by Amy Shebeck
After the election, is anyone else experiencing a
little cognitive dissonance? As in, everything seeming the same…but
feeling different?
We woke up on Wednesday in a country that has
chosen women to fill 20% of its Senate seats. We
elected hundreds of openly gay, lesbian and
bisexual candidates
to state and national office, including the first openly lesbian Senator and the first openly gay person of color
elected to the House of Representatives. Nine of our
states have now legalized marriage for all couples, including Washington, where
the success of our grassroots movement for marriage equality was confirmed yesterday. We
have also elected our first Asian American woman Senator, our first combat-wounded veteran woman
Representative, and, in
New Hampshire, our first openly transgender state representative.
Incidentally, this country was brought to you by an
electorate of which an unprecedented 28% were people of color.
As of Wednesday, we also live in a country that has
defined itself anew by what it refuses to become. In my home state of Minnesota,
this meant being the first state to reject an amendment to its
constitution that would
have banned same sex marriage. In other states, it meant soundly defeating politicians who attempted to define and legitimize taxonomies of rape. And in Washington and Colorado, it meant making brave first steps toward eliminating failed drug policies that disproportionately affect
people of color, harm women and destroy communities.
On Wednesday and the days following, you might have
found yourself scouring the news for proof of the existence of this new America.
You might have been trying to find out
more about what this country of yours—one you believed in, but perhaps were
cautious about imagining as an actual reality—is really going to be like.
What do you do once you cross the finish line of
November 6th, 2012, where everything is the same, but different? Of course, you
keep on running. The country is different, but the race is still the
same.
Amy Shebeck is a third year law
student at the University of Washington and former Legal Voice intern.
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