Knowledge Is Power

POETRY

Jul 27

2 min read

By Kelcy Conroy

I was awoken in late 2015 for school

with the news Trump had won the election. I was

just starting the sixth grade

and knew nothing except

for the fact little me wanted the nice lady

to be president. My dad promised me

everything was going to be alright

as he kissed my forehead and sent me

on the bus. The boys on the bus shouted 'Trump Train!'

and 'Make America Great Again!' that slogan he used

that I saw on the news like a

broken record. I ignored them,

playing on my tablet as I had not yet

gotten my first phone. They were boys.

They knew no better. None of us knew a lot

at our ages.

School was different. My teachers weren’t

in their usual enthusiastic tones.

As I’ve grown older and recalled these

memories with a more developed brain

I’ve realized they were scared.

A lot of people were very scared.

But we were still children then, and there

was a lot we didn’t know.

I realized I was gay in eighth grade when

I learned what being gay even was.

That’s three things going against me,

I thought as I saw and learned

about the hate the government

was causing. I was gay,

I was autistic, and

I was a woman.

It seems as though

We’ve come full circle since then.

I’m pansexual now, I’m still

autistic and I’m still

a woman. And Trump is president

yet again. And each day I go

online and I see all the hate

and fear and violence and misunderstanding

and just divide

that his administration causes in the country,

in the world.

But we’re not children anymore.

Some people (like the kids on my bus)

stayed his supporters

but we’re adults now and

it’s our job to teach the children.

Teach them right from wrong,

teach them hate from love,

Teach them that no matter who you are

and no matter how much you know,

you know that you belong.

Kelcy Conroy (she/they) is a college student studying creative writing and living in Rhode Island. She writes mostly from her own lived experience involving disability and sexuality. Aside from creative writing she loves journalism and is the vice president of their college's newspaper. Follow Kelcy on Instagram: @kelcyconr