"An open letter to Oprah Winfrey: Where are you? We need you."

Dear Oprah,

Where are you? Seriously. Where? It’s been the most divisive, depressing, distressing election campaign in American history where bigotry, misogyny and racism have catapulted into the mainstream day after troubling day.

All the issues that have featured so alarmingly in this campaign have been ones you’ve spoken out fiercely against throughout your career and particularly in recent years: sexual assault, the demonisation and abuse of women, attacks on people for their weight, their nationality, their skin colour.

I keep waiting for you to show up on the campaign trail and on your social media channels. To lift your voice and command the attention we all know you can. To speak out against Donald Trump and everything he stands for—which is everything you stand against.

It’s not like you’re averse to being political. When Barack Obama was seeking to become the first African-American president, you were steadfastly by his side. You were loud and proud in your support and you campaigned many times for him around the country.

This helped him, no question. You know the influence you wield, the power you have. You chose to use it to help him become president and almost certainly you moved the needle even further in his direction.

But this election? The one widely understood to be the most important, perilous, high-stakes election of our time? The one where the issues of race and gender are eviscerating the national conscience?

You’re nowhere. You’ve said nothing—bar astonishingly half-hearted response to a direct question about who you support in this election.

“You don’t have to like her,” you said about Hillary Clinton, who is trying her hardest to become the first woman elected to the highest office in the land and is the most qualified person ever to run for president.

It was weird to watch, the way you almost sneered your half-hearted endorsement. You practically rolled your eyes.

I’ve heard rumors that you and Hillary fell out years ago over your decision to support Obama over her during the 2008 primaries. It must have been one heck of a fall-out, because I can think of no other reason why you would remain so resolutely silent when America needs you.

You hold a unique position as a moral arbiter for tens of millions of American women and for many millions more around the world.

Listen: Mamamia Out Loud discusses Oprah's silence...

We listen when you speak. We think about things more deeply at your urging. We rise up and speak out when you tell us to. We listen to you. And we vote. You know how influential you are. When you talk about a book you love or a product you use or a TV show you watch or a woman you admire, we sit up straighter and lean in. Women pay thousands of dollars just to pose for a photo with you before sitting wide-eyed in an audience of thousands of women to hear you speak. We buy things and read things and do things because of you.

You know this because in the past week you've used your Instagram account to tell your 7.4 million followers all about your annual Favorite Things list and promote your new cookbook which you've encouraged them to pre-order:

Food, health and happiness. New point friendly cookbook coming Jan. 3. You can pre-order now. Bon appetite!

A photo posted by Oprah (@oprah) on Oct 27, 2016 at 8:01am PDT

Sometimes it's the little things that make the most thoughtful gifts. There are lots to choose from in this list. Happy Favorite Things Day! ???? (link in bio)

A video posted by Oprah (@oprah) on Nov 3, 2016 at 6:30am PDT

A cookbook, Oprah? Have you not been watching the news this past six months?

America is a country divided right now between the most qualified person to ever run for office and an orange buffoon. We are on the cusp of history—or perhaps tragedy. The stakes have never been higher.

So where the hell are you?

Now is not the time to indulge any personal feelings you may have about Hillary Clinton—you said so yourself in that interview.

This is about standing up for the women Donald Trump has abused with his words and his actions, the women he has targeted and demeaned, bullied and threatened. It’s about standing up for Latino Americans and African Americans and Muslim Americans and everyone else who Trump has disparaged and who he brags about excluding from "his" America.

"I'm with her!" –@Beyonce

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Nov 4, 2016 at 8:18pm PDT

It’s about standing beside—and in front of—Alicia Machado, whom Trump called “fat” and “disgusting” and “Miss Piggy”, and the disabled New York Times journalist he mocked, and the gold-star Khan family he attacked, and the 11 women (so far) who have come out to say Donald Trump sexually assaulted them—women he calls liars and has threatened to sue, women whose lives have been devastated by being brave enough to speak up against a very powerful, vindictive man.

Sitting this one out is not an option, Oprah. Not for any of us and certainly not for one of the most powerful and influential women in the world.

Beyoncé & Jay Z & Hillary & You? hillaryclinton.com/makeaplan

A photo posted by Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) on Nov 4, 2016 at 6:51pm PDT

Jay Z—who, along with Beyoncé, campaigned with Hillary this weekend, posted this quote on Twitter a couple of days ago. It’s from Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel:

“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

“Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe.”

The open racism, misogyny and bigotry Trump has unleashed has become the center of the universe. He and his band of campaign goons are recalibrating the way we speak—in America and all over the world—about women and African Americans and minorities.

This is distressing and devastating and is rapidly undoing so much of the work you and other incredible women have done throughout your lives in fighting against sexism, racism and abuse.

So for the life of me, I cannot fathom why you are being silent in the face of this clear and present danger.

The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.

Tragedy is what happens when good people do nothing.

This isn’t just about Hillary, this is about women. About the future. This is about America.

Oprah, we need you to take your place in the centre of the universe where everyone good and decent is gathering to fight the scourge that is Trump. Please. It’s an emergency.

This post originally appeared on Spring.St - a happy place for smart women. You can read the original post here.