November 7, 2020, Saturday 4:18am

I think I slept even better last night. I’m still getting up in the middle of the night checking to see if the Presidential race in the United States has been called, but at least I’m able to fall back into my dreamscape easily?

Yeah, I’m gonna take that as a positive thing. 

As I’m drinking my coffee, I’m thinking about all the positives that may have come out of the past four years.  Are there any? I mean truly positive things?  Not bad things revealed like good things such as: now everyone sees the racism Black folk have lived with for years… Yeah, that’s still a bad thing overall – racism. And the fact that most White Americans have never acknowledged it before but are doing so now, still feels like a bad thing masked in a good thing.

Okay, not in any order but I do have a few things off the top of my head:

Watching Gen Z, K-Pop groups in particular, take action by mobilizing and using the force of social media to make a difference.

I am blessed to have so many young kids in my life. My niece Julianna, all of 12, is incredibly informed about the world and what’s happening in it.  Watching them be so involved, not just in politics at such a young age, but in social justice and the environment is mind-blowing!  When I was 12, I was playing flashlight tag and hanging out on the street corner with friends having dance battles. These kids, the Gen Z kids, are all up in your face about FIXING what is clearly wrong with the world – think Greta Thunberg or Emma Gonzales.  Joe Biden recently said at a town hall meeting: “You’re the best educated. You’re the most open. You’re the least prejudice…” and he’s right. The oldest Gen Z is 23 years old.  The youngest Gen Z is 8. As cliché as it sounds, yeah, they are the future and I’m so impressed and oh so hopeful! 

The Sisterhood is intact.

Whether it’s just my relationship to Black women and/or if we’re talking about all people of color, including some White sisters as well – the sisterhood, the comradery, the being part of a tribe, has flourished for me over these past four years.  It’s not that I’ve never felt a part of these groups in the past – I always have (trust me, I love my country, but the United States of America never lets you forget you’re Black so you have that in common with most any person of color!).  But it’s because of groups like the Black Lives Matter movement, it’s just been that much easier to connect with other like-minded folk in a more substantial way than I ever have before.  There’s such a love between people of color and their allies that is unsaid – it’s palpable (I want to also give a shout out here to Colin Kaepernick. His bravery reminded me to keep on fighting for what is right.)

Tik Tok and all it’s Joy.

This one may be a bit more controversial for some folk but I found Tik Tok over these past years because a Gen Z’er told me I had to check it out!  With all the controversy over the social media platform, the fact remains that it is the most creative and joyous site out there.  If you don’t know, it started off being called “Music.ly” – it was started as a sort of lip-syncing/dancing video site where you could show your skills, or lack thereof, and…there’s just something about it. I used to be a dancer, so maybe that’s why I was drawn to it – but now it’s exploded into this amazing place that I visit often. Of course, the problem with Tik Tok is once you log on, you’ll most definitely spend hours just swiping through it’s content creators.  And if you start creating Tik Toks, well… that’s a whole other thing!  It’s a nice community. Like all communities, it has some bad parts, but the good parts, are really, really good!  Check out this masterpiece – I mean, this is brilliant!  https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJH6rwmL/

Personally, I’ve cleansed my inner circle of toxic folk. And that’s a GREAT thing!

The thing about Trump is that if you support him, then you make it abundantly clear what you believe – there’s nothing wishy-washy about your values.  I realized it profoundly the other day when I posted on Facebook that if you voted for Trump, “You’re dead to me”.  I wasn’t at all surprised by the people who came out and screamed their allegiance to Trump. The way they did it, the way they justified it. It was sad on some levels and liberating on another. An easy reason to delete them out of my life completely.  It was the final cut of toxic folk in my life these past four years. 

I started this a while back, and it involved “Ex’s”, friends, clients, neighbors, “family” – all in real life  – the final purge was on social media. But I have to say, it’s one of the best things that has happened in these past four years.  Supporting Trump and his “values” is in clear opposition to everything I believe in.  It’s not a difference of opinion on a subject or policy issue. It’s a clear and defining difference of how we see the world.  Mine is not okay with calling Mexicans, rapists and murderers, period. My world is also not okay with White Supremacists, period. And that pretty much includes the beginning of the Trump administration to the end of it (hopefully*). Getting rid of these people in my personal life – knowing that they exist – and who they are so I’m not blindsided ever again – has been an amazing PLUS over these past four years.

What’s Next

Not sure to be honest. There’s something scary about being so liberated, but it’s the good kind of scary! 

For now, I’m taking it a day at a time. I’d like this Presidential race to be called so that we can all move onto what’s next in a societal sense.  We have so much work to do here in the United States to fix what’s clearly broken, but I’m ready now. I can see clearly and I still have faith in this great country. 

As for me personally, yeah, I’m also taking it one moment at a time. Here’s the thing about ridding yourself of toxic folk in your life – when you do, new and fresh folk walk in. Isn’t that something?  I wasn’t expecting that.  And it’s not about how many friends you have or people you know – no. What I’m saying is, when you make the decision to SEE the bad in your life and cut it out as best you can, you start finding other ways to connect with other folk. Whether it’s on social media or taking classes, or just talking to a new neighbor you never interacted with before. Hell, I struck up a conversation with a woman bagging my groceries the other day and realized she lived up the street from me!  I guess that old adage is true: 

When you close one door, another door opens. 

I’m choosing to walk on through!

Have a sweet beautiful day! Stay Positive.

Carmen

*And no, as of this posting, we do not have a declared winner, but it seems inevitable that Joe Biden will be our next President.