It’s been a couple days since the infamous night that Trump managed to take the election. I’ve had some time to think this over, and I’ve had some time to consider what this all means.

Democracy worked and the country got what they wanted. Say what you will about popular vote vs. electoral vote, this is what happened. In all of it’s beauty, sometimes democracy works against the vision of some.

The thing that keeps me disheartened isn’t necessarily the fact that Trump will be the president. I honestly hope for the best and I hope that he’s able to speak to the people in the country that feel forgotten or betrayed by their government. There were plenty of things that President Obama did that I know a lot of the country was unhappy about, and left a lot of folks feeling uncared for. That being said, in regard to all of those hateful things that incited violence and fear around the country, I hope he fails miserably with those campaigns. I hope his wall is never constructed, I hope his deportation of millions of illegals can’t go through, I hope his ban on muslims entering the country is completely overruled by the supreme court as unconstitutional, and I hope that he is quick to quell the rampant and open hatred of non-whites that has emerged.

Honestly, not all of trumps policies are bad. I’ve looked at the stuff he wants to do. He has some decent ideas. Granted I’m not knowledgeable enough in it to speak to the details, but overall, there are some things that I think we will be nice to see. I’m not on board at all with his dismissal of evidence or fact in the case of environmental issues, and I’m definitely not on board with his views on the tech industry and how they should support the NSA in their spying efforts. That platform will never fly with me.

I just wish that in all of his campaigning he hadn’t stirred the pot of frustration and anger with so many in this country. There are already non-white, non-straight people being openly persecuted by many of those who support Trump. He calls for healing and unity, but he spent a year making sure that those people were given a microphone and given a kind of acceptance in their views. These are folks that are generally good people, but when they sit around with their friends and family at Sunday picnics or BBQs in their backyard, they were talking about the Muslim problem, or the black people in town that were causing problems. I know this is the case because I’ve seen this kind of stuff first hand. I’ve watched these conversations and always figured, “well, that’s just water cooler talk for these people. They live in it every day and they only act like this around each other.” Well, now they feel that the country agrees with them and are much happier to act out and let their group of choice know that they aren’t welcome here.

I can’t validate every story, but there are tons of tweets out there of minorities that are already feeling the results of this Trump win. It has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with a man that said we need to get these people out of here. The weird thing is, Trump didn’t openly say that blacks are a problem, but the message he sent about Muslims and Mexicans resonated with a group that thinks they are. He didn’t understand the power of his words. History is littered with men who stood from a pulpit and said something that caused a reaction. Sometimes the reaction they wanted, and sometimes people took it further than they had hoped.

The important thing here is that it’s up to the ones who care about people as a whole to take in those that feel like they aren’t welcome. We need to show them that there are people who care, and we want them to know they’re safe with us. I also ask that if you voted for Trump, for economic and american dream reason, you realize that there are people that voted because he would get rid of brown people. It’s as important for you to not ignore what’s going on, and make sure that those people are told this is not what America is about. I’m all for you voting for him. You believe he has a plan to restore some kind of greatness that you feel is lost, but don’t let his ‘bad’ supporters demolish all that is good in America.

Same goes for the democrats who lost. Don’t set things on fire. Don’t chant “Not my president.” This isn’t productive. Instead, show love to those who voted for either side. Don’t lower yourself to the level of those who oppose you just to make a point that you don’t support our president. Be better than that.