I have never been more proud to be a Chicagoan. This past Friday, March 11, tens of thousands of protestors, some of whom were close friends of mine, stood their ground at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion and were overwhelmingly successful in shutting Trump and his hateful followers down.

I find it quite interesting that, when given the chance to assert his strength and leadership skills, to flex that boisterous bully muscle of his, Donald Trump instead just gave up. I've heard tales of his cowardice before (whisperings that he asks to make sure he won't be "bullied" backstage at TV shows before he goes on), but nothing speaks louder than his actions on Friday. The man who promises to take down ISIS and use bullying tactics to scare the world into bowing down to America's power cannot even face a few thousand people ready to disagree with him to his face. Of course, his reasoning was that he didn't want to see anyone get hurt.

How ironic that over eight Trump rallies have involved some kind of physical or verbal assault on people of color: Protestors, teenage girls and even journalists. I suppose what he meant was that he didn't want to see any ignorant, racist followers of his get hurt. That would just be unacceptable. Yes, Mr. Trump is quite interesting indeed.

All jokes aside, the conditions of the rally did pose a very real threat to the safety of all protestors and supporters involved. The physical and verbal violence that I saw play across my friends' Snapchat screens and down my Facebook timeline was truly terrifying. While the strong protestors of Chicago came ready to stand and fight non-violently, Trump's supporters came ready to throw blows (as usual). It was hard to distinguish just when tensions rose to a breaking point, but from the images and video I have seen, conditions resembled a war zone.

I cannot help but wonder at what this portends for the future of the country. Should Trump win the presidency? He can kiss as many black babies as he likes and have as many Latinos hold up his signs for cameras as he pleases, but it is undeniable that Donald Trump has brought to the surface a gory, nightmarish America. He has bolstered the actions out of those who, up until now, relegated their extreme hatred and prejudice to just thoughts and words. It is absolutely chilling to think of the number of people who represent the extremes of Trump's racist, xenophobic undertones. The only thing I thank him for is highlighting the reality of this country's condition for those who formerly refused to believe in the existence and persistence of racism. That and being the motivation that brought together enough strong, beautiful, educated and determined people to showcase the true heart of my city and the best of Chicago.