The day Donald Trump was elected was a very strange day.
The world was fine. I took a nap. I woke up. And suddenly, everything was no longer fine.
Because President Snow had won.
***
When Trump became president, I was still a teenager, a teenager who loved to read fantasy novels.
And in my mind, it was very clear what had happened: Trump was a mirror image of Snow, and our world was about to erupt into that of the Hunger Games. I expected riots and rebellion, demands for Trump to be replaced. I expected a Mockingjay to arise.
Unfortunately, none of that happened. At least, not until this past year.
***
We are living in a world where injustice is rampant, where white people have the ability to get away with inhumane crimes. We live in a world in which white people have their crimes celebrated by the president, while people of color are punished for no reason.
We live in a world where the upper-class live to serve themselves alone, caking themselves with colorful makeup to hide the ugliness of their souls. A world where everything is televised and everyone is an actor — and yet, somehow, the true suffering of humanity remains largely hidden.
We live in a world where the president can do whatever he wants, allow for the deaths of whoever he wants, because he has money and power, and that is all that matters.
That is all that corruption requires.
America has become Panem.
***
While COVID-19 patients are overwhelming hospitals and morgues and cemeteries, Trump’s focus is himself, as usual.
His lack of common sense has caused countless unnecessary deaths.
And yet, despite his ignorance and inadequate ‘leadership’ resulting in the deaths of thousands of Americans, Trump has expressed zero remorse for those who have died from the coronavirus, highlighting his grave lack of humanity.
And he continues to praise the white supremacists terrorizing the Capitol, the very same terrorists who he encouraged to break the laws of this country. He incited violence before, and he has done it again.
He continues to foster fear and uncertainty at a time when so many people are already grieving, mourning the loss of loved ones or fearing for the health of their families and friends.
He continues to spark the flames of disunity and dissent in a country that needs to be united, now more than ever.
And yet, despite his moral and professional failings, he still remains president.
***
America needs a Mockingjay, someone to finally put Trump in his place, to hold him and his supporters accountable for their multitude of crimes.
It should not require massive protests by people of color to get people to pay attention to the crimes committed by the person whose face shows up daily on all our screens. It should not take gross violations of law to get us to listen. It should not require the endangerment of the lives of innocent people for us as humans to call out the injustice that we know resides in the White House.
We all must become Mockingjays.
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This post was previously published on Medium.
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Photo credit: Florian Olivo on Unsplash