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courtesy of Felipe Paiva

On Nov 12, 2016, the fourth day of anti-Trump protests occurred at the center of downtown Chicago. Over four thousand people gathered at the event to show their contempt for the new president-elect Donald Trump.

I, along with three other Palatine High School students, was able to take part in the protest march through the city. For over four hours we walked through the streets of Chicago, shouting messages such as, “Not my president” or “No Trump. No KKK. No racist USA.”

“I wanted to protest because I wanted to show people that I’m not okay with someone who has consistently insulted women, people of color, who has a running mate who is one of the most homophobic legislators in this country being our president.” Hope Rodell, a senior at PHS who went to the protest, said, “I wanted to show the people of Chicago that I do not want Trump to represent America. I’m not down with his bigotry in any way, and I refuse to normalize it just because he is our president-elect.”

The results of the election sparked strong reactions amongst the nation. In fact, it was reported by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline that on the night of the election, their line rang 2 ½ times more than the average.

“For me, after it was determined that Trump was the president elect, I felt totally hopeless.” Imani Ncube, a PHS senior who has participated at 3 Trump protests, said. “When he won, it became clear that many Americans either accepted or championed the hateful rhetoric of his campaign.”

As a woman, person of color, and immigrant (all three groups that Donald Trump’s rhetoric has targeted), I felt heartbroken after the election. I couldn’t believe that Trump’s campaign of fear mongering was able to galvanize enough support from half the nation to gain him the presidency. However, going to the protest made me feel empowered and more hopeful for the future of this country.

“There are people in this country who care enough to walk around a city for hours in order to demonstrate to others that they will stand up against this bully. I was really, really happy to see that that many people were there for me.” Rodell said, “I believe these protests have demonstrated that a lot of people in this country are angry with the rise in bigotry that has correlated with trump’s rise to power, and the protests have effectively demonstrated that all of us who will be affected and have been affected by trump’s win will be there for each other in these dark times. We will stand up for one another in the face of oppression.”

As protesters, we understood that we couldn’t necessarily reverse the democratic process of the presidential election. What we wanted was to help make a statement to Trump and his supporters: no matter what happens during the next four years of Trump’s presidency, we are not going to be complicit in their bigotry.