Made You Look: Reflecting on the Trump Election and Patterns of False Response

Abstract

Before the start of this past fall semester, a large Northern California community college, celebrated its 100th anniversary. One of the lead programs featured a panel of current faculty, staff, and students, in addition to a former Japanese American student who attended the college during World War II. Her story offered an opportunity for to contextualize the college's current role as a public institution of education. Instead, however, the panel and campus at large responded minimally to this conversation; it may have been startling or inspiring in the moment, but few actions or outcomes were attached. Most attendees returned to the normalcy of preparing for the upcoming semester and did not fully reflect on the relevancy of her story. Yet fast-forward to the middle of the fall semester, and the presidential election uncovered the beliefs and practices of the larger society, creating a crucial time for educational institutions and spaces to hold exactly these conversations about institutional history and responsibility. Within that discourse, many non-dominant communities and the educational institutions that served them would face uncertain futures depending on the outcome. The election included the soon-to-be victor, Donald Trump, who was campaigning on returning the glory days of America's past, featuring a more pronounced white idealism and blue-collar industry, while people of color and marginalized populations were more openly targeted by groups, proposed policies, and systems. The campus' student population is widely diverse; post-election anxiety and fear were evident and palpable throughout the halls, social spaces, and classrooms of the college. In this article, the authors reflect on the Trump election and the patterns of false response.