Dr. Colleen Lutz Clemens and Dr. Amanda Lynch Morris are both associate professors at Kutztown University, but also hold the positions of Director of Women and Gender Studies and KU APSCUF chapter president respectively. This document is a collaborative effort begun on the morning of November 9 in the Newark airport en route to the National Women’s Studies Association conference in Montreal. They revised this document together over the course of a few days, focusing and editing, cutting and honing. They wrote this document out of anger, but also out of resolve and commitment to the majority who voted for Hillary Clinton, and whose hearts are on the ground. Please find solace and comfort in this manifesto, but also find strength and determination to act.
Manifesto for the Majority
To the 60,071,781.
To those who voted for Hillary Clinton.
To those who keep hearing sentiments like, “Let’s give our new President-elect a chance, act like grown ups/friends, and move on.”
To the majority.
We are survivors of a campaign that triggered us, dismissed us, forced us to explain ourselves.
We survived our suffering that fell on deaf ears, that elicited paternalistic responses that devalued us, silenced us, scared us into submission.
We survived. It is not the survivor’s responsibility to make things right. It is the survivor’s responsibility to survive and not put themselves in a dangerous position by being forced to reconcile.
We reject current calls for reconciliation.
We reject the expectation that we must come to Donald Trump and kiss the ring, make nice, and play fair.
We reject any narrative that says we did not try hard enough to come together.
We will no longer be the beta to the alpha cis-gender, hetero-patriarchal, nativist capitalism that relies on us and our labor to create a peace while simultaneously dismissing our work.
We will no longer scream into the canyon that simply echoes our own ideas back to us.
We are no longer shepherds into inclusion. Barack Obama asks this effort of us in the name of democracy. Democracy is about people listening—not dismissing.
We cannot get behind this call for unification.
We offer no more olive branches. No more feathers of reconciliation. No more white flags of peace.
We have dedicated our lives to the olive branch, to peace, to reconciliations. We will no longer put these things at risk. We will not put them in a place where they will be mocked, laughed at, taunted.
We will not submit to a political position that devalues those who already accept the potential and promise of a united American population.
We mourn for the coming losses.
We rage at ego run amok.
We align ourselves with the forces of positive social change, love, and survival.
We will not go quietly and accept the inevitability of hegemony. Once we have grieved, once we have processed our ire and disgust, we will return stronger and more committed than ever before.
We will organize ourselves.
We understand that “let’s unite” is a polite and socially acceptable position. We demand the 59,791,135 Trump voters give others time to be sad, be angry, and to process an outcome we did not expect.
We assert that Donald Trump does not represent us. We disagree with every single thing he believes, says, stands for, and promotes because he disavows everything we believe, say, stand for, and promote.
We are unsure if we can heal. We are unsure if unity is possible.
What is possible: a renewed sense of purpose and a vigorous resolve to build an unstoppable tidal wave of nasty women, bad hombres, and anyone else devalued by Trump’s actions and rhetoric united and working together to dismantle the misogyny and racism that has been affirmed by 59,791,135 votes.
Therefore:
We demand an apology for 18 months and the foreseeable next four years of criminal-level hate.
We demand to be heard.
We will no longer be reactionary. We are now proactive, dictating our own terms.
We will not be calm.
We will not “let it go.”
We reject attempts to divide us into binary categories in order to conquer us. People cannot be divided by walls.
We will work together to destroy Trump’s version of America from the ground up.
We will not be quiet.
We will not go away.
We will create new alliances across previously un-allied groups of people who now find themselves the target of derision in a Trumpian America.
We will mobilize.
We will write.
We will be vigilant.
To those who feel unsafe to speak out, you are not alone. We will try to be your voice until you can find your own.
To those of us who are public leaders, activists and intellectuals, we are obligated to speak. We must be part of the public rejection of hatred.
