On November 8th, 2016, I anxiously awaited the excitement of the election to begin. As the sun was setting, I returned home and prepared myself to welcome our first female President of the United States.
By 8:00pm EST, results began pouring in. Donald Trump started winning some states, and Hillary Clinton also began winning a few states. Suddenly, Florida began showing its first results. I was anxious, but not worried. For me, Florida seemed like it would be an easy win for Hillary Clinton. In fact, most people I knew voted for her, so I did not expect Trump to get ahead. As the night grew longer, all eyes were on Florida. Although many states were also won here and there for both candidates, Trump appeared to lead in the number of electoral votes. Meanwhile, Florida was leaning more towards Trump, as Clinton's numbers began going down, while Trumps went up. At this point, I realized that this is starting to look scary. Florida was not looking good for Clinton. I panicked and just could not believe the results when Florida officially went to Trump. By this point, Trump was ahead by many electoral votes. Hope seemed to dim for Hillary Clinton. People all over the world just could not believe the utter horror that they were witnessing. By the time it was around 2:00 am, all signs led to Donald Trump winning this election. Fear, sadness, and disappointment all spiraled throughout my mind. I was speechless and unable to wrap my head around what I was witnessing. "Donald Trump wins Presidential Election," was all over the headlines. Seeing him win made me utterly terrified for the future and sent chills down my spine.
The following morning, I woke up in a daze. I turned on my television and was horrified by what I saw. "President-Elect Donald Trump." I still could not believe it. I thought I had been experiencing a horrible nightmare, but this was reality. Over 60 million Americans voted a racist, misogynistic, and vile pig into the White House. It was (and still is) hard to accept that reality. I began to witness sadness and fear from many people who believed this election would have gone the other direction. Nonetheless, it was a dark and scary night for many people.
As someone who wishes to get involved in politics one day, I was extremely discouraged by the results of election night. A woman, who spent her entire adult life fighting for women's rights, family leave, fair pay, equality, immigration reform, affordable health care coverage, universal pre-K, criminal justice reform, Social Security, Medicare, and more, lost to a racist, sexist, misogynistic man. Hillary Clinton has been a lawyer, advocate, First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the United States of America, U.S. Senator of New York, U.S. Secretary of State, and Democratic Nominee for President of the United States of America, yet she lost to a man who never served a single day in office and has no political experience whatsoever. A woman may be more qualified and experienced for the job, but still lose to a man who constantly spouts hate.
Later on in the afternoon, Hillary Clinton came out to deliver her concession speech. With class and dignity, Secretary Clinton accepted the results, wished the President-Elect the best of luck, and told all her supporters to never stop fighting for what you believe in. She even sent a message saying, "To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable, and powerful, and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.” Hearing her speech made me realized that, unless we pick ourselves up and continue fighting, nothing will change. America is the land of the free. And part of what makes America already great is the fact that we are able to fight this. We begin new helpful organizations, elect genuine people into office, and fight for the rights and lives of others through various means.
With our right to vote, we are given the opportunity to implement change and have a say in our government. During this election, over 45% of voting age citizens did not vote. Almost half of eligible voters decided to stay at home on November 8th. We need to fix this issue. We need to bring that number down and get more people to vote.
Although I can stay depressed or move out of the country, I know that nothing will change by doing that. True change is made when one fights. No one ever said that this was gonna be easy. For that reason, I must focus on the future and continue fighting for those who cannot. I plan on registering more potential voters and encouraging them to go out and vote. We have two years until the mid-term elections. I wanna make sure that everyone participates, so we can get back the House and the Senate. And by 2020, I hope to see a leader with good values be elected into the White House.
Yes, as Hillary stated, "This is painful and it will be for a long time." However, our fight is far from over. Every second that is spent on regret and sadness is a second that could have gone to defending the rights and lives of our fellow American citizens. No matter who may be the president, "Love always trumps hate." We might have not broken that highest glass ceiling just yet, but we will one day. For now, it is of no use to ponder in the past. We must pick ourselves up, unite together, and never stop fighting, because, no matter what, we are and will always be "Stronger Together."
