Dear Mr. Trump

Post date: Nov 30, 2016 4:17:13 PM

By Keegan Sullivan, '17

President-elect Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up after winning the election. Trump won over opponent Hillary Clinton with electoral votes, despite a lower popular vote. Photo Courtesy Eric Thayer/The New York Times

Dear Mr. Trump,

My name is Keegan Sullivan. I know we’ve never met before. I know you don’t know me, but over the past 18 months I’ve come to learn a lot about you. I watched you start your campaign. I watched all the “late night guys” make a joke of your campaign and early Monday morning Nov. 9, 2016 you proved them wrong. You will be the 45th president of the United States of America.

I hope you understand the honor, prestige and importance of this title. I hope you do not make a joke of this position. I hope you run this country with equality, justice and diplomacy. But you must understand, that is not how you ran your campaign. This is why I address you as Mr. Trump and not President-elect. Because you have put a fear in my heart like I’ve never felt. I know I’ve only lived 17 years. I know I have not had much time to experience fear and that I am young and naive. But this feels different, Mr. Trump. This feels like your campaign has awoken something in America. A horrible, sexist and racist beast that hides in the shadows but now is not afraid to come out and play.

I do not mention fear lightly. I saw it in the eyes of my parents when they had to look at me and know that my future will not be as bright as my brother’s. I see it in the faces of the minorities as they look at another white man back in the presidency and know their representation is diminishing once again. I see it in the eyes of my Jewish and Muslim friends as they stop wearing their hijabs because they are afraid or nervously rub their Star of David that they’ve been wearing for as long as they can remember. And I see the fear in my own eyes reflecting back at me, as I look up to the glass ceiling, still unshattered.

I do not know if you intended to create this fear. I do not know you as a human being. All I know is what I have heard you say about other people. People who happen to be different than you. I recognize that campaigning is different than presidency. I am well aware that your policies and rhetoric are changing.

But regardless of how your positions change, you can’t take back what you’ve said. You can’t. The fact that you have degraded other human beings, who have struggled to live and breathe and be here today, is unforgivable. We are all just trying our best, Mr. Trump. We all want what is best for ourselves, families, friends and country. Please remember that as you see the protests against you or disagree with another leader.

Let’s return to what you have awoken in my country. People are being murdered, sir. Murdered. On not one but two college campuses, young women were killed because of their religion. Their very breath and life is being snatched from them. Because they act or look different from someone else. While this happens regardless of who is in the Oval Office, people are now doing these things in your name. This is what I fear: not you as a person, but what has been and will continue to be done in your name. What your campaign has incited. You could have put a stop to this. At the very first act of violence, you could have said no. You could have reminded those who are angry that violence against one another is never the answer. But you didn’t. And now it grows worse with each passing day.

I hope you prove me wrong. I sincerely hope that your presidency is a great one. Lead the country with kindness, respect and decency and I’m sure it will be.

Sincerely,

Keegan Sullivan