This last week has been one for the books and not in a good way.
I, at this point, probably sound like a broken record, but I will say it again because America still elected him: We elected someone who has multiple sexual harassment cases against them, mocked the disabled, has threatened literally every minority group, has been endorsed by the KKK, and believes that climate change is not real.
And that is just a tiny few of the horrible things this president-elect has done. And I could truly go on for the entire length of this article, filled with even more hateful things his campaign has produced, but I digress.
Now, we have seen so many articles and posts like these lately. And for good reason. How could we let this happen? In the end, it was the system that elected Trump and not the people. The people spoke and Hillary won the popular vote.
I am just absolutely devastated. There are no words to describe the amount of pure fear I have upon returning to the states. I fear for our country and its future and our generation.
No matter how awful Trump is, however, the thing I fear the most is what his campaign spurred on. No, Trump did not collectively create these racist, misogynistic people that we are seeing all over the media but his hate driven campaign that ran amuck through this country gave them the "okay" they needed to treat whoever they wanted in whichever way they wanted.
And now we just validated those beliefs of theirs. We elected someone who declared all Mexicans to be rapists and that all Muslims should leave the country and women who have abortions should be punished. And all those people who are in their homes nodding their heads in agreement with him and attacking those around them who are not like them, America just told them "That's perfectly fine."
In the end, it has happened. But that does not mean that is the end of this generation. This generation will come out stronger and braver and smarter than any generation before us because we have a lot to fight against and for now. We have our friends and family to fight for, the people who Trump declared were not worth of rights.
We have our futures to fight for. We have our economy and our world to fight for. We cannot let the Earth die out and we sure as Hell cannot back down without a fight.
Now, this is not a go-ahead to be aggressive in our protests. We can be angry and loud and upset but we cannot harm others. In order to make a statement, it needs to be one that is respectable. In a world so fueled by hate at the moment, all we can do is protest, voice our concerns, and do whatever we possibly can to give a voice to those who, in this world, do not always have one.
Remember to love because #LoveTrumpsHate always.