Don’t Be Afraid, Be Loud: Jennifer Lawrence on What We Do Now

Is this the stark reality? It doesn’t matter how hard you work or how qualified you are, at the end of the day, if you’re not a man? Is that what we just learned? This country was founded on immigration and today the only people that feel safe, that their rights are recognized and respected are white men.

I want to be positive; I want to support our democracy, but what can we take away from this? It’s a genuine question that we all need to ask ourselves. We shouldn’t blame anyone, we shouldn’t riot in the streets. We should think strongly and clearly about what to do next because we cannot change the past.

If you’re worried about the health of our planet, find out everything you can about how to protect it. If you’re worried about racial violence love your neighbor more than you’ve ever tried to before—no matter what they believe or who they voted for. If you’re afraid of a wall putting us all into another recession then organize and stand against it.

Read more: An Open Letter to Young Women

If you’re a woman and you’re worried that no matter how hard you work or how much you learn, there will always be a glass ceiling, then I don’t really know what to say. I don’t know what I would tell my daughter if I were you. Except to have hope. To work for the future.

Do not let this defeat you—let this enrage you!

We’re all allowed to be sad that the present isn’t what we thought it was. But we mustn’t be defeated. We will keep educating ourselves and working twice as hard as the man next to us because we know now that it is not fair. It is not fair in the workplace, so you make it impossible to fail. And like Hillary, it might not work.

But like Hillary, you can still be an inspiration and get important things done. Do not let this defeat you—let this enrage you! Let it motivate you! Let this be the fire you didn’t have before. If you are an immigrant, if you are a person of color, if you are LGBTQ+, if you are a woman—don’t be afraid, be loud!