“Parks and Rec” writers pen letter to America from Leslie Knope
Amy Poehler’s “Parks and Recreation” character made a comeback -- of sorts -- in the wake of Donald Trump’s electoral victory.
The writing staff of the now-defunct NBC sitcom -- which aired its series finale in February 2015 -- resurrected Poehler’s plucky politician character, Leslie Knope, for an essay aimed at female readers about the recent election.
“You are going to run this country, and this world, very soon,” the essay read.
“I acknowledge that Donald Trump is the president. I understand, intellectually, that he won the election,” she continued. “But I do not accept that our country has descended into the hatred-swirled slop pile that he lives in. I reject out of hand the notion that we have thrown up our hands and succumbed to racism, xenophobia, misogyny and crypto-fascism. I do not accept that. I reject that. I fight that. Today and tomorrow and every day until the next election, I reject and fight that story.”
Knope also had words specifically aimed at younger female readers in the wake of Hillary Clinton’s defeat.
“On behalf of the grown-ups of America who care about you and your futures, I am awfully sorry about how miserably we screwed this up,” she wrote. “We elected a giant farting T. rex who does not like you or care about you or think about you -- unless he is scanning your bodies with his creepy T. rex eyes or trying to physically grab you like a toy his daddy got him.”
“He is the present, sadly, but he is not the future. You are the future. Your strength is a million times his. Your power is a billion times his. We will acknowledge this result, but we will not accept it. We will overcome it, and we will defeat it.”