by

Harriet Hudson

This nation has experienced profound GRIEF. I will be explaining more about the stages of grief which are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The best way for us to cope with widespread grief is by organizing.

Some of us are still stuck in DENIAL about the outcome of the Presidential election. Don’t be in denial if you didn’t vote. I know a lot of people who didn’t vote and dare to complain. They were expecting for the elected President to not be elected because it was too hard to believe that a campaign of racism and discrimination could result in a win for the Presidency in this country, but it happened. We are now experiencing enormous social justice issues as a result.

Some people are ANGRY behind it, and they have started to protest. In several cities, citizens are protesting but some people are going about it the wrong way by rioting. We need to protest but do it peacefully.

Some are BARGAINING with it by saying we survived other Presidents, so we will survive this one too. Some are saying it is just a matter of time for the elected President to be impeached because of his behaviors shown thus far, but we can’t depend solely on the possibility of impeachment.

Some people are experiencing DEPRESSION behind the President elected winning. The day after the election some people missed work, and some didn’t want to talk about it. Some still can’t talk about it without being drawn to tears.

For some, it will take a while for them to reach ACCEPTANCE. For others, they never will.

What we need to do is STAND together. All organizations need to COME together. We need to organize and support peaceful protests. Across racial, ethnic, gender, age, class, geographical and any divisive lines, we need to UNITE. Go to each other’s organizing meetings. Let’s make sure we have a spokesperson representing our views at every meeting. We need more independent and collective voices now more than ever to make a change.