Editors Note: This article is a response to Campus reacts to Trump election.

There have been a lot of mixed reactions to the results of Tuesday’s election.

For those who voted for Hillary, feelings of anger and fear launched many to protest. Students across the nation gathered to express their rage over Donald Trump’s victory, shouting ‘not my president,’ and more than a few expletives.

Chico State was not immune. Students rallied on campus and downtown Wednesday evening to share their feelings of distress and console one another.

This particular election has divided the nation into two. Many people are scared. Many also say that they need to ‘get over it’, and that people are overreacting. A Facebook friend of mine tried to reason that he’s “just one man” and that the protests, as a result, are a waste of breath from liberals sore about losing.

I am tired of hearing about how I have to move on and support a man I have no respect for. People who think this way don’t understand that these protests are more than party politics. They don’t understand that this one man is a reflection of many men and women who harbor bigotry, sexism and xenophobia in their hearts.

Our president is supposed to be a role model, a person who reflects the ideas and values of our country. By electing him as president, we are faced with the reality that minority groups have to know forever: America is still a country deeply rooted in prejudice.

These protests are a justifiable response to a man who has used fear mongering and hate speech to get people to vote for him. It is foolish to think the pot he has stirred will not boil over to detrimental effects. With Trump’s anti-immigration ideologies, people are shouting in the streets while clinging to their children, in fear of permanent separation.

Not even 70 years ago president Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized Executive Order 9066, placing over 100,000 Japanese-American citizens into internment camps. Fear is a powerful tool that can push people to commit atrocities.

It is wrong to claim that all Trump supporters are racist. Many have said that while they do not agree with the rhetoric he has used during his campaign, they support him for his foreign policy and his plans to cut income taxes.

They don’t realize that for people of color, women, LGBTQs and Muslims voting for him despite the outrageous things he has said and done sends a pretty clear message: we may not hate you, we just don’t care about you as much.

While I don’t condone the riots or violence that have occurred in response to the election, I will continue to support the peaceful protests on my campus and campuses across the nation.

Friends who attended the recent protest at Chico State expressed how it helped to heal and to have an outlet to vent their frustrations. Being in a place of like minded people gave a sense of unity in a country that feels deeply divided.

Perhaps the protest on campus can serve as a starting point to open up a peaceful conversation and bridge the gap between both sides.

It is not a waste of breath to voice disappointment in a government system that has failed to reflect the morals in which it stands for.

The battle for equal rights is far from over, and I am proud to be part of a generation that refuses to remain silent.

Lorinda Sasan can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.