November 9, 2016 will always be a day of shock and fear for me, as well as many others that call America home. I have went through many emotions in the past few days regarding the news of Trump's victory over Clinton, and I have to say that I'm very scared for what the future holds for our great nation, but I'm also holding out hope that we can come together to fight against the hate that may surface.
On Election Day, I blocked one person and unfriended five or six on Facebook due to their affiliations and support of Trump. I feel that it's best for me not to have contact with those who support him due to my strong opinions regarding his views and statements about minorities, religious groups, the LGBT community, and women. The statements that Trump has made during his campaign can only be described as horrendous, misogynistic, sexist, racist, and offensive towards those of us who are progressive and liberal. This is 2016, a time where aspects of life are changing for the better. All I have seen come from Trump and his rallies are hateful words and actions. He claims that he hasn't said the things that he has, but it doesn't matter what he claims when the quotes are out there for everyone to find.
Huffington Post published an article that lists all of Trump's racist remarks regarding African Americans and Muslims. It even offers references to the White Supremacist leaders that support Trump and his ideals regarding minorities. I think that fact should shame him a little bit. He talks about building a wall to keep Hispanic and Latino/a people out of America, but what good can a wall bring us? America is an amazing country because of its ability to make peaceful connections with other countries and embrace the differences that the world holds dear.
Yes, Trump made a comment about being one and uniting as a country during his victory speech, but I don't believe him. He has already done enough damage by separating us as a people. Many white southerners have begun making blatantly racist comments and judgments towards people. I'm a white southerner and I'm very disappointed in my fellow southerners for behaving in such a manner. We have come so far from what used to be. Why must we backtrack into hate that we will only regret later? Why do you all listen to Trump when he says the things that he says? It's not where we need to be. We need to continue to love one another and embrace our differences because that is the only way that we can continue to thrive as a country.
About a week before election, I viewed a video of Trump supporters being interviewed regarding the sexual assault allegations that were made against Trump. Men and women were both interviewed and said that the comments were just "locker room talk", that they weren't real. Men were supporting him, agreeing that what he has done is okay when it's definitely not. One man at the end of the video says, "One man's sexual assault is another man's flirtation." This man should be sent to prison just for thinking that thought. Sexual assault is NOT okay under ANY circumstance. The fact that these people at this particular rally thought it was okay was mortifying. How stupid can someone be? Well, apparently very stupid since they all still agreed to vote for him even though he's mistreated women. It appalls me even more that women were continuing to support him.
I have never had this strong of an opinion about a presidential candidate before, which is why I was furious that he won. It shocks me how much people were supporting him when he obviously was only going to take us backward. I think the one aspect that has helped me calm down has been my progressive friends and their own comments about how we must come together now more than ever when things begin to take a turn for the worst. I read multiple Facebook statuses that expressed this ideal and I completely agree that we must stick together to continue to push America in the direction we were heading to begin with.
It's hard to accept this change in power and what it holds for our uncertain future, but if it means banning together and striving for the best outcome that we can have and that we need to achieve, then I will be there with all of the others who are fighting the same fight that America has always been fighting: freedom, peace, and love for one another. We are a country built on ideals of all types of freedom and differences, and those differences are what makes America the country that it is. We are all different and we are all human. Now is the time to put aside our judgments and disagreements because we need each other now more than ever. The world is changing and we must stand as one.
