November 9th, 2016

"This morning I woke up and immediately felt as if my world was collapsing around me. I sent messages to friends, promising to do everything I can to aid them as they set forth in a never ending immigration struggle. Things that were once jokes, like marrying someone for the guarantee of a green card, have now become a reality. I stepped outside and was faced with a blast of heat, reminding me that climate change will soon be put on the back burner and our environment will continue to deteriorate at the hands of corporate greed. I worry about my Muslim brothers and sisters, for their safety, their mental health, and their overall livelihood. I am thinking about the communities of Color; how they are hurting, how they have struggled, and how they will continue to struggle. The slow process of equality has been brought to a halt yet again. I am hurting for my LGTBQ+ friends and family whose sense of self and identity are threatened by the words and actions of our future leader and his supporters. I feel for my fellow women and think about how we are now threatened in society. Until today, I had never felt that my presence as a woman is inferior to those around me and that my voice matters less than those of my male peers. My ability to consent has been compromised by the rape culture and the patriarchal system that our future president represents. I am thinking about myself and how everything I have spent the last year working towards and everything I was hoping to accomplish over the next few years has now been set back so far that I am questioning if any of it is even doable. Today I realized I am not invincible. Today I realized how imperative it is to continue the fight and to fight harder against the systems designed to oppress those without privilege. Today I realized that the United States has been pretending that it is not a nation designed to oppress its people and people around the world. Today I cried, I am still crying, and I will continue to cry, for myself, for my friends and family, for strangers I have yet to meet and will never meet, for the sake of my country, and for the sake of the world. I was born with privilege and in no way can fully comprehend the perils of these communities. I promise to do everything I can to help the communities that are hurting. This is not over. I will continue my fight to dismantle the systems of oppression and racist/sexist/xenophobic/homophobic structures that inhibit us.

I will fight harder."

Copied from my Facebook Page.