We may not always agree with Clinton’s and Kaine’s politics or decisions, but we know a Clinton administration respects our rights and wants to help us grow.
Photo illustration by Katy Mayfield
Photo by Julie Alpaugh
By KATY MAYFIELD – Print Viewpoints Editor
The ODYSSEY editorial board endorses Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton.
We are the students of Clarke Central High School.
We are White, Hispanic, Asian, Black, Pacific Islander, Native.
We are American-born, foreign-born and underdocumented.
We are male, female, transgender and genderfluid.
We are Republican, Democratic, Green, Libertarian, Independent, Communist and Anarchist.
And it’s for all of those reasons, all of those families we belong to, that the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine endorses Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton for president.
Clinton’s policies were designed with us in mind.
Every day we fear for our black classmates, for whom a routine traffic stop could turn fatal, and who are more likely to be arrested, charged and incarcerated than our white peers are. Clinton vows to end mandatory minimums and discriminatory and abusive policing, and build up, not break down, communities.
We worry about our LGBTQ peers, who are at an increased risk of homelessness and hate crimes. Clinton was the first First Lady to march in a gay pride parade and implemented LGBTQ-friendly policies in the State Department. She will end conversion therapy and fight for safety and equality worldwide.
And we’re terrified that deportation raids will rip apart our underdocumented friends’ families, sending their parents, sisters and brothers continents away. Clinton supports Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which would postpone eligibility for deportation. She’ll create a National Office of Immigrant Affairs to help more people get citizenship, and will introduce comprehensive immigration reform to end the fear and discrimination that consumes 11 million lives and families.
In one campaign ad from earlier this year, Clinton talked to a young girl whose parents had gotten a letter of deportation.
“You’re being very brave, and you have to be brave for them, too. Because they want you to be happy,” Clinton told her. “Let me do the worrying.”
At CCHS, we embody bravery every day. In the face of all our fear, we work hard to write poetry, design inventions and raise awareness. We increased our graduation rate 13 percent from 2014 to 2015 alone.
Imagine what we could do if someone took away our worry, recognized our humanity and encouraged us to succeed.
