I was counting down the days until my 10 year reunion at Northwestern. Then, last Tuesday night, former president Donald Trump was reelected, and I realized I could not make the trip back to Evanston.
As someone who was born and raised in Los Angeles, I have been politically active for as long as I can remember. I watched Al Gore lose to George W. Bush when I was eight and felt the heartbreak as deeply as my parents did. I attended a John Kerry rally in 2004 and had the “Oh my god, I just met the future president!” moment that’s only possible to experience as a young person. When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, I remember dancing throughout my childhood home. In 2012, I was finally old enough to vote for Obama but was extremely frustrated when my absentee ballot showed up at my study abroad school in London the day after the election.
I’m well aware that I grew up in a liberal bubble — hell, my high school’s Republican club had three members — but I have always felt it was important to learn about others’ politics and viewpoints to avoid living in a silo. Diversity of thought and opinion is essential to a healthy, functioning society.
That was one of the reasons why I decided to major in political science at NU. I finished my first major relatively quickly, and after taking an American politics class for fun, I was hooked. Back then I recall being one of the few women across all of my poli sci discussion groups, which I duly took note of but was never intimidated by.
When Trump was elected in 2016, I was delighted to see how that travesty motivated so many people across the country, especially women, to become more invested in our politics on a consistent basis. I was inspired by the uptick in daily political participation, conversations, marches, movements and more. Then just a few days ago, after we had a respite of progress and relief for a few years, it felt like it was all suddenly struck down again.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it: Our current situation is bleak. More than half the country voluntarily elected a bigot, racist, misogynist, xenophobe, sexual assailant, convicted felon and wannabe autocrat to the highest office in the land, and he plans on bringing his disgusting friends like Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Stephen Miller with him. Since last week, getting through each hour of the day feels like climbing a mountain that doesn’t have a peak — and it’s debilitating. As a woman in my 30s, the fact that I was born with more rights than I have today is sickening. The inclination to pretend that all of this isn’t happening is dangling in front of each one of us, with the most extreme considering fleeing the country. As good as that might sound, it’s not the time to do that.
This is the moment to dig in.
Yes, it sucks. You should cry and scream and vent to your loved ones. But you can also prepare to fight and figure out ways to protect yourself. Those who support or condone the MAGA movement are depending on us to fold into ourselves and accept defeat, but we can’t do that. We have to start mobilizing right now and make defending our rights the number one priority for the foreseeable future.
As a woman, I’m faced with the horrific prospect of the new administration relying on the America First Policy Institute’s or the Heritage Foundation’s presidential roadmaps to determine their stance on women’s healthcare. The main goal of these manifestos is to inhibit the personal agency of women just like me, particularly the ability to live our lives as single, independent and self-reliant people. As the perfect archetype that these ultra-conservatives desire to control, I’m so angry at the ignorant women who voted for the monster who is set on turning the clock back to the early 20th century when women were only permitted to carry men’s children and raise them.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be consulting my OB-GYN about the best way to maintain my preferred method of birth control over the next four years, stockpiling various forms of contraception in case people in my circle or I need them, expediting freezing my eggs so that my options are preserved and educating myself on the various ways I can help women who are faced with petrifying healthcare situations and don’t have the access or resources that I do.
With a little over two months until Trump’s inauguration, it’s also time to organize. This can come in many shapes and sizes — maybe it’s getting involved with organizations that champion the rights that his cabinet will try to strip away from us or identifying ways to work with local and state governments on advocating for measures that can serve as protections during his term. Now is the time to host transparent conversations with your community about how Trump’s policies might affect the people in your lives and how we can become ongoing support systems for the big and small things that may be thrown at us. Or, it could be as simple as staying informed by reading or watching the news, listening to political podcasts and simply not flipping your “off” switch.
Our university instilled many values in us, but the one that I keep on coming back to is the need to care for one another. I wish the principle of making the world a better place was embraced by more than one political party, but in our current circumstances, I know I must do what I can to pay this mindset forward. Anyone who is not a white, cisgender, heterosexual male is at the risk of being persecuted by Trump and his administration, and we need to ensure our networks have the manpower, knowledge and resources to combat that.
All that said, going to a class party, tailgates and a football game with my friends does seem very fun. But at this inflection moment for our country, it’s simply too frivolous. Our time to strategize ahead of Trump taking office is limited, and every single hour counts. Right now, my NU degree is best celebrated by doing everything I can to protect our democracy, my community and myself to the best of my ability.
I’m hopeful that by my 15 or 20 year reunion, I’ll be able to kick back and watch an NU football game without worrying about my civil liberties being eliminated or our country crumbling down around us. Until then, we must make every day count.
Kayla Reuben is an NU alum. She can be contacted at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
