Waking up on Wednesday, Nov. 9, I immediately reached for my phone, as millennials tend to do as soon as they wake up, and checked The New York Times, my preferred news source, for an update on the election. I was devastated, as many people across the country were, to find out that Donald Trump, a man accused of sexual assault and who had threatened to deport many Latino families like my own, among other things, was to be our country’s 45th President and leader of the free world. As someone who was following the election closely for the last year, I was only one of the thousands that believed Hillary had it in the bag.
It seemed as if all hope was lost. On my way to class, I could not help but notice the very city itself, usually busy and bustling, seemed as if it were in its own state of mourning. The sun was hiding behind a dreary sky and the streets were empty.
Naturally, my immediate worry was focused on my family and friends back home in Miami, not to mention the other number of families and individuals all over the country that would be in danger of being harassed or worse, deported. The same night, more than 7,000 people took to the streets of NYC to protest the president-elect, showing their support for immigrants, trans, LGBTQ, POC, and Muslim rights and their unwillingness to follow the rhetoric of the Trump campaign, which is partly based on religious bigotry and the exclusivity of minorities.
However, some of that knot of fear and unrest that had been steadily forming in my chest was abated once I joined the protests going on in the city. I realized that I was not alone in this and that I had people all around me in similar situations, willing to take a stand against racism, sexism, and more. While it may be hard to push away the feeling of hopelessness and despair that this election has caused, it is imperative that we love and protect those around us that will (and have already begun to) suffer from America under Trump.