Dear President-Elect, Sincerely Olga Guerrero

By Olga Guerrero

I write to you fully believing that a future where justice triumphs is absolutely possible, and we, the people of this country, will be working to bring this day closer whether or not you choose to join us in this fight.

You have been elected president of this country, but this is not because you embody the ideals of a free and just world. 

To be clear, we cannot achieve freedom through the electoral system, which has disenfranchised millions, regardless of who is president.

This year, millions of voters came out to take a stand against Trump. It is true that there are folks who voted for you because they genuinely believe that you will deliver us from the atrocities of the Trump administration. But we would be mistaken to think that the great suffering under the white supremacist, settler-colonial, racial capitalist state we live in began with Trump and will magically disappear once he is no longer president.

Still, you will very soon be at the head of this country, with power to make real changes with real consequences for us all. This fact cannot be denied. We urge you, then, to do what is in your power to guarantee a dignified life for all people in this country. 

We will hold you accountable to those promises you have made to us, and if you are true to your word and the values you claim to uphold, this should not at all scare you. Instead, let it inspire you. Know that regardless of what may or may not happen under your presidential term and administration, the work of abolitionists organizers towards liberation will continue.

It is a fact that because you are Trump’s successor, you will not have to work too hard to come up with excuses for your hesitancy towards change. Your harmful but calculated decisions (likely of catastrophic proportions on a global scale) will be dismissed or go completely overlooked. People will praise you for the bare minimum because “at least you’re not Trump”. 

You had not yet been inaugurated when you gave a speech and white liberals took to Twitter to profess their love for you: “Now, THIS is a president.”

But history does not let us, does not let me, forget that it was under your vice-presidency during the Obama administration that millions of people were deported---more than under any other president before.

The water crisis in Flint, Michigan first became news in 2014, when you and Obama were still in office. What did you do then?

If you truly wish to do good by the working-class people of the United States, we suggest you begin by...

1. Stopping all immigrant raids and deportation proceedings

   1. Immediately reinstate and expand DACA

   2. Provide a pathway to citizenship for all 11 undocumented immigrants

   3. Abolish ICE, CPB, and any and all other immigration enforcement agencies

2. Making higher education accessible to all

   1. Eliminate student debt

   2. Abolish for-profit higher education institutions

   3. Make college FREE

3. Guaranteeing universal healthcare

   1. Eliminate all medical debt

   2. Abolish big pharmaceutical companies

   3. Provide free healthcare that includes mental health and substance abuse treatment

These are but three beginning steps to take for the welfare of society. 

For so long, the immigration system has criminalized and deported millions. Immigration enforcement agencies have terrorized entire Black and Brown communities and separated thousands of parents from their children. We remember too that the migrant cages we often attribute to Trump were actually created under the Obama-Biden administration. We demand an end to these cycles of trauma.

Secondly, we demand increased access to higher education. The student debt in the United States is in the trillions. Often marked as inspirational, the lengths to which Americans are forced to go to in order to access college are a testament to a system that has failed them.

Racial minority groups, Black people especially, are preyed upon by for-profit colleges, only to receive a low quality education and be left with a debt that will take more than a lifetime to pay off. I say, make college free for those that want to receive an education, and raise the minimum wage for all so that our survival is not contingent on having a college degree.

Finally, guarantee universal healthcare. Eliminate medical debt for the millions of Americans that suffer because they cannot afford surgeries, medicine, and basic medical care. The price to pay for being poor is to die years, perhaps decades, earlier than those who have the money to see a doctor, to go on daily walks, and buy healthy groceries. Help low-income people access better healthcare so that they, too, may live long and healthy lives.

By now, it should be clear that we have dreams of eradicating all the harm, trauma, and cruelty that we have normalized in our world. We seek to empower those voices most silenced and to uplift the stories of those most oppressed. Above all, we wish to create a world that centers care and healing, love and compassion. We wish to be free. 

What you do within the next four years of your term, Mr. President, is all up to you.Your presidency will be as easy as you choose to make it.

This is only the beginning of our work. We will organize. We will mobilize our communities, turning to political education to radicalize our brothers and sisters.

A free and just world is within reach and I, for one, am excited to see it. 

We hope you are too.