward toward wholeness.

I will be the first to admit that my family takes grudge-holding to an Olympic level, but I will do my best to release my resentment, anger, and disappointment so that we can do good work together.

I hope others will too.

And remember. Breathe.