Ruby
I had the opportunity to go to an Elizabeth Warren Town Hall last October when she came to Raleigh. It was being held in a High School gym and we ended up on the floor in the standing area. A mother and her daughter took up the space to my left and we began the two-hour wait until Dr. Warren was set to speak. The little girl grew restless quickly. I remember what that was like. My mom took me to see Jesse Jackson speak on the Capitol steps in Downtown Jackson in maybe 1999 or 2000 and held me up on her shoulders for most of the afternoon. She took me to see John Kerry at Tougaloo College in 2003 and I made it into a corner photo in a Mississippi Studies textbook, only to recognize it in class years later. She took me to see Barack Obama speak at the Jackson State Coliseum in 2007. I'll never forget that. And each time I protested. My little mind couldn't be concerned with these things but she took me anyway and each event I know now was more significant than the last.
So here is this little girl. Her mother feels the significance, the weight of this event and has brought her daughter with her. We've waited for 2 hours. The event starts. Dr. Warren comes out and begins addressing the crowd. After half an hour, the exhausted child has planted herself on the floor and is drawing on a little plastic pad, totally disconnected from the forrest of legs around her. Yet after a house and a horse and a princess, she draws Elizabeth Warren. She's written "Persist!" and writes Warren's name - "Doctor Elizabeth Warren", her spelling is perfect - and then writes "I want to be President too!" I don't plan on using Instagram as a platform to endorse a candidate, but I can only imagine how Barack Obama inspired the Black children of this country. I can only imagine how Elizabeth Warren inspires the nation's young women and little girls.