“I don’t want to know who you want to win,” said professor William Boettcher in class on Nov. 8. “Tell me who you think will actually win today.”
Four of my classmates raised their hands slowly for Donald Trump. The other 50 of us quickly proclaimed Hillary Clinton. It was 10 in the morning on Election Day, and polls would remain open for nine more creeping hours.
Now, here we are, one week later. The dust has begun to settle and the emotional climax of an election season that tested even the closest of bonds will forever be written in the history books. An election that I thoroughly enjoyed for its unpredictability and unique divisiveness concluded in such a way that few pollsters, pundits and students predicted.
On Wednesday, the day after the election, our campus was shrouded in a somber veil that I haven’t experienced in my two years of being a student. Other than a few “Make America Great Again” hats and some Free Expression Tunnel paint, there generally appeared to be a lack of public support for the president-elect.
Students were hurting. I was emotionally shaken, and I trudged along through my day with a pessimistic attitude that extended to all of my actions. This animosity and sadness didn’t come on behalf of my own accord. Trump’s proposed policies, rhetoric and share of radical supporters won’t affect me whatsoever. I’m a straight, white, Christian male, but I’ve spent the bulk of the election aftermath consoling friends who don’t look and act like me. There’s no denying the influx of negativity coupled with hate that has been thrust upon campus in the past seven days.
Walking to her apartment Wednesday night, a friend of mine was cut off and pointed at by two males asking her if she knew that “sexual assault is now legal.”
The same day, a Nubian Message stand and bulletin boards across campus were filled with white supremacist flyers from Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi news commentary website.
Posted in a Wolfpack Students comment thread, an individual proclaimed that if anyone couldn’t cope with the hurt feelings of losing the election, he would love to watch them kill themselves.
“He’s not racist,” a student overheard in Talley Student Union on Thursday. “He’s just saying factual s— without censoring himself. We’re all thinking it.”
This is Trump’s America, but this will not become Trump’s campus.
According to Pack Poll, half of NC State students supported Clinton, and a little over a quarter supported Trump. The split on campus was existent and evident, even if it favored one candidate more than the other. Throughout this week, there have been an abundance of social media posts urging the Clinton plurality to put aside all differences and support President-elect Trump, believing that it will help the nation unite and heal as Americans.
Quite simply, we can’t do that. Quite simply, I can’t do that.
So, here we are again. It’s been one week since America made a decision that, while I respect democratically, morally feels like a knife to the back of progress. We are left in a state of ambiguous purgatory for at least the next four years, and simply laying down to a demagogue is not the answer for achieving positive change in this country and on this campus.
While it may not directly affect your daily life, many of your peers are owed allies in their fight against any potential tyranny that may come as a result of Trump’s victory. Bullying and spewing unquestionably hateful messages in the name of “political correctness” is currently trendier than a BuzzFeed quiz. The only counter to this matter is loving your enemies. However, while we all need to love those who disagree with us, we can’t allow this to keep us silent in instances of injustice.
There are going to be students, including some that you call friends, who will show an arrogant and hateful demeanor toward others now that they have been given the free pass by politicians and the American people to do so.
Revoke that pass.
The next four years will try many students. Many women and minorities will be pushed to the brink by the actions and attitudes of other students. If the mood on campus is any indication of what is to come, there will be angst, animosity and sorrow that can’t be clenched easily. Support your fellow classmates in all that they need and never forget the bond that we don’t just have as members of the Wolfpack, but as God’s children living in opposition to tyranny.
It’s been seven days. Some emotions have subsided, but many continue to roar in resemblance of a lion. Democracy has spoken, but there is ample and substantial opportunity to shout back.
