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[OP-ED]: A Dream Deferred: What we will lose in Trump’s America

[OP-ED]: A Dream Deferred: What we will lose in Trump’s America

The day after it was announced that Donald Trump was the president-elect of the United States, hundreds took to the streets of Philadelphia in protest. Carrying signs that ranged from “Check the 13th Amendment” to “Not my President” the crowd was charged with energy and a resolve to resist a Trump presidency in any way they knew how.

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The day after it was announced that Donald Trump was the president-elect of the United States, hundreds took to the streets of Philadelphia in protest. Carrying signs that ranged from “Check the 13th Amendment” to “Not my President” the crowd was charged with energy and a resolve to resist a Trump presidency in any way they knew how.

The crowd of protesters was pretty diverse, ranging from college students and first-time voters to leaders of political organizations in Philadelphia. And despite their various ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities, all the protesters had one thing in common: an acute awareness that many of the rights they currently took for granted would not be in tact during a Trump presidency.

From the first time voter I interviewed who was getting all her doctor’s appointments in before the repeal of Obamacare, to the couple who was wondering what their marriage would mean without the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, these were people who were not ready to give up the civil liberties they had gained during Obama’s administration and even more fearful of any additional rights they would lose.

If we look at the reform of the trillion-dollar student loan program with the increase of Pell grants and the income-based student loan repayment plans, to the reduction in sentencing disparities between crack and powdered cocaine, and even the implementation of a federal plan for immigration enforcement to prioritize felons rather than ordinary families, Obama has tried to enact plans for even the toughest challenges facing every member of the United States of America.

It’s true that there are very few who haven’t benefited from what would fall under the Obama administration’s call for ”Hope.” For many, it is the hope of change that elected the first black president of the United States and it was the rights gained along the way that elected him for a second term. In many ways Obama proved himself to be a president for the people. But with this realization, we have to ask ourselves: who is a Trump presidency for?

It isn’t the coal-miners in the rural parts of PA who are probably recipients of Obamacare, as Trump wishes to repeal it. It isn’t the many women who will lose their right to choose if Planned Parenthood loses it's funding. It isn’t the millions of immigrants who do in fact, make this country great, as Trump tries to tighten immigration policies. No, protecting the rights of your average American is not on Trump’s to-do list.

With a cabinet of billionaires and CEO’s, a Trump presidency is a presidency of private interest. It is the beginning of an oligarchy where the nation’s richest are also in charge of American politics. It is a presidency where your health is directly correlated to how much you can pay for care. It is a presidency where your last name can determine your treatment in this country and not the merits of your work. It is a presidency where those who hoped for change in 2008 are simply hoping to survive. But what happens to a dream deferred - it can only explode.

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