Dear Chipmunk

We send our daughter emails on a regular basis.  We'll let her know about the account and her password when she turns 18.  Today, I sent her the email below, and wanted to share it with you.

Dear Chipmunk,

I'm assuming that 15 years from now we'll be looking back on this week as a trying time for America.  It certainly is right now.  I woke up Wednesday morning feeling like the rug had been ripped form underneath me.  My liberal naive self always thought that most people were inherently good and strove to be good on the outside.  Maybe they didn't have enough education, or enough life experience to really key in to empathy, but they wanted to be good.  I don't know that I believe that today.  Donald Trump won the election.  A man who has said and done horrible things.  He has avowed misogyny, xenophobia, racism, and hate.  He has swindled small businesses from their well being simply by being a dick.  The American people condoned those behaviors on Tuesday by electing him president.  My heart is sick over it.

Here's the rub. You are biracial.  I am not.  Your dad is a minority.  I am not.  I may be a woman, but I still have privilege and it's my job to use it.  At mass this week, Father Steve told us not to be chicken little.  We all have work to do, and he's right.  My job is to set an example for you and teach you to be a good person.  I will stand up for you, your dad, and others whenever I can.  I'm not entirely sure what that looks like right now, but I hope that by the time you are reading this you can tell me I'm doing a good job.  I'm not going to lie, I'm scared.  I'm an introvert and I hate confrontation.  It makes for an interesting combo.

On Tuesday morning, election day, you and I sent out an optimistic tweet. It's gotten over a thousand likes and hundreds of retweets (which is more than my neglected little twitter account has ever seen). People were inspired by your shirt and your smile.  Remember this, my girl.  You CAN be anything you want to be.  If that glass ceiling hasn't shattered by the time you're 18, shame on us, but that means your generation has work to do too.  Something tells me there will always be work to do.

We are a family that believes in social justice, Chipmunk. We need to call out hate wherever we see it.  Complacency is not okay.  I've done too much of that, and it's wrong. I will do better and so will you.