Following in the footsteps of Michael Moore, Amy Schumer and Jennifer Lawrence, Leslie Knope – the relentlessly positive public servant from Park and Recreation, who is played by Amy Poehler – has chipped in with a letter to America after Donald Trump’s win in the presidential campaign.
The fictional character, who has been compared to Hillary Clinton, begins: “Amidst the confusion, and despair, and disbelief, it was suggested to me by a very close friend of mine (I won’t say her name, to protect her identity) (Ann. It was Ann) that perhaps a few people would enjoy hearing my thoughts on this election.”
Originally appearing on Vox, the letter continues with a typically Knopian anecdote about a fourth grade social sciences lesson involving a cartoon tortoise named Greenie, and a jaguar named Speedy, who strike resemblances to the Republican and Democratic nominees.
“Rick Dissellio read a speech from Speedy, in which he promised that, if elected, he would end school early, have extra recess, and provide endless lunches of chocolate pizzandy (a local Pawnee delicacy at the time: deep fried pizza where the crust was candy bars),” she writes of the Trump-esque option.
Knope’s speech from Greenie was a more measured approach from a candidate “who promised to go slow and steady, think about the problems of our school, and try her best to solve them in a way that would benefit the most people”.
After losing the election Knope learned to except it because that’s how democracy works. “I acknowledge that Donald Trump is the president,” she adds. “I understand, intellectually, that he won the election. But I do not accept that our country has descended into the hatred-swirled slop pile that he lives in.”
While directly addressing young girls, she writes: “Our president-elect is everything you should abhor and fear in a male role model. He has spent his life telling you, and girls and women like you, that your lives are valueless except as sexual objects. He has demeaned you, and belittled you, and put you in a little box to be looked at and not heard. It is your job, and the job of girls and women like you, to bust out.”
The Parks and Recreation character became a cult figure, and the show also played host to a cameo from Michelle Obama, as well as being considered part of a new wave of shows with powerful female leads.
“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,” she writes.
“Now find your team, and get to work.”
