by Pam Idleburg
Let me share a conversation that I had with my seven-year-old granddaughter last week.
We were riding in the car and I was listening to POTUS on the radio. This is a channel on my radio I listen to regularly, and Daija and I spend a lot of time together.
We have had several occasions to talk about politics and the different candidates. I know that Daija thinks that Hillary Clinton should win and the other old guy should be second, but I didn’t see this one coming.
We were listening to President Obama’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton. I mentioned to Daija that Hillary Clinton had won the Democratic nomination and President Obama’s support.
At first, she didn’t understand and exclaimed, “OH NO! HE won?”
I told her, “No, Trump didn’t win.” Trump is the HE in our world. I explained to her that now, “Trump and Hillary Clinton will be in a race for the President of the United States. We will all vote again in November.” Daija went with me the last time I voted, so this made sense to her.
“We are voting for Hillary, right?”
“Yes, we are,” I reassured her.
“Good,” she said. Now this is from a seven-year-old, mind you.
She continued, “I hope he doesn’t win, because then he is going to send me back.”
“Send you back where Daija?” I asked.
“Back to where I came from. If he wins, then he will send me back,” she replied.
I had to pull over to the curb. She was seriously worried. Again, I asked her, “Where are you supposed to go?”
“Back to Denmark, Sweden and African American,” she said.
“Which part of you is going where?” I asked. Now I’m teasing her a bit, but she is holding her own.
“I don’t know, but my friends and I talk about this at school, and two of them will have to go back to Mexico.”
These are first graders having these conversations. “Were your friends born here in America?” I asked.
“Yes, but he is going to send them back if he wins. That’s what they said because they are Mexican American. They would have to leave,” Daija explained. She’s got a little tear in her eye.
I told her that she and her friends are American with heritage (try explaining heritage to a seven-year-old) from those other countries and that she and her friends aren’t going to have to go anywhere. I also told her that Hillary will be President and that Hillary will have our backs.
She gave a big sigh.
I was reeling.
These are seven-year-olds, first graders. They talk about if this bad guy Trump wins, he will send them away back to where they came from. This is little kid FEAR.
This is serious. This terrible man has managed to invade the peace and happiness of innocent seven-year-olds through his bigotry and hatred. Not only is he scaring grown adults, he’s scaring the kids. Even the KIDS know that considering this man for the Presidency of the United States is a terrible mistake.
So, how much simpler can the message be to adults? There is only one major party candidate fit to be President, and that’s Hillary Clinton.
The other guy is just plain scary to everybody.
Daija’s grandpa, John Idleburg, is a candidate for Lake County Board.