1. United States
2. W.V.
3. Letter

As a Senator representing the people of West Virginia, it is your duty to assure that your constituents voices are heard. If you still have any respect left for the people you represent, you will deliver this letter to Senator Booker on the floor today. Thank you Mr Booker for standing up for us all night! I want to tell you my story. I am a divorced mother of four boys. As well as threatening my family as a whole, this administration threatens each of my children in separate ways. You see, all four of my children are targeted minorities. My eldest, as well as myself, is a part of the LGBTQ community. My twins both have developmental disabilities, one with diagnoses of Autism, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and ADHD, the other with diagnoses of Autism, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and ADHD. They both have high support needs, one of them to the extent that he has a one on one aide at school. My youngest son is Hispanic, his father is Honduran. All of my children are targets. I want to repeat that sentence. ALL OF MY CHILDREN ARE TARGETS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. All my life I grew up loving this country, proud of our leaders, for all of their flaws. That changed when Donald Trump won the election in 2016. Since then I have only had a growing sense of embarrassment for our country. And since the inauguration 71 days ago, I have had a growing sense of fear. Not only are my children targeted, but my means of taking care of them are as well. Right now, we depend on social security and our state’s Developmental Disability Medicaid waiver to survive. Because my children have sometimes serious behaviors that are associated to their diagnoses, there are no options for childcare available to us. I have had to stay home and raise them instead of “working.” I put that in quotations because I know that what we have been through on our journey to this point is harder work than most can conceive of. As you know, those two programs, SSI and Medicaid Waiver, are both at risk right now. I don’t know what I will do if they end. I really don’t know what we will do, or where we will go when we can’t pay rent anymore. As well as our current situation, I also depend on the federal Pell Grant to afford college. For years, I dreamt of the day the boys were doing well enough at school that I could go to college. Last fall, at 40 years old, I started my first semester as a criminal justice major. I didn’t know this until tonight, but you and I have something in common, a passion for criminal justice reform. I want nothing more than to study, be a contributing member of society, and to make a positive difference in the world around me. I have to thank you, Cory, because like Bernie and Alexandria, you are taking a stand. Because as well as the multitude of ways I didn’t mention, everything I care about is a target of the President right now, and at least you are trying.