Lessard, Rodriguez, Cooksey

Names

My niece bears one of the names above and it makes her afraid

It makes her feel unwanted in the country she was born into, that her parents were born into, that her grandparents were born into

At 17 she is afraid

Her last name makes her a target

In a Trump presidency she sees a sweep through the country that disregards her citizenship, focuses on her heritage and sends her out of the country, unwanted

She doesn’t feel welcome

She feels afraid

Hope, Respect, Love, Diversity, Strength, Success, Progress, Innovation, Stronger Together

Words that you hear from Hillary Clinton

Rigged, Despair, Failing, Fear, Broken, Corrupt, Death, Authority, Grievances, I Alone

Words that you hear from Trump

Words have power and the power that is in Hillary Clinton and the Democrats message is a hope that says that the United Sates is a great place and we’re going to keep getting better

Words have power and the power that Donald Trump and the Republicans use is a negative morass that includes few facts and less truth

Political Correctness, Establishment, Elites, Mainstream Media

Words have power and words that attack the framework of our government are dangerous

Words that attack the media when they tell the truth, when they focus on facts are dangerous

The Republican Party has been building an alternate reality for years, denying science, refusing to acknowledge the truth, denigrating everything that President Obama has done

They built the environment that welcomed a candidate like Donald Trump – a man who lies regularly, who makes up his own “facts”, who – when he doesn’t like what the media or his opponents are saying – just lies about what is happening and then accuses “others” of bias

Words matter

Phony, Disgusting, Waste

Calling our system of government into question matters

Calling the 4th estate into questions matters

Then there are the words about women from Trump and his  supporters use

I choose not to repeat them because words matter, words have power

There are the chants, the accusations

Lock her up, lock her up, burn her, burn her

I do criticize the media – I know that we need the media but their messaging has been pushing against Hillary Clinton since she announced her candidacy

They don’t always call out the lies, especially lately, there are not always two sides of every matter, sometimes there are just facts

I’m a real political junkie so I watch lots of the coverage and I’ve seen how different the tone, and, yes, the words are and you can see how it impacts perceptions of Hillary Clinton

It’s amazing that, if she wins, she’ll have managed against a blistering critique that ignores her accomplishments, that treats her as the lesser of two evils – that word is key – it’s a word that women fight every

Words matter

We must be careful in how we use them and we have to quit using them as weapons

I am a writer, a crafter of words, and I understand their power