The election is over. Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the United States, and fear within communities we have fought so hard for is now more present than ever.

What I simply don’t understand is how we, as a democracy, as a growing nation, as a body of people who have come to know and understand acceptance, let this outcome happen?

How did we go from having a wonderful black president to electing someone with no political experience, who is openly racist, sexist and single-minded when it comes to accepting others?

How did this nation elect someone who groups together a religion and calls them terrorists? How did we elect a man who calls something like “grabbing a woman by her pu**y” locker room talk? Is this a nation in which we want children to grow up in?

With how much we have grown and begun to conquer oppression within the last eight years? This is where America has ended up?

This particular opinion may not be extremely popular in a republican state. To let our nation fall so far over the course of an election is so disappointing.

I’m not generalizing Trump supporters. I understand there is a huge majority of people that voted for Donald because some of their particular beliefs line up with his. Or perhaps you might not completely understand all of the politics involved.

Maybe you simply voted republican because that is what you always do. I understand. There is still much ignorance in our country, but hopefully, this election can help people to grow and understand why this election is so many steps in the wrong direction.

Fear for life should never be a reaction to an election, and for those of you saying that people are being dramatic or that they aren’t looking at all the horrible things Hillary has done.

You are wrong.

You have not experienced the oppression these people have experienced, therefore you cannot understand how they feel today. To those of you who are proud about not voting because you didn’t contribute to the election of Donald Trump, shame on you as well.

Every vote counts, and the choice not to vote affected the election just as much as voting would have.

The fear may be real. However, we are a nation that will fight for what is right. We cannot lose hope; we cannot stand still and wait four years for this all to play out. We need to band together and fight for what we believe in.  America is better than one election. We only have tomorrow.