Writers on the 2016 US Election: Achy Obejas

The majority of Americans did not, in fact, vote for the first ever U.S. president endorsed by the KKK. We voted instead for a government of inclusion. Unfortunately, because of the system set up by our forefathers–a system that, while undemocratic, is supposed to undo these kinds of outcomes, but won’t–we will now endure a systematic undoing of the gains made under our first African-American president. Our duty now is organize, to have each other’s backs, to remember that many of those who voted against us did so not of hatred but out of frustration (and because they were fooled and lied to), to commit to reaching out to those on the other side(s), to push ahead with the most progressive agenda possible, to hold elected officials of all parties accountable, to work to elect progressives at all levels of government, to be generous, and to forgive and love each other.

-Achy Obejas, Cuban-American writer, translator, and editor.