Pflugradt: It’s time we unite; accept the results
The Chicago Cubs are this year’s World Series champions. But their opponent, the Cleveland Indians, scored more runs in the seven-game series.
As anyone who knows baseball would understand, it doesn’t matter how many runs you score in the series. If you don’t win the game when it counts, you go home in second place.
It doesn’t seem fair, does it? But that’s the way it is.
That’s how the electoral college works. Just because former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the popular vote — with blowouts victories in some diehard blue states — she lost where it mattered: rustbelt states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Trump won. That’s the way it is.
In the early hours Wednesday, people in cities all across the country broke out into protests. Friday they spread to Wichita. Monday they spread to Wichita State.
A Facebook user posted this week the following status:
“If you’re a Trump voter who is tired of being called a bigot, I clearly don’t think you’re a vile hateful person. But if you’re now watching protests across the country and you don’t understand why, or think they are being sore losers, let me break something down for you. These people aren’t just angry or sad that someone they didn’t support won the election — they’re scared.
“They’re black Americans who hear talk of law and order and remember a racially charged stop and frisk program, or see emboldened KKK holding a celebratory parade.”
“They’re Muslim Americans who worry that spitting in their face is now okay and violations of their rights to assemble and their rights to privacy are about to come.”
“They’re Hispanic and Latino Americans who are scared their children will be bullied in schools, and their families ripped apart while their culture is mocked.”
“They’re women who are wondering if we’ve normalized groping, and if their career endeavors will be judged by their face and body, and not their minds.”
I don’t discredit these realities, but calling this movement a “whitelash,” as mainstream media has labeled it, is disenfranchising to the American people. Instead of challenging Trump’s ideologies, the opposition has blamed white people as a whole for slavery as though being white was something people should be ashamed about.
On Friday, film director Michael Moore disputed the notion that all people who voted for Trump are racist by reiterating the fact that millions of them voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.
“They’re not racist,” Moore said. “They twice voted for a man whose middle name is Hussein. That’s the America you live in.”
But on a college campus, in public or anywhere around large groups of people, the course of conversation centers on how “white America” showed how racist it really is.
In reality, Trump fared far better with black and Hispanic voters than McCain or Romney did as the Republican nominee in 2008 and 2012. He also did better with women than anyone thought possible.
Thus, it all makes sense why a good majority of Trump supporters of all walks of life were silent and have since stayed that way. They don’t want to be labeled.
“We’re all on the same team. This is not an intramural scrimmage,” President Barrack Obama said. “We’re not Republicans first. We’re not Democrats first. We are Americans first.
“We all want what’s best for the country.”
Saturday, comedian Dave Chappelle said he would support Trump.
“I’m going to give Donald Trump a chance. And we, the historically disenfranchised, demand that he give us one, too,” Chappelle said.
Take Chappelle’s words to heart — think twice before you protest.
Evan Pflugradt is the former sports editor of The Sunflower. Pflugradt past served as the publication's Editor in Chief, Opinion Editor and a reporter....
Jesse Allen • Nov 15, 2016 at 11:06 pm
Ye Republican patriots, defenders of the constitution, remind me of where in our great history did our founding fathers just accept the results?
Political dissent is healthy. It’s what separates us from nations that rule with oppression. It’s why my ancestors left Russia. Literally. Discouraging your readers from protesting is perhaps the most un-American message you could convey, especially at this crucial turning point in our nation’s history. While we may have a president-elect who will eventually govern over all of us, his ideals and agenda are not representative for a large portion (dare I say majority) of the country. I can’t think of a better time for all Americans to step up and speak their minds; if we are to unify, the voices of those who oppose Trump need to be heard.
And, also, aren’t y’all journalists? Isn’t your livelihood built on freedom of speech? Or has The Sunflower become a newsletter for campus events and your watered-down Breitbart fanfic?
I’m also going to look the other way that this article came out the same day as The No! Protest (which your publication sloppily misrepresented as an anti-Trump rally and misquoted me), because it’s 2016 and I’m going to assume The Sunflower is better than that.
tim • Nov 15, 2016 at 4:34 pm
You are right. Accept the results. In the words or Ronald Regan, “trust but verify”. Support the President-Elect that the public has selected and trust that the balances of powers that our forefathers put together over 235 years ago still work today.. Very well written article.
George • Nov 15, 2016 at 11:51 am
What a well written article, something we should all ponder, and at the end of the day set aside our differences and be Proud Americans and simple do what is Right for this Great country in which we live in.