As many of you are aware, protests seem to be more and more common in the past few years. I am a supporter of protests, but for the right reasons and done in the right way.

Protests can be very persuasive and effective as proven throughout history with tremendous examples such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s peaceful protests during the Civil Rights Movement.

However, there is one word there that sets that example apart from what is happening today: peaceful.

In today's world. protest and riot are becoming one in the same to many. In an attempt to change things for what these rioters see as better, they are destroying city after city. Whether it's burning flags in the streets, starting fights. smashing windows, looting stores, or injuring and endangering police officers and innocent citizens. This has gone too far. They are definitely drawing attention, but in all of the wrong ways.

The point they are trying to get across is masked by the destruction being caused.

For example, today was the inauguration of President Trump. While many people flooded the streets of Washington D.C. to peacefully protest his swearing into President, others took things a step farther by smashing storefront windows, starting fires, and injuring police officers. This caused the people who were peaceful protesting to get swept under the rug by the media, who only focused on the destruction being caused.

Any point trying to be made is not heard because of this.

This brings me to protests being done for the right reasons. When protests are done to bring an issue to light and cause it to be fixed or at least considered, that is fair and right.

But to me, protesting Donald Trump's presidency before it even starts is ridiculous to me. While I have no issue that many people do not want Trump as our next president, or do not agree with his views, he won the election. Therefore, he is now the President of the United States.

This is a part of the democracy we live in, and have lived in since our country was founded. Sometimes a vote will go the way you like, and other times it won't, that is just a simple fact of the political system this country holds, and that is the beauty of it. No single group can hold all of the power in this country for any extended period of time.

Now, if Trump puts a plan into act that you feel is wrong, by all means, get your opinion out there and protest if that is how you want to get your opinion heard. But him being elected is not something you can protest. Now if you feel the way our voting system is unjust, that is a protest that I wouldn't agree with, but I would understand.

The country decided that Trump will be our next president, so fairly in this system, he is.

We need to work in unity to re-separate riots and protests. The definition of a riot is, "the violent disturbance of peace by a crowd." While the definition of a protest is, "a statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something."

So clearly, you can see that nowhere in the definition of a riot, the crowd's point is stated or seen. Wherein a protest, the point of the crowd is clearly stated and seen.

This should be enough to separate the two, but sadly people have confused this, and are rioting, and obviously getting nowhere because of their point being masked by destruction.