Open Letter to Anti-War Trump Supporters

I'm asking you to read this

Jan 12, 2021

By DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jette Carr

Dear Anti-War Trump Supporters:

I address this letter to you because I have a strange feeling that you might want to hear what I have to say.

I think I understand some of what you’re feeling right now. You are outraged at the corruption in this country. You see election fraud, censorship, the crumbling of free speech, and you’re appalled at what this nation has become. You can’t believe how easy it is for the system to silence and dismiss you, to write you off as not-worthy of an opinion.

It’s easy, isn’t it, for the system to totally dismiss an individual’s opinion? To strangle independent voices and dissent, even though a healthy democracy thrives on dissent and debate? It’s happening all around us and now it’s happening to you.

Did any of you consider this when stalkers and cyber bullies (many of whom were Trump supporters) came to silence me? I’ve been censored* multiple times on social media and Facebook has banned me for months at a time. I could do nothing about it. Did you think about free speech when other Black and brown women were censored and silenced on social media by racist Facebook policies and right wing trolls? Did you raise your voice in defense of the First Amendment? Did you say “I may not agree with them but I’ll fight to defend their right to speak?”

This is just one example of Facebook censoring me:

I didn’t hear you then. I don’t hear you now. I don’t hear you uplifting the voices of Black people when they talk about police brutality. I don’t hear you speaking up for Black and brown survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence when they talk about who hurt them. I don’t hear you protesting social media platforms when they ban and de-platform countless anti-racist and anti-patriarchy organizers like myself. Where is your hatred of censorship then? Is the First Amendment not sacred when Black and brown people are the ones being silenced?

This is another example of a brown organizer being censored on social media. There was nothing like spam, deceptive practices, misleading content or any other violations on their Youtube channel.

Have you asked yourself why you care so much when censorship happens to you but you don’t care when it happens to me and others like me? Ask yourself. Deep down, you know why. That means that you can’t possibly be shocked that at this point in time, so many in this country have zero compassion for your situation. You showed none for them and you taught them how it was done.

If you’re an anti-war Trump supporter, but you said nothing about his multiple imperialist policies including but not limited to supporting genocide in Yemen, a coup in Bolivia, a coup in Venezuela, almost starting a war with Iran (which may still happen), all while imprisoning refugees on our border, then you’re a hypocrite.

If you’re an advocate for survivors of child abuse, but you ignored the reports of Trump allegedly raping a 13-year-old, you are a hypocrite.

If you’re a First Amendment advocate but you said nothing about the First Amendment rights of Black people who are censored and silenced every day for speaking up about racism, you are a hypocrite.

If you’re a Libertarian alarmed by government tyranny but you said nothing about the relentless destruction of the environment by the US government, you are a hypocrite.

Hating the world for not listening to you when you have refused to listen to the world’s pain, is blatant hypocrisy and there is no honest way to defend that.

I have argued for election integrity and pointed out continuously that the Democratic primaries of 2016 and 2020 were rigged elections (as were 2000 and 2004 but in different ways). I have stated that this US “democracy” is a sham. I have argued against every war this country has started in my lifetime because I don’t want Black and brown people to suffer and die. And no matter how many times my freedom of speech has been attacked, I have never advocated for anyone else’s platform to be taken down because I don’t believe in censorship. Silencing hate speech means it festers underground until it comes out in physical violence rather than being exposed publicly for what it is — bigotry. I would rather know when someone hates me and wishes me ill. It’s a good thing for a survivor like me to know where the hate speech is coming from because then I can work to counter it with my own speech.

If you want people to hear what you have to say, then you need to start developing an awareness that other people exist and that they have a right to exist. You need to understand that the world doesn’t revolve around you and that people have justifiable reasons for dismissing your opinions right now.

Caring about other people will help you. And for you to care about others helps them. It’s a win win. It grows the possibility of peace.

Did you protest with Bernie Sander’s supporters when he was cheated out of the Democratic nomination in 2016? Were you on the frontlines then, fighting for democracy? What about when a Florida court, not the people, decided Bush’s victory over Gore in 2000? What about the hacking of the Ohio voting machines in 2004 that showed clear discrepancy leading to a Bush win over Kerry? What about gerrymandered districts and countless voters who have been disenfranchised by voter ID laws and other methods? What about the entire election system we have in this country that is rife with corruption and easy ways to distort the voting process? Did you speak up about any of that? If not then where were your democratic values at those multiple points in history? Didn’t you realize that a rigged election for one side can easily become a rigged election for the other side?

You can only argue for election integrity if you actually have integrity. You have to be consistent in your values, instead of a blatant hypocrite.

As for this characterization of the events in DC on January 6th, I don’t agree that it was an attempted coup. I think that some people wanted it to be coup but it wasn’t and it was never going to be because Trump doesn’t have the support of the military industrial complex. The empire that you love as your country set you up. Those in power instigated you into your actions in DC and that created the perfect conditions in the media to whip the public up into a frenzy of fear. That fear is now being used as an excuse to increase censorship, the police state, mass surveillance — growing the conditions of dictatorship that even you with your white privilege are feeling. You walked right into this because you couldn’t see past your own bubble. And did you notice how Trump left you out there to fend for yourselves on January 6th?

The empire you love so much doesn’t give a damn about you. It used you for its own profit, just like it uses and exploits Black and brown people every day for profit. Just like it bombs Global South countries every day for profit. Just like it extracts out of Mother Earth every day for profit.

Just like Donald Trump used you for his own profit.

So this wasn’t a coup for Trump. It was a coup for Biden, and you provided the perfect excuse for the military industrial complex to openly take control. And even then, despite all your outrage and shock, you will face almost none of the true effects of this coup. This coup will harm Black and brown communities. It will harm me.

I have never advocated for any of your platforms to be taken down, but how many of you have advocated for that to happen to me and to Black and brown women organizers like me? What does that say about your character? Your integrity?

Prove me wrong. Listen to the communities who are more marginalized than you. Look up resources to learn about what they’ve been going through while you basked in your empire and your white privilege. And when you’ve spent a good deal of time learning and you’ve started to see what they’re talking about, show up. Speak up in solidarity with Black Lives. Speak up for Indigenous communities who are being abused and exploited every day by the empire that just stabbed you in the back. Speak up for the countless survivors who are afraid every day because they are surrounded by rape culture. And don’t spew hate. Instead, ask yourself why you feel this hatred. Why do you blame others for your suffering that was caused by the corrupt system of your own country? Why do you scapegoat people with no power while the people in power get away with rape and pillage?

You can make a change right now. You can listen and learn and grow your community. There are many resources out there to help you. I’m writing this letter because I wanted you to know that I see you, you are not alone, and that this is possible.

And if you continue to hate me, I still won’t advocate for you to be censored.

*Point of clarification: Facebook banning and de-platforming people is definitely censorship because Facebook works for the government. They have defense contracts with the government and work with government bodies to determine who is a threat to the US Empire. It is government controlled censorship.