With the election now over, with the results finally out, it seems as though the whole thing was just some kind of sick joke. At least for a few hours after I had initially realized that Donald Trump was actually voted into office, it felt that way. There were many questions that arose immediately; how could America possibly overlook this man’s disgusting actions? How would this affect me, my future? How would I be able to console my friends and tell them everything was going to be okay when I wasn’t even sure myself?
Questions that I’m not really sure how to respond to just yet, and maybe I never will. What I can say though is that Framingham State University has assured me that although the future is very unclear, there is a community present at this school that is going to help me through it. The Unity Walk/Hope In Action Rally that was held not only served as something that brought the students and professors of this school together, but it was something that is going to stick with me for the rest of my life. Whenever I think about the first election that I had ever voted in, my thoughts may immediately go to the man whom was elected, but it will also go to this small school that took me in and shed a light onto this very difficult situation.
Upon first hearing about this walk and rally, my expectations were very minimal. I wasn’t expecting much but I wasn’t expecting anything less either. The rational head on my shoulders told me that even if this was something that only me and my friends attended, I would still be satisfied enough knowing that I brought myself out there for something that I believed in.
The result of the Unity Walk was something that I could never have anticipated or dreamed of. I distinctly remember showing up outside of Whittemore Library, camera in hand a little after 2:15, shocked at the small crowd that already had begun forming. After only a few minutes of interacting with the people around me, I quickly became emotional. Although I tend to cry over the simplest of things, (scary movies, cheesecake, seeing Kanye West live in concert) this was a different sort of emotional cry that I was having. It was one that expressed my fear for the ones around me, for these peers of mine that were standing by my side. But it was also tears that expressed a certain sense of relief, that I wasn’t the only one who felt that there was an injustice done to not just me personally, but to people of color, the lgbt+ community, and to all the women I have ever known.
And the result of this Unity Walk, of this Hope in Action Rally that brought this small community together, the result was one that left me feeling a new level of comfort knowing that I was not alone on this four year journey that I was about to embark on.
Although I still may have many questions, there was just one prominent one on my mind that day after these comforting events and that was how other people were feeling. Due to this question, me and others of Her Campus decided to question some of our friends/peers that had attended the events, to get a little more insight on just how effective it really was. The general consensus was a very positive one, something that is definitely a reflection of the events that occurred.
Colleen Jenkins, specifically felt uplifted after the Unity Walk and Rally, stating: “This morning I felt very powerless and unsure of how to proceed and then going to that rally really lifted me up and I feel confident about tackling whatever happens together as a community.”
Ross Spencer Pare, someone who had spoken at the Hope in Action Rally also had similar feelings, stating that he “was really happy that the school came together to show their support and love for those who are afraid of their safety.”
Zach Pierce, proud member of the lgbt+ community gave us a meaningful quote, stating “It was amazing to see members of our community come together to support each other, and being with so many people whose primary goal at the moment was spreading hope and encouragement made the world a little less scary for a while. I’m glad we got together to make something positive in a dark moment for America.”
Student Maggie McNeill had some more positive light to shed and shared with us how she felt about the election as a whole, while also giving us some very astute advice. “After Trump won the election I felt a great deal of anger, confusion and sadness. I had spoken to friends about the situation and all the emotions we were feeling. The most important thing about this election is to not allow the hate, blame and fear to win. We must stay together, we must unite, we must realize that love is more powerful than hate. We must be the change.”
Another student, Molly Roach, really was able to sum up the Unity Walk and Hope in Action, stating: “seeing so many people coming together and supporting one another was so fantastic. Being a part of something so big, that radiated such love and acceptance, solidified the notion that we will make it through this presidency. I feel so safe knowing that I am a part of the Hope in Action family.”
It is overwhelming not to just me, but I believe to a lot of this community, just how positive this entire event really was. It seems that it was something that really brought our community together and the purpose that it was set out for really was accomplished.
But while there was so much positivity by many of our peers, there was also some misconstrued information, some less positive thoughts that were brought up, and some frustrations.
Victoria Bailey, student and hercampus member, sat down with me and explained something that I found to be somewhat disappointing. Although she could not attend the rally due to being in class, she took the time out of her day to explain what exactly transpired during the rally when she couldn’t actually be there and could only be a bystander to it. Victoria’s Professor had begun talking about it at the beginning of her class, expressing that he was somewhat upset about the march and rally. Since it was planned during a time many people had class, Victoria’s professor was disappointed because he wanted his students to attend his class but on the other hand, he also wanted them to attend the rally. He felt very conflicted, she said, because he believed both things were important but people had to choose between class and a rally.
Something that was very troubling about Victoria’s story was the last bit of it where she explains how it all turned sour. She stated: “He turned it all around and said, what are these people accomplishing? What is gonna happen by doing this? They’re not doing anything.’
‘He said “it’s just an excuse for them to shout.’ He continued, ‘I know people are angry and it’s a way for them to express their anger but they’re wasting their time. Nothing is gonna happen as a result of it.” Tori explained to me what her professor was saying, continuing to explain the situation. “I mean it’s not like he supports trump but he thinks said that bad things happen and we have to learn to deal with them and like we can’t change them we just have to accept that bad things happen.”
It was disappointing for the both of us to know that although there was so much positivity that was flowing throughout campus, it seemed that there were still events that could pop the positivity bubble. That not everyone could really see or feel how we felt. Victoria ended her story on somewhat of a positive note though, explaining her feelings on the matter entirely. “I was annoyed, yeah because like it doesn’t matter if nothing is gonna happen. The people who attended were doing it because it made them feel better and they wanted to stand up for what they believe in. I feel like people have the right to do what they want and to express how they’re feeling.”
