So it finally happened. Whether you voted Hillary, Trump, or third party; the race is over and Donald Trump I the president elect. For the next four years (starting in January) President Donald Trump will be running the country. How does my college campus feel about this?
From what I can tell, the overarching emotion is that of fear.
I woke the day after the election to a storm of Facebook posts spewing an incredible amount of anger, misguided blame, and terror. I asked my dad when we were moving out of the country, he said that he wasn’t serious a few weeks ago when he promised that. I asked my mom what to do; she said she was already working on measurements for the bunker we need to build in the backyard.
My first class at 9:30 that morning was practically cancelled as my professor set up the live feed from CNN on the projector and we sat in a circle and skipped the planned discussion on young adult literature to discuss our feelings on the biggest news story in the world.
Many of my peers were terrified of his views and policies he wants to ensure. Terrified of what he could do to civil rights of non-white people, the LGBTQ community, and women across the nation. One student expressed, tears in her eyes, that some of the staff from Title IX (which prohibits sex-based discrimination on college campuses and deals with cases of sexual harassment and assault) was terrified that they would be discontinued entirely. For someone who has dealt with sexual harassment, I was terrified.
My Facebook post was put up a lot later in the day than most people. “I'm not afraid of his unplanned policies. I'm not afraid of the war that will inevitably come. I'm afraid of the hatred he has sparked. I'm afraid of the millions of people that have found a sense of racism, sexism, and unjustified intolerance through his validation.”
I have friends that voted for Trump. None of them are misogynistic, racists, or bigoted at all. But for the views we got at his rallies and the hate he has spewed throughout the entirety of his campaign, many people have a newfound sense of hatred and are no longer afraid to show it.
Hillary Clinton’s speech seemed short lived. I sat in the pub in an eerie silence with my friends watching her stand before the country and, halfway through, cited scripture. That night, there were riots in the streets. There were people burning the American flag in protest. There was a sickening realization that, no matter what happened; no one was going to make it through the next few months alive.
Wars will come and pass, injustice will always be alive and ever-changing, but we continue fighting. What many people fail to understand is that Donald Trump, even as president of the United States of America has a lot less power than we give him credit for. Every decision he makes goes through a series of steps that could stop it at any time.
The American people are strong, spirited, and we’re fighters. So, to all of my friends moving out of the country; I wish you luck. To those blasting Trump supporters and third-party voters, I hope you still have friends by January.
I’ll be here in New England, quietly fighting for the rights that started in Seneca Falls and will continue to be fought for every minority in this nation I will continue to call home.
