The fight has just begun.

The+fight+has+just+begun.

Ellen Demgen, Guest Writer

I woke up the morning after the election to a text from a friend bringing up an old joke. Soon after Donald Trump announced that he would be running for president, we “decided” that in the event that he was actually elected, we would move to New Zealand together. I had not officially heard the results of the election yet, but while reading that text I could feel but heart sink.

For the majority of the election I had been able to dismiss Trump supporters as being the vast minority- prejudiced people with unpopular opinions. Now I have had to accept that far too many people agreed with the racist, bigoted rhetoric we had been hearing from Trump far too often over the last several months. This was a rude awakening.

The day after the election, the most important conversations I had were not the teacher facilitated discussions meant to help us “process” things, they were just the everyday conversations I was a part of and overheard throughout the day. Hearing sexual assault survivors discuss feeling ignored and forgotten, Muslim students discussing whether or not it was safe to continue wearing a hijab in public, members of the LGBT+ community wonder about their safety in the less liberal parts of the state and immigrant students discuss fear that they or their families would be deported was heartbreaking. But it was also something so much more important: enraging. I am angry.

I understand that I cannot escape to New Zealand, of course because it’s expensive and unrealistic, but also because there is too much to be done here. As a white person, I have been able to ignore the privilege I carry for most of my life, but today, as I mourn with and for my fellow citizens, I acknowledge it. I admit that the system that gave me this privilege is the same system that allowed a man like Donald Trump to be elected. It is time that we all acknowledge this. There is no quick fix for the racism, xenophobia, misogyny and homophobia that put Donald Trump in office, but a good first step is changing how we choose to respond to this election. Now is the time to act. The fight has just begun.