A Letter to Elizabeth Warren

March 5, 2020

Dear Elizabeth Ann Warren,

First, I want to say thank you. Thank you for being a champion of the people. Thank you for fighting for what’s right in the face of adversity. Thank you for speaking truth to power. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to fight for the values you hold, that your volunteers, your donors, and your supporters hold; to the people who didn’t vote for you though they knew you were the best candidate running, that they hold; which is that we have the opportunity to imagine a world, a country much different than the one present now. And that if we fight for it, it will manifest. You inspired a generation of people with your convictions, your grit, your love, and your consistent practice of listening. Listening. Listening to the stories of the people you were running to represent. And I know it hasn’t been easy, but I want you to know that the work you’ve accomplished has lit a fire in a generation of Americans to believe that we deserve a better world; has added fuel to my own conviction that weaping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning; has emboldened the idea that we can imagine and fight. That we do not have to accept the existing order. That we can lean-in to our imagination, into our creativity and think ourselves into a world, a country that works for everyone. A government that understands the principle that what we have done to the least in society is done unto God. In your work, I feel seen. And I feel seen, because your policies addressed me. They were substantive, descriptive, perceptive, truth-driven, and achievable. Your plans weren’t carefully crafted statements to pander, but were well-thought, concrete, gave way to a world I could begin to see as a black American with indigenous roots seeking a world that is just, equitable, merciful, and redemptive. I could see the world and almost smell it’s fragrance. And I thank you for that. We knew when we started out that we were trying to accomplish something new — electing a woman President of the United States of America. And in your departure from this race, I can’t help but think of the fact that there are no more women running for the office. There are many lessons in this outcome, most of them for America. I recall the attacks on your candidacy all to well, many from those in society with power, reflecting their own inability to imagine a different world — it was when all the attacks came your way that we remembered you, that we persisted. And we persisted because you persisted through it all. So thank you. Your story as a young girl, “the dress”, your college experiences, family experiences, the way you struggled, yet persisted with the help of Aunt Bee, and that you went into politics not for the title, but because it was a way to help more people, that will always stick with me. In this fight, a fight that you’ve reminded us is much bigger than you, there is no place for regret (I have none), there is no room for fear (I feel none). We move forward, and even if that forward movement takes a different path, we move forward still.

Toni Morrison, wrote these words at a difficult time in American history, I read them now and find comfort. I hope you do, too:

“I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge-even wisdom. Like art.”

Onward we go.

In Persistence,

Kelvin L. Green II
Organizer at Warren for President
Team Massachusetts