Black or White; No Grey Area

Alright. I’m sure I’ve said this before. But I’m going to go ahead and say it again. I don’t like Kanye. I respect his best efforts. And quite frankly, after reading the overwhelming praise for him in “Kanye West vs. White Mediocrity” I kinda respect him a little more. Any ways, I don’t like him much. I never got a whiff of the author of that article so whoever that was, I get it, like I get the piece entirely. Absolutely. In Shonda Rhime’s “Scandal”, Olivia Pope is African-American. But she’s known all throughout Washington, DC as a fixer. She is very successful and very efficient; however, her father told her something that stuck with me: “You need to work twice as hard to get half of what they have.” We know exactly what he meant. At least I do. I don't expect everyone to get it. I know who he's referring to. The “they,” we know all too well; that’s the discomfort of America, the “they” and the “other”. It isn't just about race anymore, thats the problem. 

It is xenophobia. Foreign phobia is my issue. It isn't just like that with African Americans . It's like that for anyone whose parents aren't predominantly Caucasian. I refuse to go off the rails on a rant again abut race or minorities because it’s gotten to a point where activism rings in my ear and I can't quite shake it off. I wrote on November 2nd that I wouldn’t vote because I didn’t care. I didn’t care to endorse the lesser evil, it made no sense to me. I then wrote on November 9th that the nation was shaken. This is important. You wanna know what happened during the span of a week. It wasn’t just that Donald Trump was elected president. It wasn’t just that America, our government and electoral college, permitted for a person with abominable values to run for president. It was that America failed to uphold their promise; in electing a President utterly fixated on the diminishment of diversity and encouragement of white supremacy, America told us minorities that they agree, we aren’t welcomed. Like your friends reflect your personage, your President, your King, your dictator or leader, reflects your nation.

Little by little the youth, even the ones who “didn’t care”, have fed into the Millenial frenzy of hashtags and race talk. It’s become a cliché. I used to feel extremely strongly about the way urban kids from urban cities would talk about their urban problems. It bothered me. The familiarity of it all, it shook me. But it’s gotten to that point where the void has sucked us all in. There’s no way you can't be a part of the movement. You are either here or there. There is no shaded grey area. 

-Vanessa Hernandez

America's Futile Pursuit to... Nowhere Really

        Hillary Clinton and Queen B holding hands. With time pressing on us, given that Election Day is tomorrow, I’d just like to say how utterly unfortunate it is that this is our first year as voters, and we don't necessarily get to vote. Its unfortunate the way things turned out. “Vote for Bernie” we advocated. “Well, Nevermind I Guess, Vote for Hillary”

The elders are constantly saying that we must go out and vote. My mother, as a Dominican who isn’t exactly aware of how rigged politics are, literally went on and on and on about how great this country is and how we need to go out and vote. It is sad that we have to tell the American people to vote. Its sad that we just don't want to anymore. Its sad that I need to vote, not to choose who I want, but so that the wrong person isn’t elected into office. Its sad that we’ve let it come this far.

In terms of “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” so eloquently written, I find it hard to see any reward to emotional reactions after tomorrow. Take Beyonce and Jay, for example. This image is obvious. The idols of the youth who have so much influence over what we hear, what we think, what we wear and do, are sponsoring a woman not because they genuinely  believe she's a good person, like they do the Obamas, but simply because of her party. In regards to this election, I don't have much to say. Never was interested in politics at all. Not until Scandal, at least. But Shonda Rhimes has a point. It isn't about woman, or democracy, or the Republic. Its about optics and image. 

Being President isn't what it used to be. It used to be about advocacy and genuinity.  Now its about whose campaign digs the most dirt on the next. Who has the least skeletons in their closet. It is all a game for government.

        I am not voting. Not because I think that I’ll be happier by being stubborn. But because I don't care who endorses this woman. I don't care what charges were dropped against her. I don't care that she’s more humane than Trump. Good is not good because it isn’t bad but because there is a genuine foundation creating it; the possibility of greatness. 

- Vanessa Hernandez (vh648@nyu.edu)