This is a speculative piece written from the perspective of someone alive ten years from now. -- Daisha Williams, 10th Grade
This is a speculative piece written from the perspective of someone alive ten years from now. This is entirely fictional.
2020 had been by far the worst year of most of our lives. We had to deal with the West Coast burning, a deadly pandemic, and political news that shocked some, but simply disappointed many, just to name a few. But contrary to what a lot of people wanted to believe, the problem wasn’t just the year. Despite many Americans hoping that all of our problems were going to disintegrate into dust on New Year's morning, no matter how much we wanted them too, it just got worse. In fact, a lot of things got a lot worse in the ten years that would follow. Welcome to America 2030.
America is nothing without our strong standing democracy. Our right to vote and choose who leads our country has always given us a reason to be proud to be American. And no one can ever take that away from us—at least, that is what we thought before our 45th president, Donald Trump refused to leave office after losing the 2020 election. As much as he threatened this during the race, almost no one took him seriously, let alone took action against it. He ended up taking the election results all the way to his conservative-packed Supreme Court, which was a very time consuming event, to say the least.
During this process, America became even more divided. Everyone firmly and stubbornly believed in their own ideals, and the disagreements between parties soon turned into blind hatred. Once Donald Trump took his second term, our society only continued to dissolve.
The biggest way our country has been, and still is divided is by race. Police killings have continued to terrorize our citizens though time, with African Americans being three times more likely to be killed than white people. White supremacist groups have also continued to run ranbegun to run rampant in the past few years, murdering people and committing whatever crimes they want. This resulted with very little to no consequences from law enforcement. There have been whispers of a new movement lately, one much more extreme than the ones we have seen before led by Black Lives Matter activists. In fact, some say that this new movement has evolved from dissatisfied fractions of BLM. It is not simply anti-racist, but anti-white. Of course, it is never a good idea to fight fire with fire, but for many within the movement, it seems like that may be the only option left.
The virus that made countless headlines in 2020, COVID-19, did not disappear. It did not even slowly get better, because people both in our government and our society continued to refuse to take it seriously. America witnessed more and more cases and deaths in the past years. In fact, there have been 115,092,480 cases in the past 10 years. That is equal to about 11,509,248 cases per year. Out of those 115,092,480 cases there have been 3,224,040 deaths. Yes, 3,224,040 deaths. That is an average of 322,404 deaths per year. And although that seems like it has gotten a lot worse, those numbers line up with the average death count in the virus’ first year in 2020. And sadly, Corona-virus deaths aren't the only tragedies that our country is still witnessing.
Speaking of fires, dues to a lack of attention, climate change has only continued to get worse. Due to the fires on the West Coast, most of California, and parts of Washington and Oregon are unsafe for humans to live in during parts of the year due to smoke. And in other parts of the country, hurricanes have only gotten more frequent and more intense. On top of that, the sea levels have risen, causing more droughts and heat waves than previously experienced. These environmental catastrophes have ruined homes, even towns, causing many coastal Americans to move inland to land-locked states. The saddest part of it all is that it could have been prevented, at multiple points in the past.
2020 was not the worst year of most of our lives, far from it. If things went differently that year, maybe it would deserve that title, instead it was the beginning of the end. It was the turning point, the year where everyone could have not only realized that change is needed, but when they put aside their differences and come together so we wouldn't be in this place today.
How the next ten years and the ones after play out is up to us, every single one of us. But we have to make that decision right now.
2020 had been by far the worst year of most of our lives. We had to deal with the West Coast burning, a deadly pandemic, and political news that shocked some, but simply disappointed many, just to name a few. But contrary to what a lot of people wanted to believe, the problem wasn’t just the year. Despite many Americans hoping that all of our problems were going to disintegrate into dust on New Year's morning, no matter how much we wanted them too, it just got worse. In fact, a lot of things got a lot worse in the ten years that would follow. Welcome to America 2030.
America is nothing without our strong standing democracy. Our right to vote and choose who leads our country has always given us a reason to be proud to be American. And no one can ever take that away from us—at least, that is what we thought before our 45th president, Donald Trump refused to leave office after losing the 2020 election. As much as he threatened this during the race, almost no one took him seriously, let alone took action against it. He ended up taking the election results all the way to his conservative-packed Supreme Court, which was a very time consuming event, to say the least.
During this process, America became even more divided. Everyone firmly and stubbornly believed in their own ideals, and the disagreements between parties soon turned into blind hatred. Once Donald Trump took his second term, our society only continued to dissolve.
The biggest way our country has been, and still is divided is by race. Police killings have continued to terrorize our citizens though time, with African Americans being three times more likely to be killed than white people. White supremacist groups have also continued to run ranbegun to run rampant in the past few years, murdering people and committing whatever crimes they want. This resulted with very little to no consequences from law enforcement. There have been whispers of a new movement lately, one much more extreme than the ones we have seen before led by Black Lives Matter activists. In fact, some say that this new movement has evolved from dissatisfied fractions of BLM. It is not simply anti-racist, but anti-white. Of course, it is never a good idea to fight fire with fire, but for many within the movement, it seems like that may be the only option left.
The virus that made countless headlines in 2020, COVID-19, did not disappear. It did not even slowly get better, because people both in our government and our society continued to refuse to take it seriously. America witnessed more and more cases and deaths in the past years. In fact, there have been 115,092,480 cases in the past 10 years. That is equal to about 11,509,248 cases per year. Out of those 115,092,480 cases there have been 3,224,040 deaths. Yes, 3,224,040 deaths. That is an average of 322,404 deaths per year. And although that seems like it has gotten a lot worse, those numbers line up with the average death count in the virus’ first year in 2020. And sadly, Corona-virus deaths aren't the only tragedies that our country is still witnessing.
Speaking of fires, dues to a lack of attention, climate change has only continued to get worse. Due to the fires on the West Coast, most of California, and parts of Washington and Oregon are unsafe for humans to live in during parts of the year due to smoke. And in other parts of the country, hurricanes have only gotten more frequent and more intense. On top of that, the sea levels have risen, causing more droughts and heat waves than previously experienced. These environmental catastrophes have ruined homes, even towns, causing many coastal Americans to move inland to land-locked states. The saddest part of it all is that it could have been prevented, at multiple points in the past.
2020 was not the worst year of most of our lives, far from it. If things went differently that year, maybe it would deserve that title, instead it was the beginning of the end. It was the turning point, the year where everyone could have not only realized that change is needed, but when they put aside their differences and come together so we wouldn't be in this place today.
How the next ten years and the ones after play out is up to us, every single one of us. But we have to make that decision right now.
