A young black woman’s take on the U.S. elections: hurt, disappointment and hope
The chilly New York breeze makes her shiver as she thinks about how it’s not as cold as it used to be anymore. Simultaneously, her mind wanders off to the enormous Climate Clock in the city. Morgan Stanis (19) is an American, black woman who still holds hope for her country after the recent elections.
Morgan was born and raised in the only southern blue state, Virginia. She remembers there being snow during winters when she was little and last year, she didn’t even need to wear a jacket out, as it was 80 degrees around Christmas. That, and so many other things, worry her in terms of the next four years.
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Hello NYC
Recently, Morgan moved to open-minded New York City for college, which she absolutely loves: ‘You can be anything here and nobody bats an eye.’ Besides being able to completely be yourself, there are some more positive changes Morgan noticed when moving to the city that never sleeps. Their much stricter rules when it comes to climate change, for example: ‘There are recycling bins everywhere in New York, whereas in Virginia, that’s not really a thing.’
In New York, Morgan noticed people are much more aware of climate change and are actually willing to do something about it: ‘There are little to no plastic straws here in the city, we mostly use paper ones, for example, and there are ecofriendly options for food or clothes wherever you go.’
Morgan thinks the New Yorkers are more climate conscious than in her hometown, because New York is such a big place where so incredibly many people live: ‘In Virginia, there’s significantly less people and even though it would be terrible if everyone there were to litter, it would be so much more terrible if everyone in New York were to litter’, she says.
Disappointment, hurt and hope
This year’s elections were the first Morgan could vote in and the results were a hard pill for her to swallow: ‘I don’t think the outcome favors a lot of minorities, so as a minority, I wasn’t happy with who won. The outcome really upset me; I was crying.’
It baffled her how selfish people can be and what went down destroyed her faith in Americans: ‘I feel a lot of disappointment in the people who voted only thinking about themselves and in the people that chose to not be educated.’
She continues: ‘There were people that thought: ‘Oh, if I vote for trump, I’ll have to pay less taxes’, well yeah but you have enough money to pay for taxes? There are people who don’t and now they have to pay even more.’
However, Morgan doesn’t believe America is a lost cause. ‘I do have hope for our generation. Our age group will become more powerful in the years to come, when we’re the people running things. A lot of the people that were serious about voting and were advocating were people my age, so that gives me hope.’
Idolizing politicians
In America, voters put signs and flags of the person they’re supporting in their front yard, on their cars, on their walls, … It almost resembles fangirls with their favorite artists and that can be unhealthy, Morgan believes: ‘It’s very problematic to idolize politicians. We shouldn’t worship them. Instead, we should question them and keep them in check.’
‘We shouldn’t forget that they serve the nation, the people. However, some people seem to think it’s the other way around nowadays’, Morgan explains.
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The future
In four years, Trump’s second and final term will be over, but the American people will most likely feel the effects of his presidency for years to come: ‘When a president leaves the White House, they will still have laws and policies that carry over to the next one and I feel like a lot of people, even in America, don’t know this’, Morgan adds.
For example, during Trump’s first presidency, people were very positive about the economic state of the United States, without knowing that was because Obama’s policies carried over.
Morgan and America
Things might not look very great right now and maybe one day Morgan will move abroad, but America will always hold a special place in her heart: ‘I just love America. Even though it was rooted in colonization and racism, it brought all those cultures here. There are all these things that came from different places that make America, America. I love how big and diverse it is. You can meet so many people with so many different walks of life here.’
Morgan refuses to lose hope and will continue to advocate towards a brighter future for the United States. Even though things aren’t looking too positive now, she doesn’t believe America is lost: ‘I do think there’s hope, because things always can and do change.’