Meet the Future: What did this election mean for me?

This week, Trinity City teen writer Cherielle Clark shares her perspective on the 2024 US Presidential Election.

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What did this election mean for me?

by Cherielle Clark

As a  black girl in America this election meant fear for me.

  It was high stakes for everyone in my community

 the stress level was higher than no other everyone

 contemplating whether we would still be able to

 access our normal day things or be able to do

 our normal activities and

 as a woman it was even more fearful  because we are

  being told that we don't have our own decision over our bodies

 it felt as if we had no voice to advocate

 for ourselves like the government did not care,

 like the world did not care as 

if they knew how it felt to be a black woman 

in America then maybe they would understand 

but for me i'm a teen in new age America living in New Orleans

  still trying to find  my way around the world still learning 

and for me to be told that my education system would be lowered

 and i would not be able to have the proper medical health for my body

 as a growing teen and to see that some people in my community 

did not care to go vote it made me feel angry 

because it seemed as if they did not want to fight for better 

education, housing, women's rights, food stamps, 

healthcare, LGBTQ+, and more knowing that these same people

  need, care and use these things to get by in life everyday 

 and would be lost if we did not have them 

 people care so full-hearted about unimportant

 things but when it comes down to speaking up for our community

 it feels as if no one has much to say but what most don’t know is when

  you vote it's your voice its your way of telling the community and the

government how you feel towards specific situations and

 what you think needs to improve in this world 

 so when you ask me what this election means for me it meant everything

because my daily use of life was on the line the way me and my family

make it in the world  was at stake and when something like that happens you

 realize how much everything you have could be taken away in just a split second

so every year around election day it brings fear for me because i know that 

everything i have to survive all my dreams and hopes of going to college and

making it out of poverty being the 1 percent could one day not be accessible to me its scary so

not just this election day was high stakes but every election

   is for people like me and people all over the world living in new age America.

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Cherielle Clark is one of the co-authors of TRINITY CITY COMICS #2 (coming soon!) and a 10th grade student at George Washington Carver High School. When she graduates, she wants to attend an HBCU and study medicine. She loves to write because it helps her express herself in a creative way, and her favorite color is orange.