Miguel Arias, specifically wanted to address some things that I believe could potentially be on many people’s minds and he worded it perfectly.
“I strongly believe that this UNITY MARCH was great. Jackson Stevens, along with a few other professors took 24 hours to plan it. I am proud of my fellow classmates who participated in this Unity March. I wanna take this time to address that this was meant to be a peaceful march. This was meant to spread love in a time of hate. We believe that we can fight Trumps hate with love and that sometimes can be taken the wrong way. We know that not all Trump supporters are racist but to be honest most are. By voting for Trump you have cosigned with many of thing he strongly believes in, which is totally against many of the people who participated in this march. Whether it be the LGBTQA community, colored people, disabled people, Latinos, and especially women. I believe that FSU needs to come together as a community and show each other and show the world that we are stronger and powerful together. This is NOT about division this is about UNITY. I also wanna take a moment to thank everyone who made this march possible. Jackson Stevens, the Center for Inclusive Excellence, professors from the Sociology/Criminology department, the Brother 2 Brother advisor Sean Huddleston and most important Framingham State University Police. Thank you for allowing us to Express our 1st Amendment right. Thank you.”
Miguel makes an extremely important point, that so much of this is owed to so many people apart of this community. Not only the people who came up with it and birthed it, but also the people who attended and made it as successful as it ended up being.
Jackson Stevens is someone who deserves many thanks, coming up with this idea the evening before and putting hard thought and work into making it happen. So I thought it would definitely be beneficial to everyone to get a few words from him.
We talked about the many advantages of the Unity Walk and Hope in Action Rally, how blown away he was by how many people ended up actually turning up. He also shared with me how the idea came about, stating that it was after the gathering in the Center of Inclusive excellence and that “after that, after seeing how many people hurt and how many people were scared on campus, I just came up with the idea of the unity march and the rally at the end. That’s how we came up with the hope and change idea and it kind of just went from there.”
He said “it was something that needed to be done fresh, that if we had done it like two weeks later it wouldn’t have had the same affect or had been the same.”
He thinks that something really beneficial that came out of this whole thing was the hope and change project. “It is really the first step to getting students involved. The most important thing about today was that it was all student lead.”
I also mentioned the concerns that were brought up in Victoria’s statement. Her professor is not the only person who believes that “shouting” about it will do nothing. Many people also share this sentiment, that we are wasting our time, and I wanted to get a gist of how he felt about these statements.
He managed to make an extremely prominent point, saying, “If you look on campus, name one other protest or something politically charged prior to this, or prior to Fernando’s protest he had last year. This campus has no political passion whatsoever. It’s not even about politics somewhat, but it’s getting this campus to feel like an actual campus. The whole point was showing those marginalized groups that are really affected by Trump being president that you do have people, you don’t have to shelter those emotions, that there are people sharing the exact same feelings that you have.”
As I was thanking him for sitting down with me, he mentioned last minute that he wanted to share a specific frustration with me, stating, “classes were going on during the rally and students in the classes would laugh at what we were doing, talk poorly about what we were doing, and I’ve heard two cases in two separate classes where professors didn’t do anything to calm these students down. While they do have the right to exercise their freedom of speech just as we did today, there’s a certain environment you want to protect in classes and by having those professors not say anything while those students are laughing and making other students in class feel uncomfortable; that’s an issue. I think that’s an issue that the university has to deal with because at the end of the day there are professors who are letting these students make others uncomfortable. The whole purpose of coming to school is to learn and if you’re not comfortable in your class you can’t properly participate.”
In general, there were so many positive things that came out of the events that occurred on campus that day. But there were also clear frustrations that we as a community need to deal with.
To end on a more positive aspect, considering the whole point of the rally was to shed positivity, we were also able to get quotes from student Dana Lobad and Dr. Bihler, a history professor who gave a very impactful speech during the Hope in Action rally.
Dana Lobad was able to get personal with us, expressing her feelings on the subject, “At the Unity Walk on Thursday, we all came from different backgrounds, races, religions, genders, orientations etc. but what we had in common was a fear of what Trump or his supporters could do to us or to our friends or out families. I’m a muslim, I’m a woman, I’m Palestinian. It wouldn’t make sense if I didn’t speak up against him or if I was indifferent because he threatens my entire being and everything I stand for. All three of those identities of mine know something about discrimination and hatred; it’s no secret that Muslims have been discriminated against since and before 9/11 in the US and that women to this day fight against gender discrimination and for their rights to their own bodies. Palestinians have been facing an ethnic genocide in their own country since 1948 and they’ve fought against it every day for the past 68 years. Women fought for centuries and continue to today. I take inspiration from those before me and I will fight to protect those dear to me. This rally was not about hatred it was a call to unite and to protect each other and to fight for what we care about.”
Professor Bihler also was able to give us a quote, stating, “After the horrors of World War II, and in between some of the tragedies since, there has been so much goodness in the world. In the US we saw the Civil Rights Movement, the Woman’s Movement, marriage equality, and a two-term African American president. We have come so far. We will again. Despite being a historian of the Holocaust, I am truly an optimist.
Like Anne Frank wrote, ‘in spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart.”
Thank you Professor Bihler and Dana, Thank you Colleen, Maggie, Zach, Miguel, Victoria, Molly, and Ross. Thank you Jackson Stevens. Thank you to everyone who made the Hope in Action rally and the Unity march possible. Thank you to everyone who attended and really showed us all that we have a community that we can confide in. If anything, we have learned that we are stronger in numbers, that we have each other to rely on, and Donald Trump will hear our voices during the four years of his presidency, every day without fail. We can guarantee that.