It was the night before the 2008 election. I sat on the computer at the library typing away so I could finish my election project. I was thinking about how ridiculous the thoughts of John McCain and Sarah Palin sounded. How could a woman not stand up for her own rights? How could they want to take away things that seemed so necessary? I was 13 years old and never had any interest in politics or history. But I knew that one of these candidates seemed right and the other didn't.

I knew that night, if I were able to vote, I would definitely vote for Obama. I liked everything he stood for and knew that he could change our country for the better. The next day at school, we had our own vote. Every middle schooler wrote their president down on a piece of paper and at the end of the day, the principal went on the loud speaker and announced that we had chosen to elect Barack Obama.

I remember going home so happy. I voted for the winner. I got who I thought was better for our country.

Days later, people were in an uproar. I sat in my uncle's living room listening to him rage about having a black president. "America is white. He only won because people are scared that they will be considered racist." "He looks like a monkey, he's going to ruin us."

I was furious and I argued back with him. He was always a racist. He called me and my siblings spics and my sister a Nig**r baby because she gets very tan in the summer. He lived like he was the only kind of person that mattered, and this was my final straw. He told me I was a kid and didn't know what I was talking about, so I needed to shut up or go home. I started walking home. 13 year old me had no idea what was coming.

4 years went by till the next election. It came down to Obama and Romney. Again, I knew Obama was the man I would vote for, if I wasn't 5 months shy of 18. I kept checking the vote count on my phone, getting excited every time I saw Obama was in the lead. This was a man who could move mountains. This is a man who stands for everything I stand for, and not what I am against. This is the man I want as my President.

I loved my President for the 8 wonderful years he sat in the White House. Every little thing he did for our country was something that I could support. I was proud to say that my president is black. That a minority has beat the odds, not once, but twice to be the leader of our country. I wanted to take this love for my president and use it as I walked into the 2016 election to vote for the very first time. I voted for who I felt like the better-qualified candidate was and who I felt stood for what I believed in and not what I stand against.

Now, we have President Donald J. Trump. A man who is way under qualified for the job. He's never held a government position before in his life, but he gets to be in charge of the entire country. He's openly admitted to sexually assaulting women and he doesn't pay his taxes. And I don't like him.

I don't have to like the President of the United States.

I am allowed to hold my own opinion. And my opinion is that I am going to hate the man who wants to take away the rights to my body. A man who isn't for LGBTQ even though the people who are worked so hard to get laws put into place so they could finally be accepted, and feel safe. A man who doesn't believe in climate change, which by itself could destroy the earth.

Donald Trump is the President of the United States, but he isn't my President. He isn't a man I will support or acknowledge. I will NEVER respect him, even if it costs me my life. He is the reason I hate politics. The reason I see the bad in so many people I once thought were good.