The Heart of These Protests

These words are by Ryan Groff.
Take them to heart.

I think there is a misconception on the right in regards to the protest movement spreading across the country. From what I can tell from the posts you are writing, you have two main points. You assume that since our side lost the election, that we should accept and move on, and that most, if not all, of the protesters are violent thugs. You also think President Obama and/or Sec. Clinton should be on national television telling the protesters to stop their crybaby ways.

Let's take the first point. You need to understand that this has nothing to do with Sec. Clinton losing an election, this is about Donald Trump winning. You would not see massive protests had any of the other 15 Republicans who ran, won. The protests are over the way Donald Trump ran his campaign, the divisions he exploited in order to win. Whatever you think his motives were, whether or not you think he meant everything he said, this was a campaign that used hate and fear to win.

He said he would appoint justices who were willing to overturn Obergefell, invalidating millions of marriages. He picked a running mate who not only thinks you can electrocute the gay out of someone, and also thinks parents should be able to force their minor children to undergo it.

He publicly toyed, more than once, with requiring American Muslims to register. That's not even mentioning the comments on Muslim immigrants and Syrian refugees. He truly thinks it's not only feasible, but moral to deport 2 million undocumented immigrants, tearing families apart. He mentioned instituting stop and frisk nationwide, described African American communities in apocalyptic terms, and demonized minority activists.

He denigrated women based on their appearance, sexualized his own daughter, and bragged about sexual assault. There is a reason why he brought Breitbart News into his campaign. There is a reason why his message resonated with the White National movement, and why they got involved in this campaign in ways I've never seen from them.

You can ignore it, you can pretend it never happened, but that doesn't change reality. You need to quit trivializing the very real fear and pain the millions of your fellow Americans are feeling. Try to understand how and why it exists, until you do, this isn't stopping anytime soon.

As far as the violence and destruction of property goes, you are more than right, there is no place for that in our society, and therein lies what you have wrong on this. Please understand that there is a difference between the protesters and anarchists. Every protest movement draws them like moths to a flame, but they are not the same people, they are not fighting for the same things.

As far as the second point goes, I'll be brief. President Obama and Sec. Clinton could both go on national television, stand shoulder to shoulder and ask the protests to stop, and nothing would change. Again you are missing a fundamental point, this isn't about them, so they have no power over it. This is about Donald J. Trump and the unnecessarily divisive campaign he chose to run on.

So please, take the time and try to understand what's at the heart of these protests. Stop being dismissive and condescending of the people in the streets. Try to understand why they are in pain and living with very real fear.  

I am not trying to get you to change your mind on Donald Trump, but I am wanting you to put yourselves in the shoes of those who are truly frightened right now. Imagine yourself in their situations, how would you react? I'm betting that there wouldn't be a lot of difference between them and you. You love to talk about unity and coming together, and I agree that is an admirable goal.

Now, show me that you mean it. Display the empathy I know you are capable of.