Spirits were high in DC on October 29 2024 as over 75 thousand people gathered in DC outside of the White House to listen to Vice President Kamala Harris speak. This was her last big speech before election day. Everyone that I saw there was so excited, you could feel the hope all around you. This was the same place that Donald Trump almost 8 years ago gave a speech and then his supporters stormed the capital hoping to get the results of the election overturned. She wanted to hold her rally in the same exact spot because that was a dark time in our history and She wanted to bring hope to us all from that same exact spot. Being there was an experience I will never forget. People were cheering all around me and we were all screaming Kamala. So many of us thought that she would be the first female president of the United States. Was it a perfect speech, far from it she talked about how much she supports the failed border bill which would have made it harder for immigrants to get into this country. We seem to forget that this country has been built by immigrants and on the backs of immigrants. Whatever happened to bring me your tired and your hunger. She also failed to mention the genocide being committed by the Israeli government towards the palestinian people even once in her speech. There was a decent size group of people protesting her response to the genocide but she said nothing in her speech. But still she brought me hope listening to her, hope that our country would continue to move forwards and not backwards. I left that rally feeling really good about the upcoming election on Tuesday. To see 75 thousand people scattered in front of the White House and all around the Washington Monument was really inspiring to me. It was so cool to see people with signs and Harris shirts and hats and to hear everyone so excited for her. That felt truly like DC in my little bit of time here in the city. That is what DC feels like hope and a push to continue moving forward.
Waking up this morning I was heartbroken to see that Kamala Harris had lost and terrified for my rights as a Queer human. I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry truth be told. But then I got a text from a good friend of mine to check in on me. He wondered how I was and I said I do not know what to do. My friend said there is only one thing to do: we have to stand up for what is right and fight to protect what we believe in. That is where I am at now I am ready to march and protest and fight for issues I believe in like stopping the Genocide, protecting immigrants, protecting women’s rights and the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. Trump is going to be the next president. If you are upset about it, join me in creating our new hope, the same hope I felt at the Kamala rally. Do not just stick your head in the sand and do nothing but get active and protect the rights of people around you.
The night of the rally the city was energized and happy and so loud. This morning when I woke up and went to my internship DC was so quiet a kind of quiet I have not experienced in DC yet. It was sad the whole city was in mourning, but that will not last for long. The city will come alive again to help try to keep us from going backwards.