Today I Woke Up Afraid

Today I woke up afraid.  Afraid to be a woman in America, the country that just elected a sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic man to the highest office we have.  I woke up afraid of what the next four years are going to be like.  Afraid that we as women are going to lose even more of the rights to our own bodies.  That our health is not going to matter for the next four years.  Afraid that hate crimes are going to increase.  Afraid that my friends who are not straight white men will suffer for the next four years.  

Image via:  http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/davidson-trump-nevada-1200.jpg

I woke up absolutely terrified, but I also woke up angry.  I woke up angry that over 11,000 legal adults got up, dressed, made their way to the polling stations, and waited in line just to vote for Harambe.  That’s right, 11,000 adults voted for a dead gorilla.  Really?  I mean, are you freaking kidding me?  This isn’t funny.  An unbelievable amount of people have given their lives in order for us to have the right to vote, and people just absolutely wasted it, mocking their sacrifice.

I woke up angry because Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.  She had more votes than Donald Trump, and yet she will not be the 45th president of the United States.  How is that right?  How can she have a larger percentage of the votes but not win the election?  

Image via:  http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/gty-hillary-clinton-concession-spee…

I woke up angry because there was a large amount of women who voted for Donald Trump.  Women voted for a man whose supporters started a campaign to take away our right to vote.  They voted for a man who has been accused of sexual assault by more than 10 women.  They voted for a man who has bragged about sexual assault, who has been quoted saying that he doesn’t believe that men should help raise children, who has been quoted saying that he gets angry if dinner isn’t on the table when he gets home, who has been quoted saying that a woman’s worth is based on her looks, who has been quoted saying that he thinks that women who have an abortion should be punished, who has been quoted saying numerous horrible and disgusting things about women.

I woke up angry because our first black president will be handing the white house over to a man who was endorsed by the KKK.  A man for whom the KKK was marching in celebration over his win.  

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I woke up angry because a man who has absolutely no qualifications won the presidency over a woman who is overqualified.  I woke up angry because just when I thought that the largest glass ceiling we have would finally be broken, the opportunity was snatched away.

I woke up angry because people voted for a man who has spewed nothing but hate the entire election process.  I woke up angry because a man who only stands for white straight men is going to be my president for the next four years.

I woke up angry because people were tweeting #hesnotmypresident as if that would help.  Well, guess what, he is.   You may not have voted for him, but he is still going to be your president. He will be all of our presidents and we have to deal with that for the next four years.

I woke up angry because, for the last eight years, I have had a president who cared about me.  I have had a president who believes in equal rights for everyone, who cared about all humans, and now in just a few weeks I will have a man who does not care about me because I am a woman.

So, today I woke up afraid.  Afraid of what the future is going to look like, but also angry.  Angry that my country has put us in this situation, angry that I have to be afraid of the next four years.

• Election 2016
• feminism
• Hillary Clinton
• politics
• president
• trump