Four Years Ago

Dear Kellyanne Conway,

Since you are dismissive of the 2.5 million people worldwide who participated in the Women's Marches yesterday, let me share a secret with you. I was on a bus with women who are Republicans who did not vote for your boss and do not support the agenda of the current administration. I met women and men who did vote for the current President and now regret it because they do not support his agenda. 

I was one of over 100,000 who marched in Denver. So please share this little fact with the flaming narcissist in the White House. We all have the phone numbers of our Senators and Congressmen programmed into our phones. We will call those numbers, send emails, and sign petitions to fight anything he puts forward that marginalizes or harms any American Citizen, our environment, or our standing in the world.

We are determined to be active on the local, state, and national level to challenge your politics of exclusion that we do not support. I have experienced the collective energy of the masses who will work to make progressive policies powered by love, inclusion, and fairness into law.

I proudly bear the title of Nasty Woman. I am not alone. We will keep pushing back.

Sincerely,

Carla VanBemmel

This is how I was feeling four years ago. In retrospect, I didn't push back as hard as I could have. I was vocal, but not loud enough. I lost a great number of friends on social media due to my political beliefs. While I detest the tribalism in this country, it is nearly impossible to have a civil conversation with people who are dwelling in a place of anger, hate, and a resistance to facts. We are less than a week into the Biden-Harris administration. I feel hopeful about President Biden already having rolled back many of the harmful policies put in place by the previous administration. While I remain constrained by and concerned over the Covid-19 pandemic and my current personal situation, I can see that there is light pouring in at the end of this tunnel. It won't be easy to get there, but I believe we can get there together.