I’ll be the first person to admit that I personally have never been a fan of politics. When I was younger, I never believed that anything that happened in the government would ever affect me. This was first election that I have been eligible to vote in, and the first election that I had been in the United States long enough to see all the pre-election festivities (the debates, the conventions, etc).
I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t shocked at 2:00 a.m. when our President-elect was announced.
I immediately called my mom crying about how scared I was for the future of the country — the “what next” step. However, I think was even more shocked to see so many people that I went to high school with posting on social media about how happy they were at the results of the election. Maybe this was just me being naive, but I was taken aback at the amount of Facebook posts and Twitter updates from my peers proclaiming that today was the day “we” as a whole took “our country” back.
Of course, I knew myself as well as other minorities were never intended to be included in that “we.”
Many people may not realize this, but some of us who are protesting the results aren’t doing it just because of who America has chosen to elect. One person can only do so much to impact a person’s daily life.
Instead, we are in fear of this “silent majority” that has revealed itself to our nation.
These are the people that have cowardly hidden themselves throughout the country, too embarrassed to openly share their racist or misogynistic views for the fear of being attacked by the public. Instead, they silently vote for the candidate that they feel best represents their views, no matter how backwards these views can be. The “silent majority” is what is going to set America back fifty years; the future President was just a mere instigator.
We need unity in this country more than ever in order for us to rise against the unruly future.
And I am proud to see people around the country that are actively exercising their freedom of speech and peacefully standing up for what they believe in. Just because the “silent majority” has “won” the election, doesn’t mean that it is over for America. We have just got to keep fighting every single day.