A Message to My Cousin
A message to my cousin:
I just need to know, genuinely, if this is what you wanted. I know your stance on immigration and gender and LGBTQIA+ protections, so let’s put that piece aside for now (although lets not forget that I am part of that community, have friends within the community, and am personally affected by those actions), but what about the rest of it? Even with DEI policies, in 2024, 72% of ALL C-suite positions were held by men when 47% of the workforce was made up of women. Despite the progress made by our Civil Rights Acts in 1964, women and people of color face significant prejudices in the workplace that prevent them from achieving these higher positions. DEI did not take away your chance, it gave a fighting chance to someone else.
How can we declare an energy crisis in a country where, as of 2022, 100% of the population was connected to the grid when, in the same year, only 8.2% of South Sudan’s population had the same luxury? Do you even consider electricity a luxury, or is it such a basic part of your day that you consider it a right? And how, if we are in an energy crisis, can our President then say, in the same breath, that investment in alternative energies will cease, and energy efficiency standards will drop? Digging for oil alone will not decrease your electric bill (or more accurately, your parent’s electric bill, since you still live with them). Digging for oil is not a sustainable solution. What happens when the oil runs out and China has dominated the renewable energy market? What will happen then?
Did you expect for hundreds of tenured federal employees to loose their jobs? Do you know thousands more are at risk? Please explain to me how eliminating jobs boosts our economy. Did you know that my future is at risk? Did you know half the jobs I want are in the environmental field? Did you know I wanted to work for federal agencies? Did you that any position within the federal government that has the word ‘environmental ,’ ‘climate’, or ‘environmental justice’ have been eliminated?
Do you know how withdrawing from WHO and international aid agencies affects the people here, that are my friends? Did you even know I have friends from other countries? Do you care that their distress upsets me?
Who will know about the renaming of Mt. Denali and the Gulf of Mexico? Will Mr. Trump find the budget to print and distribute new textbooks to public schools? Do you not see the contradiction of honoring former President McKinley when that same honor will no longer be afforded to recently fallen Presidents, if their period of mourning overlaps an inauguration?
Did you expect the threat to our checks and balances? Does it not scare you to see a consolidation of power within the executive branch? This morning, we work up to the news of our President reviewing any federal aid disbursements within our country, which is not something within the Executive branch power. That is the power of Congress. Does Mr.Trumps appointments and surrounding officials not remind you of any pieces of recent history? Did you forget that the United States is a land of no national religion or language? Did you forget the colonies broke free from the religious oppression and taxation of the British crown? Do you see how restoring ‘Catholic values’ to a society that was never supposed to be governed by a religion is hypocrisy? Can you not even see that hypocrisy within yourself, who hasn’t been to church in how long now?
I would like to give you the benefit of the doubt and hope that these were not policies that even crossed your mind. I hope that even some sliver of your being recognizes a mistake. I hope that our country has systems in place to mediate these policies. But I really just have to know, is this what you wanted? Are you proud of this?