Talk about changes.
Election day here in the U.S. has come and gone and we are now faced with a reality that a great number of us thought improbable. The bigot, donald trump, has been elected the next president of these united states. How could such a thing happen? How did we end up here? Is the nation really this full of hateful people? It is hard to tell. As we have learned in the past few days, these are truly strange times.
What worries me, beyond how the rest of the world views the election results, is the effect this will have our minority communities. After months of talk, trump has fueled a wave of hatred that I have never seen in all my life. Schools across the nation have reported a rise in hate crimes and slurs. Buildings in major cities have been tagged with such phrases as "Sieg heil Trump" with swastikas alongside them. Our LGBTQ+ community has seen a rise in physical attacks. The Muslim community fear for their lives and what may be down the road. This is not American! This is not the America of the 21st Century. This is a massive setback to times we thought were part of our shameful past.
The days since the election have felt surreal. To walk outside now feels like a hazard. I drive around town, where we have a small Muslim population, and I patrol. What am I patrolling? I'm looking out for their safety. I'm making sure the Muslim kids are not attacked while walking home from school. I look out for anyone who is anyone subjected to harassment that trump went months promoting. Why? Because standing up for our brothers and sisters is the American thing to do.
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