Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid quoted a letter from a Rhode Island seventh grader during his speech blasting President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Steve Bannon as the new administration’s chief strategist.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Reid read the letter from "Karina," who attends Moses Brown, a Quaker day school in Providence, WPRI reported. It was part of a speech Reid made to condemn Trump's choice of the former Breitbart News chief, who headed the Republican's campaign.
“I’m extremely scared, especially being a woman of color that the president of the country I was born and live in is making me feel unsafe, and I usually don’t feel unsafe,” Karina wrote. “It’s even scarier because this man who is now the President of the United States has said such rude, ignorant and disrespectful things about women and all different types of people and is now in charge of our country.”
School officials said Karina wrote the letter in her history class the day after the election. Her letter was shared on Twitter by her teacher, Jon Gold.
A spokesman for Moses Brown released a statement Tuesday, saying that “As a Quaker school, Moses Brown is concerned that all people should feel safe, known and supported and we are proud that Karina’s writing has been persuasive to a wide audience, including Senator Reid.”
During his speech on the Senate floor, Reid said Bannon was linked to white nationalists, CNN reported, and has supported anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and anti-women views that should disqualify him.
"As long as a champion of racial division is a step away from the Oval Office, it would be impossible to take Trump's efforts to heal the nation seriously," Reid said.
About the Author
