It’s been about a week and a half since the 2016 presidential election and so much has happened between then and now. Since Donald Trump was announced president-elect of the United States, the country has been in state of moderate disarray. While some people rejoiced at Trump’s victory, others did not. Some were in shock. Some cried. Some got angry and protested. And some of us just didn’t and still don’t know how to feel about this whole situation.
Trump has been making headlines for decades, as a wealthy businessman and reality television star of his own show, The Apprentice. But he’s been making twice as many since he announced his candidacy for president of the United States. During his campaign run, Trump said a lot of things that offended, outraged, and angered the American people. He vowed to create a wall between Mexico and the U.S. to keep the “rapist” Mexicans “out”; he bragged about sexually assaulting women back in 2005; and the list just goes on and on.
CNN published an article about the voicemails they received from American voters and how they felt about the results of the election. Some emotions described were “afraid”, “hopeful”, and “devastated”. Now, I am not very educated on the history on reactions to presidential election results and I do not want to make any comments without being properly informed. But there is something I am very well aware of and that is, this election is very different than years past.
Donald Trump used scare tactics throughout his campaign to ge the votes of the American people. Tossing ISIS’ name around, threatening to ban Muslims from the country who could be “terrorists”, and basically using anything else that could incite fear into the American people’s psyches was his way of solidifying his vote, and dividing our nation even further. Many people were so devastated at the results of this election not because of who Trump is as a person, but the ideals he’s preached; and that seems to be hate.
While I like to be the type of person who believes that all people have some good in them, Trump has me very confused. Sometimes I think he isn’t that bad and might have just made the comments he did to get publicity, but then I remember: he still said them. And I think that a part of him believes that his offensive comments are okay, and that is the real issue here. He has shaken up the American people and has made people feel very afraid to be who they are, particularly minorities. Hundreds of people protested in response to Trump’s victory and various slogans were used during these protests. I saw a lot that inspired me, but the one that resonated with me the most was “Love Trumps Hate.” I liked that it was a play on Trump’s name and that it emphasized the idea that hate will never win; love does.
At our weekly meeting that followed the election, the girls and I took time at the beginning to discuss our thoughts about Trump and his win. A lot of us felt the same as the people in the CNN article; scared, devastated, and confused. And having our next president be a man who has said so many disgusting, derogatory, and rude comments about women, we were all naturally upset at his “victory”. So we decided to join – peacefully – in on the protests by posting this picture.
We took this photo at the very end of our meeting, in front of the “Love Trumps Hate” slogan written on our classroom whiteboard. We posted it on all of our social media accounts to show support for anyone who feels scared or unsure of where our nation is going. We also posted it to remind people that while this is a scary time and a lot of hate is being spread throughout America, love will always win in the end. Hate will never triumph.
We may all be feeling a mix of emotions right now, but what we can’t do is stand by and let ourselves become even more divided. We cannot let Trump’s fear tactics and hate make us believe that things are only going to get worse for our country. If we have that mentality, that is exactly what is going to happen. We should all try to work together to create a better America, no matter who our president is and we should not allow fear to enter our hearts in a time like this. After all, Albus Dumbledore said it best: “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”