This is not a letter for Mr. Donald Trump.
This is a letter to the millions of people who rightfully exercised their right to vote and elected a man full of hate and anger into office.
If you are an American citizen, it is both a privilege and a right to vote. It is not a duty, it is not something that others can decide for you. Your vote is YOURS. You can do what you want with it, whether that means voting for the same person I did, voting against the person I did, or not voting at all. But your vote being exclusive to you does not mean that its outcome will not affect millions of other people, including myself and my family.
While my personal struggles, my family's lifestyle, my friends' backgrounds may not be of importance to you, the choice you made on that ballot holds more power than you could probably ever wrap your mind around.
This presidential election was personal.
Donald Trump, a man whose campaign was fueled on mostly hate and empty promises, has been elected president; a man who said my hermanos and hermanas were rapists, criminals, and drug-dealers; a man who believes Muslims should be branded with special IDs, as if they're cows on a farm who need to be differentiated from the rest; a man who insults and belittles women; a man whose list of alleged sexual assaults is longer than his list of political achievements. That is who you elected president.
It is a slap to the face of my family, a reminder that they've never been good enough to be properly represented. The United States is a country that has held its head high and thrived via bragging rights over how great and opportunistic of a country we are. But did you ever think this: if a man whose presidential slogan was to "Make America Great Again," then we never had anything to brag about to begin with.
This election has instilled fear and anger in the people I care about the most. This is not a normal feeling of loss, this is a deeply-rooted feeling of discomfort, disappointment and confusion. It is an experience not every individual can empathize with.
My family left their home country and their family with the slightest bit of understanding of the English language. They had not gotten an education past that of junior high/high school. They were young, with not a damn clue about what their future in America would look like.
They put themselves through basic English classes to have some understanding of what was happening in their community. They got jobs to pay their rent and put food on the table for my brothers. They did everything they possibly could to assure that their kids were safe, fed and educated.
For over thirty years, my parents have called the United States their home. They have done their duties to become U.S. Citizens. That, in itself, is a privilege. Thirty years later, they are back at square one: not having a damn clue about what their future in America will look like.
If that is a fear that two U.S. CITIZENS have, imagine what in the hell the millions of undocumented parents, sisters, brothers and neighbors feel.
Your vote for Donald Trump has made the separation of families and communities a more likely scenario. While voting for Trump does not make you racist, you voted for someone who is racist, and someone who has racist followers. You have made millions of people in this country comfortable enough to unmask their true hatred for people of color. You have made them feel comfortable with the notion of violence against those who simply look different than they do.
My heart aches over what happened last night. But I can assure you that we (People of Color) will only work harder and we will only yell louder. Many times I have been reminded that my family, my friends and myself have to work twice as hard just to be considered half as good. If that hasn't stopped us before, it sure as hell won't stop us now.
Your beloved Mr. Trump can kiss my nopal-eating, tortilla-loving, rancho-raised family's brown a**.
Sincerely,
an un-apologetically Brown and Proud Mexicana.
