Disclaimer: This is one hundred percent my opinion on the current political and social climate in the United States.

I know that I am not the first person to speak up about the recent events of the white nationalism and Nazi terrorist acts in Charlottesville, but the fact that last night I couldn’t focus long enough to write my English essay (sorry Mr. Brandt), is a sign that I at least needed to jot something down.

I enjoy Twitter for the good memes and the ability to network people from around the globe, but in the recent year, it has allowed me to become more politically involved, aware and attached. Last night I got a message from someone I expected to be nothing more than a high school friend, that, “I should stop tweeting about Trump lol”.

I had been steaming due to that comment for over an hour. I believe that we are extremely affluent here at Mountain Vista and in Highlands Ranch, a particularly privileged part of the world. The comment I received rubbed me the wrong way because of the disrespect, ignorance and blatant need for conformity our society as a whole throws around.

One of the truly unfortunate disgraces in today’s society is the silence from the President of the United States. Donald Trump acknowledged the brutal, harmful, murderous acts of the white nationalists and Nazis but he failed to admit that it goes against everything that America stands for.

Our country has been home to improvement and hope over the course of its’ history. If “Making America Great Again” is to erase our nation’s progress and replace it with the hate crimes, destruction, domestic abuse and murder, similarly to the early to mid 1900s, then I want no part in it. Someone drove their car into a crowd of counter protesters, leaving one dead and many hurt. This is not the America our ancestors have worked for. The United States of America has always been a home, an opportunity and a glimmer of hope to the less fortunate countries around the world.

I believe that anyone who does not seek to change and improve the current political and social climate in the United States is not only throwing away our generation’s future, but empowering these appalling acts of true terrorism and destruction to continue. The hate speech crimes and disrespect towards the minority groups and protestors are exactly why the time to speak up is now. I’m afraid that if we don’t use our voices to spread the word and get people involved, the appalling acts, lives lost and issues unsolved will slide through the cracks into the foundation of our future.

So, no I won’t stop tweeting about Trump, because not only is it MY twitter page with MY beliefs, it is my First Amendment right to have freedom of speech.

And to my former high school friend, unfollow me for all I care.