A little under two weeks have passed since the election and the novelty of the situation has yet to wear off. The past two weeks have been surreal as we attempt to come to terms with the new reality we have found ourselves in. Donald Trump, a textbook demagogue, has been elected the next president of the United States.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been bothered by many things following the results of the election. Learning that almost half of the country voted for Trump bothered me. Learning that the other half of the country did not even take the time to go out and vote bothered me. Experiencing the lack of compassion by those who voted for Trump also bothered me. However, being asked to accept Trump as our president is by far, nothing less than infuriating.

Seriously, how dare you ask us to simply move on after a man who ran a campaign founded on nothing more than racist, sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic ideals won the presidency of the United States? In the past year and a half, already marginalized groups were publically targeted, villainized, and disregarded in a manner unprecedented in our life time. Trump won the hearts of his supporters by announcing that he wanted to build a wall and deport thousands of immigrants from the country, separating them from their families and exiling them from the place they call home. They rejoiced at the idea of forcing those who practice the Muslim faith to register under a “Muslim registry” that would hinder their autonomy. They elected a man who thinks that women should be punished for deciding to have an abortion. A man who unashamed to referred to us as “the blacks”. To expect us to somehow be immune to all of that, to not feel hurt, scared, or irate, is beyond me.

We spent the last year and half combating the hatred spewed by Donald Trump. We ripped the mask off the Republican party and publically exposed the bigotry that laid underneath. We urged America to unite under the framework that we all mattered, and that all our concerns were relevant in deciding our future as a county. And yet, white America ran the other way and came out by the masses to elect Trump. They elected him under the pretense that somehow, the tables had turned and that now white Americans were being oppressed and targeted, a sentiment codified by the Trump slogan “Make America Great Again”. These individuals spent the last year telling us that “all lives” mattered, that America had become “too easily” offended, and actively condemned politically correctness, as if treating others with respect was too great of a burden for society to impose. And now, after the election is over, these same individuals have the nerve to ask us to come together under Trump for the sake of “unity”. LOL, no.

You do not get to ask us to move on and “let bygones be bygones” after you secured your white privilege. We do not get to unite under your terms. What type of egotistical request is that? You spent the last year and a half belittling us and our experiences and now you want to come together? After you made sure that your interests were taken care of and that your position in society was confirmed? You do not get to ask us to unite after supporting a man whose entire premise was to separate us. Asking us to accept Trump as president only proves that our livelihood and our fears are of no concern to you and I will be damned if I submit and allow you to continue to denounce my minority experiences and hardships.

So please stop asking us to “accept” the result of the election, especially in the interest of “unity”. “Unity” for you means giving in to the idea that we do not matter and that you are somehow entitled to any opportunity this country holds. That is an “opinion” we will not succumb to. We wanted to unite under the idea that all of our interests and concerns were important and you said no. So now we are saying no. I might live in the United States and Trump might be the current president, but I will never refer to him as “my” president. As previously mentioned, this is an era unlike any other in our history. We are now educated and empowered, and hold the world at our fingertips with unlimited access to knowledge and information. You can no longer separate us and restrict access to information in order to make us ignorant of the realities of the world. You no longer have us under your ultimate control.

So, NO I will not accept Donald Trump as president. Trump is the embodiment of whiteness, and I have no intention on bowing down to white supremacy any time soon.