Betting on Teens in the Trump Era
This is a short essay I wrote about being American in today’s difficult political climate and what’s enabling me to stay optimistic. It was inspired by Jade’s piece on her views on being American.
“There goes your president again,” says an Australian friend, after hearing Donald Trump advocate that the way to stop school shootings is to arm teachers. “What’s happening with Americans that got Trump elected?”
It’s a question I’ve heard again and again from colleagues and friends around the world, and one that confounds and embarrasses me. In fact, proclaiming my nationality when I’m traveling overseas or among foreigners is something I avoid. Because the America I believe in—a place which, for all its historical injustices and failings, has always embraced the quest to become a better, more “perfect union”—isn’t the America I hear when my country’s president speaks or tweets.
Elections? If they go against Trump, they’re “rigged.” Judicial review? If it’s not in his favor, it’s unfair or crooked. The press? Anything critical of him is “fake news.”
I’m old enough to have lived through many dark political times. I was in high school when John F. Kennedy was assassinated and in college when student “Freedom Riders” risked and in some cases lost their lives fighting for voting rights for African Americans. Then came the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X, followed by riots in big cities and the trauma of Vietnam, during which young men I knew were wounded and killed in combat or went to jail because they opposed the war. Out of the antiwar and civil rights movements, the women’s liberation movement arose—disrupting workplaces as well as marriages as women sought equal footing in their professional and personal lives. And still later came the 9/11 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, which ushered in an era of global terrorism and devastating wars in the Middle East.
Through all these upheavals, however, I never doubted that democratic institutions would prevail and that out of every struggle or tragedy would come at least a bit of progress and reinvention. Now the ideas and ideals that have long defined America, especially respect for the rule of law and honesty and decency in conduct toward others, are being threatened daily.
Yet for all the distress I feel about Trump’s assaults on democratic principles, I’m increasingly optimistic. Americans, instead of passively accepting Trump’s beliefs and behavior or staying silent, are voicing their opposition. This political activism began the day after Trump took office with the Women’s March. I was buoyed when I joined this protest in January 2017 and again this year, and marched with my husband, stepson, and other men as well as millions of women. I was buoyed again when Americans from every region helped save Obamacare by relentlessly lobbying legislators.
What makes me most hopeful is the surging activism among America’s youth. High school and college students have emerged as the leaders who are transforming the debate about two of the nation’s most pressing issues: gun control and immigration. Survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida, within days of that tragedy, channeled their grief into fighting the gun lobby by giving impassioned speeches, meeting with lawmakers, and organizing the nationwide March for Our Lives. And young DREAMers are risking their personal residency status to fight for their right to citizenship.
Just like the mentees at Girls Write Now, these teenagers are informed, articulate, and brave. I’m betting on them to create a better future, and I’ll be supporting and marching with them as they do.