Brothers and sisters: tonight is a devastating event that will leave many of us grief-stricken, angry, frightened, confused, and feeling like we have entered an alternate universe. Mother Jones once said, "Don't mourn; organize!" But I think this loss and the outrage of Donald Trump as president will require some mourning and taking care of ourselves and each other.
Tonight is not the time to point fingers at fellow progressives and assign blame for this very painful electoral defeat. As a therapist I know that some people have already been suffering from serious anxiety about this election, and many will be anxious and depressed, even dangerously so, in the next few days, maybe weeks or more. I can Imagine how disrespected, even violated many women will feel. And I consider how people of color, especially Latinos, will feel about seeing Trump climb to the presidency on their backs. And how unsafe Muslims will feel, and be.
Members of a community take care of each other—they don’t throw salt on each others’ wounds. This is a time to support each other, to acknowledge grief but also reaffirm our commitment to the long, hard struggle for justice, as Markos has done. How about a week to mourn and comfort those who are really hurting, including ourselves and then we think about what went wrong and how we can move together to build a progressive future?