Throughout the entire election I was worried about the future of this country. The divide seemed to be getting deeper and deeper. But I hoped that after the election was over it would get better.

I voted for Hilary Clinton hoping she would win. Although I didn’t support either of the candidates, like many others I thought I was voting for the lesser of two evils. I was devastated the next morning when I woke up and found out that Donald Trump was the next president of the United States.

I don’t support Donald Trump. I don’t like what he stands for, what his campaign was based off of, and I certainly don’t have any desire to acknowledge him as my president. That being said, what I don’t like even more is the way people have chosen to react to his election.

It has barely been a week since Trump was elected president and already things have gotten worse than I would have imagined. I’ve read so many stories about hate crimes: people being assaulted, racial slurs being yelled at people, swastikas being written on store windows. Clinton supporters are letting out their rage over the election and Trump supporters are firing back.

This type of hatred has even made its way to Towson’s campus. The Towerlight reported that Trump supporter was assaulted in a parking garage and two young black men were called racial slurs by white students. What I once boasted to be an inclusive campus where students are above this type of behavior has proven that no matter where you go there will always be people who hold archaic views of others based on race, gender, etc., and feel the need to express them.

People are afraid. Members of the LGBT community are afraid of having their rights taken away. Women are afraid of being assaulted in the streets. Black people are afraid that stop and frisk will become a normal thing. Hispanics are afraid of being deported. And Muslims are afraid of being assaulted and called terrorists.

That’s not okay.

I shouldn’t have to look at Facebook and see my LGBT friends afraid for their rights. I shouldn’t have to listen to my black family members afraid for their lives. I shouldn’t have to hear that my white boyfriend was called a Trump supporter because of his race.

We can deal with a Trump presidency if we have to. We can hold him accountable and we can demand that our rights be respected. But we cannot do that if we are divided more and more every day hating each other for our beliefs.

I don’t want to live in a country where people are afraid to leave their houses because people who hold such hatred in their hearts feel validated in their disgusting beliefs. This country is called the United States of America, but right now we’re not very united at all. Unless we are able to come together, put hatred aside, and rise above the tough past that this country has suffered from since the beginning, then I am truly afraid for what the future will hold for us.

Rise above the racism, the misogyny, and the hatred. We are more than that. We all deserve more. Spread love, because that’s the only thing that is going to get us through this.