Since Joe Biden’s win of the presidency was projected last Saturday, it’s been really easy to spend endless hours Twitter-dunking on Trump Nation. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Trump lost. I’m also not advocating this trending B.S. of reaching out to better understand Trump supporters. Even if I wanted to do that, I can’t as a practical matter. I’m still processing the trauma of knowing in stark quantitative terms that a LOT of people are cooI with government actions and policies that foster racism, misogyny and cruelty for reasons that don’t matter to me.

What I am advocating – including among those of us who voted for President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris – is taking time to reflect on how each of us personally accommodates the social status quo. For example, I looked at my daughter the other day and wondered what skills I’ve already passed on to help her thrive in a white supremacy paradigm. Have I showed her how to cater to white fragility at the expense of her own humanity? My husband and I just want her to be able to succeed, mess up, mess up some more, learn and just go through her life without her skin color being so toxically and needlessly determinative. That will require a new mindset and skills I’m just beginning to acquire myself as I pivot from being a master of code-switching. Then again, instead of trying to be a better blueprint for my daughter, maybe I should learn from her and help her natural confidence and joy flourish unbridled. Definitely a worthier endeavor than Twitter-dunking.

The “racist” label
Tends to distract from the acts
That prompt the label

[BlackGirlHaiku0034/Some date in 2018]

They voted for Trump
A second term undeserved
Now they are proof points

[BlackGirlHaiku0033/November 8, 2020]

Those Black “lesser-than’s”
May be fueling your self-worth
More than you realize

[BlackGirlHaiku0037/November 15, 2020]