We will overcome

United States Department of Education,

I'd like to start off by saying that this is a matter that has multiple ways of approaching it, discussing it, and evaluating it.

I am an eighth grade student who goes to school in the Champlain Valley School District. You sued my school district earlier this week for following a Vermont state policy where transgender students may partake in sports. I repeat, this is a Vermont state policy. Got it?

Great. Now, let's talk about why, exactly, you sued my school district. Was it transphobia that caused you to react in such a manner? Or was it discomfort from a liberal school district in a liberal state doing liberal things? I'm unlikely to figure this out, though, due to the growing population of lies and excuses you and the rest of the government are making at the moment.

I'd like you to be aware that people who are transgender are not only human as well, but humans that have been targeted since before World War 2. In fact, many minority groups, such as Jews, the LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, and disabled people have also been targeted since before you were born. These people have feared for their lives over and over, due to people like you, yet they have courage and bravery to strengthen themselves, to make the three words be used and seen and empowered: diversity, equity, and inclusion. These three words hold power, and by making sure that they would not be spoken, that consequences would occur if taught about them, you all gave yourselves comfort in knowing that there was little to nothing that was more powerful than you, am I right? Well, we're going to keep using those powerful words and saying these powerful things to make sure that everyone - Muslims, Jews, the LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, disabled people, immigrants, migrants, politicians, women, I could go on forever with this list of discriminated against people - gets a chance to feel at ease and relaxed in this world.

Now, imagine this: you are an alien on a planet, and you are with other aliens your age. Some of the other aliens are making fun of your purple skin when they have yellow, your three arms when they have five, and your two eyes when they have three. A week later, they start threatening you. You tell an older alien, but they shrug their five arms and say, they're just joking, live a little! A week after that, the weapons come out. You are very scared, because their threats from last week were not jokes, and your life is in danger. It's not your fault that your skin isn't yellow and you don't have five arms and that you don't have three eyes. It's not your fault that you look this way. You were born like this. Can't they see? You can't change it, and you can't control it. You're just like them on the inside, but they only see the outside.

Think about that. Think about how that would feel, being actively threatened with weapons and even hurt just because you didn't look like the majority. Diversity is important. Sure, there are triangles, but there are also octagons, and ellipses, and rectangles. There are cylinders and pyramids and cubes. See it all, not just one corner of your world. Look at the diversity in the world, and look at everything, not just what you love or hate. Look at all of the people, and really see them, see their lives, and how similar they are to you.

Whatever your excuse is for this action, though, of suing a school district - or multiple schools and school districts across the country - I'd like you to know that despite your hard efforts of instilling extreme fear and chaos in the country to secure your leadership, we are not giving in to this maneuver.

We - as in a people, a group of civilians, a collection of people affected by your shock wave, have grounded ourselves in ways that you can't reverse. We stay strong and continue standing proudly to be ourselves, unwilling to let the ceiling cave in, unwilling to give in and let the weight of the world crush our souls. It's hard, but isn't that life? Life is hard, and yet we've stood strong despite the tsunamis. You don't need to face the tsunamis, though, do you? You have money and power and ICE at your back, with their guns and vans and plane tickets to the Dominican Republic to absorb the overwhelming flood and send it off. And you know what? You can't fight fire with fire, or, for that matter, fire with water. Do you know why? It's because water quenches fire, and overcomes. We will overcome. We will survive, despite your schemes and plans of engulfing us in your flames. We will live to see the day of our freedom, our rights returning to us like Canadian geese returning in the spring. We will hibernate at times to survive, but unlike bears, we will return more powerful when we wake up. We will overcome.

Sincerely,

An eighth grader in Vermont who likes their freedom, their future, and their hopes and dreams not to be crushed by a man who wishes to be king (or, sorry, "unitary executive", same thing.)