Dear Kamala,
Thank you for fighting for us. Thank you for pushing through the red tape. Thank you for shattering the glass ceiling time and time again. Thank you for showing me that there is hope. Thank you for getting up every single day and being an inspiration for my girl and little girls around the world. Thank you for being kind, thank you for working hard. Thank you for being honest and a good human being. Thank you for rising through the wreckage. Thank you for being a beacon of hope and goodness.
I am sorry that you had to play the “good girl” to get where you deserved. I am sorry that you had to work harder than all the men around you to prove that you belonged at the table. I am sorry that you had to wait your turn to talk and then be talked over. I am sorry that white male privilege did not take you seriously. I am sorry that our society trained women to be like Disney princesses, serene, quiet, dumb, likable, shy, needy, and reliant on a man. I am sorry that the women out there could not get over their biases and their own unconscious prejudice. I am sorry that you had to fight so hard and be so perfect and in our society it still was not enough.
I am grateful for you. I guess we did go back, but not without a fight. Not without millions of saddened men, women and others. Once we dry our tears and pull ourselves out of our depression, we will be back there fighting for our rights. We will be back there holding each other with love. We will keep dreaming. We will keep paying it forward. We will do this for ourselves, for our sons and daughters, for the minorities and the majority. In the meantime, we will be the stars in the darkness, and we will keep fighting. Like you said, when we fight we win, sometimes it just takes time.
We will once again rise like the phoenix. We rise from the flame and fly even brighter.
Love,
Annastasia Kaessner, Salt Lake City
