Stella McCartney Campaign / The Cut (Sept 2020)
Dear Mr. President;
Good afternoon. Quite a day today. This isn’t life, it’s a movie; sometimes a nightmare.
3.1 million acres of American soil is in flames and spreading in our Pacific West Coast.
I can’t breathe outside my home and Chloe coughs while carrying her laptop while we walk to the neighbors’.
Skies are dark and it’s hot, looks like Mars. Many Americans are having trouble breathing. Literally and figuratively. Look at the big picture, step back and look at where we are right now.
This nation and its people are under extreme duress. What are you, as leader of this country, doing to put aside all the ancillary agendas and instead focus on our nation’s people during these natural disasters?
Why are Israeli fire teams coming to help instead of Americans?
Why doesn’t the federal government have resources for such disasters? How have we run out?
What’s the plan to make sure we have the teams ready to go? We need to get ahead of these problems before they scale faster than we can keep up with them.
Amidst the pandemic, the people are suffering - some mentally, some physically, and some both.
What is the plan to heal this nation now and in 2021? Can we talk long term, not in 4 year terms?
Where is your compassion and strength in leading us as a unified nation? No more blaming and conspiracy theories or distractions. Real talk and real action is needed, now and retroactively. A fallen statue of a war hero from 100 years ago is the least of our people’s worries right now.
You speak out through Twitter and planned media telling us how lucky we are to have you as our President. I don’t feel lucky. And it’s not about you, it’s about the nation as a whole.
We have climate and humanitarian concerns, health and education strains. The backbone of society is breaking.
Let’s address these blazing issues first, as we watch as our democracy continues to smolder under your rule.
We need hope, vision, unity, community and a sense of security to have the strength and perseverance to ride out 2020.
We need everyone to be heard and this nation to function as a whole.
Please stop boasting, dividing people with anger and outrage, stop talking about what to fear, when we need love.
A reminder, it’s “we” the people that you are leading right now. It’s all of us in one boat with the American flag flapping in the Santa Ana winds.
Together we must all be fighting for our safety, health and happiness, liberty and freedom. Get to work, your country needs a leader who can help them right now in time of need.
Sincerely,
Caroline Rothwell-Gerstein