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THREAD: Had a truly depressing conversation about 2020 with my 12 yr old daughter. We were talking about Elizabeth Warren v. Kamala Harris (both of whom we like) and my daughter said "It doesn't matter though, we'll never have a woman president."
I told her that I understood her feeling but that we should remember that HRC won the popular vote and that more women and POC won in 2018 than ever before. I told her trump is historically unpopular.
But she was unconvinced.
She said trump is running and he will cheat.
But she was unconvinced.
She said trump is running and he will cheat.
I replied that I had my fears as well, but that we need to prepare on 2 tracks- One in which we work like hell to elect a democrat (preferably a woman) and the other in which we prepare to help others if trump stays in office (by cheating, winning, or a refusing to leave) .
She said- he's going to win and then they're going to pass those #AbortionBan laws all over the country.
Then my *12 yr* old told me she had been talking about it with her friend who told her that an 11 year old was raped and under the law would have to have her rapist's baby
Then my *12 yr* old told me she had been talking about it with her friend who told her that an 11 year old was raped and under the law would have to have her rapist's baby
She said she told her friend that this is why she wants to learn self defense and then she and her friend devised a plan to get the school to teach self defense in gym instead of ultimate Frisbee- you know- she says- something we will actually need.
This is the world she lives in. This is the legacy of 2016. On election day, she and I dressed in white pant suits (or the 9 year old equivalent) and were ready to celebrate. When I told her in the morning, she cried and was scared.
I have watched her taking it all in- but seldom talking about it. This was the first political conversation we've had in a while. But she's always paying attention. She's losing hope. She's scared to grow up a woman in *this* America. She's scared to be Jewish in *this* America.
Parenting in the trump era is hard. From bragging about assaulting women to locking children in cages, to destroying the planet,to turning women into 2nd class citizens, it takes a toll.
I won't lie to my kids. They need to know how bad it is. But they're scared.
I won't lie to my kids. They need to know how bad it is. But they're scared.
So I have to fight. I need to be able to face my kids on Nov. 3 2020. I need my daughter to see strong women fighting back. I need her to see that good men and women stood up to this monster and that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards Justice.#resist. /End
