Monday, January 16, 2017

Ain’t It Funny?




Hotep,

Life is funny: sometimes to the degree where it is not funny at all.  In saying that, I need to apologize to my brother for the many times I have laughed at situations that are not funny.  “That shit ain’t funny, Lump.”

So much hurt within my lifetime, I have a tendency to ‘roll with the punches’ whenever I encounter an unpleasant discussion that has the potential to shatter my optimism.  So, I laugh as a means of taking the sting away from the pain.  Forgive me, D, I know everything ain’t funny.  Sometimes I am simply laughing to avoid crying.

For example, when I heard that Donald Trump would throw his name into the race to become our 45th president, I laughed.  ‘This dude can’t be serious.  Ain’t no way he’s gonna become president.  He doesn’t even have a political background.” I laughed again.

I laughed at his uncouth responses to illegal immigration, the war on terror (ISIS), and federal income taxes, all throughout his republican primary campaign.  Then, he won the primary.  I stopped laughing.  The stakes had changed.  He was now one victory away. One victory away from obliterating the progress of the last eight years.  One victory away from annihilating the precedent set by Rowe vs. Wade; A historical shift that permits women to exercise pro-choice.

Do you think it is a coincidence that requests for IUDs has increased by 900% since Trump’s election became a reality?  There is nothing funny about that.

As a man, I am disgusted by Trump’s verbal assaults on women.  As an American, I am outraged by the large percentage of white women voters (53%) who voted for Trump.  This is the same presidential candidate who told television reporter, Billy Bush, that groping women without their consent is foreplay to the inevitable act of a celebrity getting whatever he wants.

Sadly, there are millions of girls and women who have fallen victim to this primitive and crude behavior.  In some cases an unwanted pregnancy is the result.  So tell me, should it be illegal for this victimized woman or girl to have an abortion?  Does she deserve to be jailed because a man chose to make her his victim?  This is a strong possibility in a ‘Trump America.’ “That shit ain’t funny, Lump.”

It is, however, funny to me that many Americans believe that Trump will take this country to a higher plateau of global superiority.  When in all actuality he is setting this country back to an era where women did not have a say outside of the parameters of a kitchen.  And their entire existence had to be validated by angry white men who wouldn’t have any problem with the antics and capitalistic rhetoric of the 45th president.

Trump’s campaign was the home of riotous actions. Punches were thrown.  People were arrested.  Trump even encouraged some of his supports to punch people, who opposed him, in the mouth.  He also declared that he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th avenue and not lose any voters.  “That shit ain’t funny, Lump.”

Ain’t it funny that the 2017 presidential inauguration will be a direct contrast to the historical observance of Dr. Martin Luther King; A man who stood tall against the white supremacy that Donald Trump exudes.

Ain’t it funny that our president elect still finds time to twiddle his thumbs to edify his cyber-bully persona?  “I don’t know much, but I know how to get angry white men to vote for me.” Really?  I wonder why.  “That shit ain’t funny, Lump.”

I know, I know, D.  Everything ain’t funny.

Always 100,

MannofStat
Copyright © 2017 by Leroy Elwood Mann

1 comment:

  1. I'll certainly remember where I was when Trump was elected.Sitting in Dad's nursing home. Thinking WTF is this really happening? I live in Australia so not my business but felt like it was because President Trump will be shaking up all our lives so it seems.

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