Graphic by Sarah Faulkner

Collier Fernekes – Contributor
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Last night, Donald J. Trump became to president-elect of the United States of America. It’s the second time in the last 16 years that a candidate has won the popular vote, but has lost the electoral vote, and therefore did not win the presidency.

This system is something I believe needs to be reevaluated, but whether or not that will actually happen is obviously beyond my control. The real issue, though, is the lack of understanding and assumption that nothing wrong has gone on this entire election season in regard to the way rhetoric has been presented.

No, this isn’t a rallying cry for “safe spaces,” but this is something that needs to be addressed. The deeply entrenched fear and hatred in this country is something that (mainly white) liberals — including myself for a long period of time — have tried very hard to bury. We don’t want to be seen as the “racist” ones. We want to be seen as progressive leaders who are allies of people of color and other minorities, but this is not the case at all. No matter how hard we have tried, this has come out of the woodwork at a rate that cannot be slowed anymore. People act like is a new phenomenon, but it isn’t. It’s always been here, and it’s been getting much worse over time.

As Simon & Garfunkel said, “silence like a cancer grows.” Of course we are all hurt that this would happen in the United States, a country we all love, but in reality it’s been happening all along and we have just willfully overlooked it.

If I can find a silver lining in all of this, it’s that people are now forced to look at their lives and look at their choices. It doesn’t come without consequence, but this is what we get for ignoring the plight of people of color, LGBTQA+ people and religious minorities. We have let them down. Liberals try to act like a friend to people in these communities, and many are, but it should not come at the expense of their issues being put aside. We assume that there aren’t inherently racist undertones in our everyday speech and mannerisms and that we don’t exhibit those ourselves. We have to face this now and we have to fix it in order to save people’s lives.

Since Tuesday’s election, I keep seeing opinions everywhere about how “our nation is so divided” and how “we need to unite and move forward.” While this is a nice sentiment and is ultimately true, the premise that is being spoken on is false. One cannot vote for a candidate who made fun of a man with disabilities, who ran on a platform of xenophobia and fear of immigrants and who said horrible things about women while admitting to committing sexual assault and then turn around and tell people that they need to “get with the program” and that they are at fault for the division in this country. This is a rift that Trump supporters have been with hatred and vitriol. There are people that are terrified for their lives, and they have every single right to be.

I pray to the Lord that I am wrong about Donald Trump, and that the things he has said were just ploys to get elected. I don’t care about being right at this point, I just care about the freedom of many of my close friends being preserved.

Even if what Trump said was merely a means to getting elected, it doesn’t make a difference. The damage has been done. People may say that they “aren’t like that,” that they aren’t hateful to the core or that they just lament the America they lost due to the growing diversity of our country over the years. Even with these reasons, I am not sure how Trump supporters expect people to just look past their votes for a man that views them as subhuman. You have the responsibility to treat people with respect and prove to them you actually care about them. You have to court them into uniting in order to move forward. Do not expect them to come to you, because if you put yourself in their place, would you be so inclined to unite under those circumstances?

All I can do at this point is pull myself up by my Doc Martens and do what I was taught to do by my parents and by the Bible: to be an advocate for the people who need it most. Isn’t that what Jesus told us to do?