Dear Daughter,
I am so sorry. While you were sleeping and I was up worrying and praying, something terribly wrong happened. The man you have heard about who thinks it’s okay to grab a woman by what we call “your privates” and he publicly calls “your pussy” has been chosen by half of the people of our country to be the leader.
I am sorry that the progress you have seen in your short life will be erased. It breaks my heart to think that the rights so many women in our history have fought for will soon disappear.
I wish I had an answer for you so I could explain how so many people could decide that a man who has placed his personal gain ahead of humanity over and over again could be the winner. I am so sorry that the man who protected himself financially while destroying lives is the leader of the “free world.”
I am sorry that this country of which I have spent a lifetime being proud to be part of is now the laughing stock of the world. I am sorry that you will hear the question over and over again from the rest of the world “What made Americans elect a man with no political experience, no morals and no values?”
Your inheritance? I hope there is something left for you after the stock market crashes. I pray for your African American side of the family. I pray for your Mexican cousins. I pray for my ability to go high when they go low.
I am sorry, my sweet daughter, that you have to live in a country riddled with hate. You are strong because I am strong. I will not show you that my heart is broken. I will show you that we will overcome. I will continue to teach you that love wins.
The journey assuredly will be more challenging with what happened while you were sleeping. While you were dreaming of a brighter future and becoming anything you want to become, my job just became harder.
With each person I meet, it will be difficult not to wonder if they were one who chose misogyny and narcissism and evil over love and forward progress. It will be hard but I will continue to believe in my rose-colored lenses so you do not see me become the skeptics who chose this road.
I promise you I will be your rock today and every day as I always have been but I am doubling down on that for the next four years. It has been said before by the woman who became so hated by half of our country that it takes a village to raise a child. I will lean on those who are that village. I will find those people for you, for us, and we will overcome.
I will not let you see my tears as I reflect on this political tragedy. I will not bury my face in my pillow. I will be your hero and together we will win. I am sorry I don’t know how to explain this to your innocent sweet heart and face. I am sorry that I don’t have the answers for your brothers.
Dear daughter: You are worthy, you are respected, you are important, you matter, you can do anything and you will. This man will not stop us.
But I am still so sorry.