Like many of you, I woke up Wednesday morning to a rainy day and the news that Donald Trump was now our President elect. Like many of you, I was devastated. I wanted to believe the country I have been told to be proud of for the last twenty years was better than this. I did not want to believe that the majority of our country stood with someone who openly spouted racism, sexism, Islamophobia, and had been caught admitting to sexual assault. But clearly I was wrong - America spoke on Tuesday evening and the message was loud and clear.

I want to tell you all that I still have hope. I want to be able to tell everyone reading this that I am confident that we will be okay, that our nation will heal, and that we will move forward. The truth is, I am just not sure anymore. My faith in humanity took an enormous blow on Tuesday evening, and truthfully, I’m not sure it will ever recover. Today, I am scared for my friends and family who were the targets of the hateful rhetoric in this election. Today, I am afraid to be a woman. Today, I am ashamed to be an American. Do I think everything will be fine? For the first time in my life, I honestly can’t say.

That being said, it is important to answer the first question that came to my mind when I heard the news: “What do we do now?” The damage has been done. This time around, hate and bigotry won the race. So with that in mind, how do we face the next four years?

The answer is that we will do so in the only way we still can: we will persevere. From where we stand now, the future is dreary. But for the sake of all the people who have been and will be oppressed by the outcome of this election, we cannot stop fighting for justice and equality. Though the pride I have in my country has been severely damaged, I still have hope that someday our children or perhaps our children’s children will live in a world where no one has to be afraid of holding their lover’s hand in public, where no one has to be fearful of expressing their religious beliefs, where no one is filled with anxiety when they pass an officer of the law, where no one has to question whether they should come forward about sexual assault. I still have hope that someday we will live in a world where the government does not make us fearful for being who we are.

No matter what happens in the next four years, we must be ready to stand up to those who try to oppress us and champion for what is right. We must continue to amplify the voices of those who need it most. Right now, it would be easy for us to let our frustration and sadness win us over. After an exhausting election season, it would be easiest for us to simply throw in the towel. But for the thousands of Americans that the hateful propaganda of this election targeted, that is simply not an option. For them, we cannot give up. For the future of humanity, we have to keep fighting. Especially now.

To the LGBT population, to people of color, to Muslims, to Native Americans, to the disabled, to victims of sexual assault, to women: please don’t forget that no matter what your politicians try to tell you, you still matter. We will get through this by sticking together. Now more than ever, it is paramount that we remember that in times of darkness, love will always, always, always trump hate.