A letter to my daughter regarding Trump

You know some of what Donald Trump has said and done in this campaign. You hear it on the news, kids talk about it at school. “I hate Donald Trump,” you said the other day during breakfast. Please don’t. Don’t hate one sad man with a lot of power and little self-restraint. And don’t hate the people who are enthusiastically supporting him. Donald Trump is running a campaign of hate, and hate cannot be solved by hate but by empathy and understanding.

Our progress as a nation is something you can be proud of. As you grow up, it’s important you understand more and more about the dark parts of America’s history, but also the bright moments where we moved forward. Once upon a time in our nation, black people were the legal property of white people and only white men could vote. We changed all that. Our history has progressed imperfectly, but make no mistake about it, it has progressed — and that simple but glorious fact should always give you hope. Do not let those fighting against this progress convince you that they are the only ones who love their country. Fighting to make our nation more inclusive and more just is one of the highest forms of patriotism I can imagine. If you always fight for fairness and justice, you will make me proud and you will make our country proud. You will be a bright light in our nation’s still-unfolding story.

All of this may be too hard for you to understand right now. After all, you’re only eight years old. But I know you understand the difference between right from wrong. And I know that you know the things Donald Trump has said about Mexicans and veterans and Muslims and women are wrong. More importantly, you know that what he stands for is wrong — a narrow vision of America that promises opportunity for some through the oppression of others. That “logic” shaped the mistakes of our nation’s past. I pray every night it will not shape our future.

You’ve said that if Donald Trump wins, you want to move to India. I’m afraid to tell you that the current prime minister of India isn’t much better than Trump. But more importantly, no matter what happens on Election Day, we will stay and fight for justice. If Trump wins and does the things he has promised, we will not only march in the streets, but we will use our bodies to stop his forces from entering mosques or raiding homes of immigrants. And if Trump does not win, we will still need to fight — against the strains of intolerance and hate that still course consciously and unconsciously through each of our minds and our entire nation. If Trump is defeated, there is much work to be done to ensure that another Trump does not rise.

On November 8, I will take you with me to vote. And together we will vote to elect Hillary Clinton the first woman president in the 227-year history of the U.S. presidency. And with that choice we will also vote to uplift the best of America’s values. With every fiber of our beings, we will continue to vote and speak and write and march and do whatever we can to uphold and uplift justice and inclusion and fairness and kindness and equal opportunity for all.

I cannot promise you that these values will always govern every moment of our nation’s future, just as they clearly failed at times in our past. But I can promise you that I will fight for a world and a country that is, at its core, as loving and generous and beautiful as you are. I will fight for the world that you and all children deserve. Electing Hillary Clinton and defeating Donald Trump is just one step. Onward.