To the young Somali-American boy I met last week,
I arrived in your neighborhood last week to the sight of many young children running around and playing with one another. I was here to perform my job of educating people about an issue we will be voting on in November. You rode your bike up to me and curiously began asking me questions about why I was knocking on your neighbors' doors. I quickly explained and then you told me not to knock on the door I was currently at because the woman who lived there was not home. Next you kindly told me to follow you to your house to talk with your mom about what I was doing.
Once I finished talking to your mom, you told me that you would bring me to all the houses in the neighborhood and introduce me to who lived at each. After knocking on a few doors I began to think just how amazing it was that a boy who was only seven or eight years old was helping me to talk to as many people as possible in his neighborhood. At each door you stood there and listened to what I had to say to your neighbors. However, after hearing what I was saying a few times you asked me a question:
"Why are you talking about voting? Are you trying to tell them about a certain candidate?"
I responded, "no, not about a candidate. This is more about changing the way we vote."
"Oh, okay. Well, that's cool. I just know that nobody here is going to vote for one candidate", you stated.
Knowing the response to come I asked, "which candidate is that?"
As expected your reply was, "Trump. He is a bad man. He hates Somalis."
And with that my heart broke. I immediately became upset because I knew this was the direct result of comments made by the presidential candidate right here in the state that you and I both call home. Last week he came here to Maine and made the bold statements that you and your family and your friends who came to America to have a life away from a country affected by war. You had to hear the potential president of the United States call you and your community a drain on the economy and a cause of violence and crime.
I don't want you to grow up feeling like Trump represents how White Americans see you. I don't want you to be afraid that we will target you for your country of origin and blame you for our problems as a country. You see, Trump says that he wants to "Make America Great Again", but he doesn't realize that this can only be achieved by helping every American reach their fullest potential. Myself and so many more of your fellow Americans recognize that you will go on to do amazing things and we will do everything in our power to stop the Trumps of the world from preventing you from being great.
I am so sorry that you and your family have been targeted by Trump as well as many of the people who support him. Although either you or your family may not originally be from the United States, you are just as American as any of us and deserve to be treated as such.
Sincerely,
A friend and ally who wants only the best for you
