I am a Mexican-American female who grew up on the borders of south Texas, but now resides in the blue city of Austin that is surrounded by a sea of red. Based on that information alone, you may infer that I am about to spout on you a sob story about an upbringing full of oppression that results in me defending the protests and riots that are currently ongoing in this nation. In part, you would be correct. This is a story of oppression, and I do defend the right to protest, but the story is not entirely mine and it does not support the theory of violence as progressive action.

If our country’s current disposition would have taken place four years ago, my mentality on the matter of Trump protests would probably be very different from what it is today. Four years ago, I would have questioned what would be solved by chanting on the streets. I would have looked around my community and seen dissatisfaction with the election results, but not anger or fear. I would have thought, “If I, a dark skinned Latina woman am not afraid to live in this country, why should anyone else be?”

Four years ago, I held the mentality of a young woman who lived in a country with people that looked like her, spoke in her vernacular, went to her church, had a last name similar to hers, embodied her culture, and was surrounded by an entire region that voted for the same presidential candidate. I was raised in an area where I, the minority, was always the majority.

Fast-forward to today, where I have a different skin color than my neighbors down the hall. I have seen my ethnicity stereotyped to mean only one thing that does not define me or my individual experiences. I have counted the number of minorities in a classroom. I’ve been asked which part of Mexico my parents come from. I am assumed to embody everything “Hispanic” and many times be the spokesperson for my background. Despite no longer living in a community that is predominantly Latino, my identity now revolves more around my skin color and last name than ever before. In spite of these realizations, which I take to be both a burden and a blessing, my exposure to other perspectives has broadened as well.

My classmates speak with different accents in their voices that leave a hint of their native tongue in their throats. I have been exposed to religious and cultural holidays that are celebrated all over the world. I have enjoyed the food and music of so many different cultures that represent the best of the United States. I have learned to love the friendship of another human being without having to wonder which gender they make love to. I have laughed and cried and prayed for the humanity of a nation with Muslims and Jews without judgement or hatred.

And yet, despite all of this growth and expansion that I have seen in myself and the experiences I’ve been exposed to, I am told that to “grow up” means to close myself back in. The problem with this is, now that I’ve seen what diversity looks like, now that I know both the beauty and horrifying truth this encompasses, I can never go back to pretending it doesn’t exist.

If a group is kept ignorant from oppression, it is very easy to believe it doesn’t exist. A majority of the individuals who believe that those marching on the streets should “accept their loss” still believe this race was a competition between political parties. This has nothing to do with a republican president or even the piece of Donald Trump’s political platform that does not concern discriminating against minorities. I will acknowledge that there is a chance Trump can bring some sort of prosperity or positive change to this nation. However, if that prosperity comes at the expense of regressing the progress our society has made with acceptance, it is not worth it.

To say protestors should give in, is to say that despite the degradation our future president has thrown towards various groups that I, and the people around me identify with, we should not expect any type of acknowledgement that his remarks were wrong. To stand up for myself does not mean I am weak, it means that I have some self-respect. I have accepted that not everyone in the world is going to like or agree with me, which is why I am unafraid to voice my opinion. I’m not looking for my world to be handed to me. But I do deserve to be treated as an equal to every other human being in it.

These are not “perceived slights.” I do not have to follow the liberal propaganda that has been put in place throughout this political race to observe our president-elect’s bigotry. He hides his racist remarks behind reasoning that would bring a general advantage to a majority of Americans. Trump supporters are not stupid. Their reasoning behind voting for Trump was not solely based on ridding this country of minorities, it was based on personal benefit.

At the end of the day, they put those benefits before the assurance of safety for all American residents. While it may not have been an act of purposeful racism, it silently complied with a racist higher power. Both political parties were fully aware that our country’s current standing would result if Trump was elected. So if the silent majority would like to hold to the fact that they voted for positive change and indeed are not prejudice, I would think they would obtain from asking peaceful protestors to accept their fate, quit fueling the violent fire that is our country’s current climate, and stand up against any hate filled slurs they see put up by either front. If you really believe that our president elect does not represent a significant step back in our country’s progression, prove it.