I am trying not to freak out too much. But this has really shattered me.
I am of Japanese ancestry, my mother was born in the U.S. As a child, I lived in an area with practically no Asian-Americans. In my elementqry school, there were two families who were Asian, including mine. I would walk to and from school, being called "foreigner," "chink," Jap," you name it, with cat-calls and all that fun stuff. These were not just other elementary school kids doing this, but also teenagers and the occasional adult.
My parents were interned during WWII in relocation camps, because of the national fear that anyone with a Japanese face/name was conspiring against the U.S. as spies. It was institutional racism, because there was no evidence to warrant locking up an entire racial group --120,000 people, including children--simply because of their Japanese ancestry. Many of those interned were U.S. citizens. My mother was just a little girl.
I have seen Republican Presidents win elections during my lifetime, but never have I felt so crushed as Donald Trump winning the Presidency. I have never cried my eyes out. I have never wondered how bad will it be now for those who will be judged for not being "American," for not belonging to this country. What kind of life will anyone who is Muslim living in this country have? Will hatred, violence, and persecution against this group of people be permitted, just as Trump encouraged his supporters to beat up protesters at his rallies, that he would foot their legal bill? What about those in the LGBTQ community, what kind of judgement will be advocated against their community? What Supreme Court justice with his/her backward biases will be appointed to the highest court by a President who espouses hatred and intolerance? What about women and their rights? According to Trump, should the right to have an abortion be taken away by law, then women who have abortions should face punishment? (Yes, he "clarified" his position later, but he had said this!) Will the President of our country be an example of how it's permissible to treat women as sexual objects, that exist purely for powerful men's gratification?
And this is not even touching upon how concerned I am now for the environment, since Trump feels global warming is a "Chinese hoax." Or of our economy, or our health care. In terms of foreign matters, who will Trump ally himself with? A ruthless despot like Putin? For a man who is prone to temper tantrums, what kind of trouble will he get our country in?
To make matters worse, we have a Republican-controlled Senate, and House. And Trump will be appointing the next U.S. Supreme Court justice.
This honestly feels like a nightmare. Ok, I could go on and on. But I have tired myself out.
What does it feel like to have someone who was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, the very symbol of racism, hatred, and intolerance, as our country's President?