The most chaotic election season has come to an even more chaotic end, Donald Trump is the president-elect. After a campaign run on divisive language, there have been calls from Republicans, Democrats, and everyone in between for us all to come together as a nation and unite, to support our soon to be president. While this may seem like a nice sentiment, I believe most of the people calling for this are either insincere or unaware of what they are really asking for. To me, this sounds a lot like people in positions of privilege asking minority groups to continue to tolerate acts of hatred against them, just so the privileged can remain comfortable. It is not the responsibility of the party that lost to give up every value they have to please the winner, it is the president's responsibility to represent the nation and all of its people, including those who voted against him. We were already living in a divided country, but Trump and his supporters took advantage of that and happily worked to divide us even more. It is foolish of them to now ask that we pretend like they didn't spend the entire year doing so, especially when Trump and his fans were very vocal about the fact that if he lost, they would not accept the results. You have no room to criticize protestors if you believed the election was being rigged in Clinton's favor, were calling for riots if she won, or suggested that she should be assassinated. You cannot expect people of color, immigrants, Muslims, LGBT people, victims of sexual assault, etc. to forget that you have treated them like garbage and come support Trump. The task of healing and uniting the country is in the hands of those who fought so hard for its divide. Senator Harry Reid's statement places the blame where it belongs.

“If this is going to be a time of healing, we must first put the responsibility for healing where it belongs: at the feet of Donald Trump, a sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his campaign with bigotry and hate. Winning the electoral college does not absolve Trump of the grave sins he committed against millions of Americans. Donald Trump may not possess the capacity to assuage those fears, but he owes it to this nation to try. If Trump wants to roll back the tide of hate he unleashed, he has a tremendous amount of work to do and he must begin immediately.” - Senator Harry Reid

Do not expect us to sit idly by while a teacher tells Latino students that their parents will be deported, while a man threatens a University of Michigan student by telling her he'll light her on fire if she doesn't remove her hijab, while black freshmen at the University of Pennsylvania are added to a group chat with images of lynchings and a 'daily lynching calendar', while the number of hate crimes has already spiked and is predicted to rise. This is not simply a difference of opinion. Trump supporters have demonstrated they either have a deep hatred of people who are different than them or they simply do not care that a man they supported holds these views.

It is not as easy as telling everyone we must come together. It is not as easy as wearing a safety pin to show your support for those who will be at risk during a Trump/Pence administration. It is not as easy as writing a tweet, or writing this piece. We must stand up against acts of hate when we see them occurring. We must call out our acquaintances, friends, and family when they say something that contributes to the structure of white supremacy. We must put our bodies on the line to defend the rights of those whose bodies are on the line every single day because of the color of their skin. We must donate to organizations that help these at-risk groups. We must not wait four years, or even two years, although showing up to vote will be more important than ever, but we must begin the fight for our rights now. We must show up. We must fight. We must not normalize this hatred, otherwise it will destroy us.