Dear America,
You have no idea who I am, but let me introduce myself. I am an African American woman. I am a millennial. I am an independent, but most of all I am a girl who is scared for the future of her country. And I am probably not even scared for the reasons you think. What scares me is not the fact that Donald Trump will be our next president. I honestly have made peace with that and even wish him well.
No. What scares me is all of you. All the people in this country who are throwing words of anger around at each other in this time when we should all be coming together. I am scared because I do not honestly know how this country can rebuild itself after all the words of hate that have been poisoning this country for the last few days, weeks, months, and, frankly, years. I am scared because I honestly do not know how this country will possibly recover and move forward.
I wrote this letter because I am terrified to voice my opinion after I saw all the mean comments and hate that people are spreading across social media. I am terrified because I live in arguably one of the most liberal areas of the country, yet I cannot honestly call myself a liberal. I live in a place where I do not want to tell anyone my personal views due to fear of judgement or anger.
I am not a Republican or Democrat. I am an independent. I am not be defined by a party or its views. I am both conservative and liberal. I am a Christian who goes to church every Sunday but I accept all people, no matter what their personal beliefs are. I believe in birth control and a woman's right to choose. I also believe that a woman should only choose abortion if her pregnancy may cause harm to her health or is a result of sexual assault. I do not completely agree with same sex marriage, but it is not my business to judge others or try to change who they are and I would readily support a friend who is LGBTQ.
When the results of the election came in in the early hours Wednesday morning, I felt so many emotions that I felt sick. I was devastated that we would not have our first female president after I had truly gotten my hopes up. Most of all, I was terrified and honestly I'm still pretty scared. I watched a man, who has spent months publicly saying comments that offend my race, gender, ideals, and many of the people whom I love, get elected to the highest office in the world. And I am not scared because I think he will ruin this country. I am scared because people heard all the things that he said and still allowed him to become the President of a country that is supposedly built on equality for all.
As an African American woman I feel as though I may soon be unsafe in the country that I have called home for my entire life. Going to college in less than a year, I am scared for my wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of women and people of color across the country. And I know there are people who will say "she's being dramatic and ungrateful" or "she should be lucky that she can even vote or live in this country or have rights". I will not deny the fact that I am lucky to live in this country at this time. I acknowledge that my life is easier than the lives of millions around the world and the billions of those who came before me. However, I will not be silenced. I have been "the black girl" in my classes. I have looked around me and felt out of place because no one looked like me. I have been stared at and had others question my abilities and intellect simply due to the color of my skin and the type of hormones that course through my body. And as an 18 year old who has much more to experience, I do not want to live in a country where hate, racism and sexism are accepted by the majority. I do not want people to get comfortable with these issues or for this country to regress on the progress that it has made.
This country has made some things glaringly obvious to me. I have seen that this country that claims to be built on equality for all currently only strives for equality and success for some. I have seen a country, that was created by immigrants trying to build better lives for themselves and their families, try to stop others from doing the same. And I am not just talking about Republicans. I am not just talking about Democrats. I am talking about the entire country. The amount of hate and hypocrisy that I have seen since the election results began coming in is incredible. I have seen Republicans attacking Democrats and calling them vicious names. I have seen Democrats going after Republicans and then claiming that they are morally better. In my opinion the attack of anyone, no matter what their views, is wrong. Point blank. In this time of the unknown, the last thing that the people of this country need to do is tear each other apart.
And while I am saying all of this, I do not want to place any blame on anyone in particular. I am not trying to say that anyone's feelings are unimportant or dumb. I don't want to sound condescending or apathetic to the feelings of many of you. I understand that there is a lot of hurt and anger in this country right now and that is ok. I only hope that we will all be able to move on from this stronger than we were before.
My dream for the future of America is still bright. I still dream that racism and sexism will truly end once and for all. I still dream that this country will be able to have open conversations without spreading hate and violence. I still believe that we can all work together, no matter our party ofiliation or personal ideals. I still dream that together we can finally make a change. I still dream for the future of people of color, the LGBTQ community, and all the young girls and women who's dreams were crushed by this election. I still dream that, one day, that glass ceiling will finally be shattered and that there will be a female president of the United States of America. I still dream that, when that happens, she will be accepted with open arms. Most of all, I still believe that this country is beautiful and that, no matter your feelings on the results of this election, we will all be okay.
Sincerly,
A Young Woman in America Who Still Believes
