Dear America,

You have failed me and I need you to do better. It’s far overdue that you give me the chance to speak, so now you will listen.   

I am my mother’s daughter, raised by generations of powerful matriarchs who taught me to value the power of my voice. As such, I refuse to stand by and watch as the integrity of our democracy crumbles. 

In elementary school, you asked us a simple question: What do you want to be when you grow up? With overwhelming pride, I declared to my second-grade class that one day, I would be your President. 

I carried this dream through middle school, far beyond the years when such “silly” aspirations were meant to be outgrown. I was so serious in my pursuit of a political career that I enlisted some of my close friends to help me code a campaign website (complete with a slogan, theme song, headshots of my future cabinet, campaign video, and outlined policies). 

The results of the recent presidential election were a sucker punch to the face — an all-too familiar feeling. I still remember sitting in my living room in 2016 watching John King go through each red and blue state and as dread crept over my parent’s faces. Earlier that year, my mom had taken me to Seattle to visit some family friends and attend a Hillary Clinton rally. Standing amongst the crowd listening to her speak, a kind of hope was instilled in me — hope that, as a country, you were ready to change. That night, you chose a bigot with a god-complex over a qualified woman. But it didn’t deter me from my dream.     

We have all seen what four years of a Trump administration looks like, and yet we again chose to place him in the highest position of power. Already, Trump has promised that upon his inauguration he will enforce senseless mass deportations of anyone he deems “criminal”, increase oil drilling to end the “green new scam” and pardon January 6th rioters. 

Unless you are a rich white man, Trump does not care about you. It is more than his rude demeanor. By voting for him, you are supporting the ideals he represents: hatred, nativism, deceit, racism, and misogyny. But by popular vote, we have given him this power which he has shown he will abuse, over a candidate — who although wasn’t perfect — certainly would have been far less destructive. Just to put that into perspective, we chose a convicted felon, who himself cannot vote in some states, over a woman. 

I ask you this America: What do you wish to be? You are not a perfect nation, but you have always been one willing to better yourself. I believe you can be great, not in the way Trump envisions, but in the way Shirley Chrisholm did when, as the first Black female senator, she ran for president in 1972. 

America, I am tired of being disappointed. Of turning on the news and being unsure what human right will next be restricted. As a 17-year-old, I still have the same dream of becoming President, but I’m not sure if by that time, I’ll want to. I am tired of waiting for you to be ready for a female president. We cannot wait for change to come knocking on our door, we must all seek it out.   

Sincerely,

One nasty young woman