To Those Who Voted For the New President Elect

This article was originally posted on Facebook.com, and has been copied verbatim from the original posting.

"I am rarely political on Facebook, but I've sat on this for a bit and it begs sharing.

To friends and family who voted for the new President Elect: I hope that you did so because you wanted a change in the establishment. Because you are tired of the confusing, sometimes corrupt systems that govern our day-to-day. Because you feel overlooked, downtrodden, and ignored. Because you work hard for a better life, and don’t have as much as you’d like to show for it.

I want you to know that I sympathize with you, I understand those concerns and share some of your frustrations. I am a public servant – a 30-year-old school teacher. I am well-educated, I work hard for a modest salary, I’m thrifty, and yet I probably could not afford to live alone in the city in which I teach, much less support a family here. I hear your anger, hurt, and despair; it is valid and deserves to be heard.

Now I need something from you. I need you to lay down your defenses and lean out of your comfort zone for just long enough to hear me. I know that this campaign appealed to your fears and discomforts, and promised you greatness. However, your vote for change this week was a vote for much, much more. Your change ran on a platform of animosity against groups of people who, despite their differences, have also felt the hurt of being underserved, disenfranchised, and trodden upon. It empowered hate and incited disrespect and violence against women and minorities across our states.

The Klan is marching in full regalia in North Carolina. Swastikas are being painted across windows in Pennsylvania. And here in Austin, Texas, my students are facing harassment. One beautiful, intelligent 17 year old of mine was threatened and ordered to move to the back of the city bus this week. Your vote validated these behaviors. I need you to hear this not as an accusation, but as a plea: I am afraid. I fear for myself as a woman, and for my students as young people who are coming of age in an environment of such divisiveness.

For many students, we are not just teachers, but mentors and parent figures. We teach them to read and write, but we also teach them to be good human beings. We teach them that it is not acceptable to mock others for being different from you. That insults and abuse of any sort are not tolerated. That it is important to be honest and kind. We are now facing a unique challenge in that the highest seat in our country will be held by a person who embodies the very things we teach against, who brags about his abuses and who flaunts his entitlements and prejudices proudly. Abuses, entitlements, and prejudices that your vote supported.

I acknowledge that neither candidate was perfect, but your vote tells me that in your America, it is more valuable to be a white, wealthy, hateful, ignorant, racist, misogynistic, abusive narcissist than it is to be an educated, determined, well-spoken, highly qualified woman. That it is better to be a bully than it is to be, well, me. Please know that while I do not reciprocate that animosity, any faith I had in you is broken.

Lastly, hear this: regardless of my fear and loss of faith, I will continue to stand up tall, to listen carefully, and to speak clearly. I will fight hard when I need to, and love even harder. I will continue to teach my students – especially my young women and students of color – to stand even taller and to speak louder. I will teach them to ask questions and to think critically, so that when the day comes that someone tries to manipulate them by appealing to their fears and discomforts, they will know better. I will teach them to fight, and love, and feel for others. I will do this because they deserve so much better. Because I certainly deserve better. And because, regardless of your vote, you deserve better, too."