Students have power too

Students+have+power+too

Livia Lund, Features Editor

When the tape of Billy Bush having “locker-room talk” with Donald Trump came out, my brother was ecstatic. “It’s impossible for him to win now, Livi. Nobody comes back from that.” That day feels pretty far away right now. Donald Trump got elected about three weeks ago. A lot of things have changed since then and a lot of things haven’t changed at all. Everything feels like it’s in limbo and I keep thinking of random points in the future that will be forever associated with Trump.

I’m going to graduate high school during the administration of a man who was endorsed by the KKK. I will watch my brother graduate college during the administration of man who has been accused of rape multiple times and bragged about sexual assault. Everyday I will take the train that stops in Cedar Riverside, a neighborhood that is the home to many Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, some of whom are my classmates. Less than a week before Trump was elected, he said that Minnesota had “suffered enough” from accepting refugees and immigrants.

Recently, in an attempt to stay educated I read up on Trump’s plan for the future and it left me exhausted. Each day that he appoints a new person to his cabinet, it feels like another hit. The powers a president has are gigantic compared to any sort of power I have and the possible outcomes are sometimes too large to comprehend.

So, to balance it out, I’ve been trying to think small. I think of all of my friends who give me so much joy. I think of all of the youth in Minneapolis who have so much power. I think of the teachers who will continue to support and educate youth through the next four years just as they have through the last four. I think of all the local organizations who have not stopped their work and given up, but are still pushing and organizing.

I think of the fact that although so much work and change happens outside of the election booth, in two years me and my classmates will vote for a new house of representatives. That in four years we will vote for a new president. I don’t know what will happen in the next four years. I don’t know what the best strategy is or how to make people’s lives safer. But I do know that even though Trump will have unimaginable power, we; as people, youth, or students have power too.