In a historic win, Republican candidate Donald Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton to be elected as the 45th President of the United States of America. Throughout his campaign, Trump made many statements that were widely condemned as racist, sexist, and white-supremacist.
As the election was called in Trump's favour, many immigrants, women, Muslims and people of color took to social media to reveal the fear they suddenly felt in a country that has always prided itself on its diversity.
Being an Indian Muslim woman is absolutely terrifying in a country under a leader like Trump. Basically majority of my rights are taken away
— boo (@jsohaha) November 9, 2016
My parents immigrated here because it's the home of the free and for the first time in my life I'm scared to be an Indian American
— a-tray (@sanyatreyi) November 9, 2016
scared for my life as an Indian, female and Jew pic.twitter.com/5exVaL8jlg
— Kalyani (@kalyanisiegell) November 9, 2016
One Twitter user, a Muslim Indian-American woman, said she was so scared that she had anxiety attacks and broke down as Trump's win was imminent.
i've had 6 anxiety attacks and i still have face full of make up im gonna sleep with it on and hope the pimples turn into cysts and kill me
— lish #notmypresident (@jiminspcy) November 9, 2016
the amount of times i've nearly cried and then actually cried in the past 12 hours makes me want to throw up
— lish #notmypresident (@jiminspcy) November 9, 2016
Some people said they were afraid to go about their daily lives, since they were scared of being targeted in public.
i cant believe some people actually are happy trump won when i'm scared to walk to the bus stop, scared to show my brown skin
— a. (@strangerheaux) November 9, 2016
I have a scarf on. Passed by someone on the platform today and he says, "Your time's up, girlie."
— Mehreen Kasana (@mehreenkasana) November 9, 2016
My mom literally just texted me "don't wear the Hijab please" and she's the most religious person in our family....
— ㅤ (@harryonmen) November 9, 2016
I have two other room mates: A Christian and a Jew, I'm Muslim. We all cried together telling each other we all matter. #TrumpPresident
— ㅤ (@harryonmen) November 9, 2016
So this was found on my friend car this morning... pic.twitter.com/kySNmwwkqD
— lex (@mufasabae) November 9, 2016
i jsut started cyring look whatmy sister sent tme pic.twitter.com/vxzzBAkjrv
— yans hiatus (@chaehyungwonies) November 9, 2016
Kunnal Nayyar, the actor known for playing Raj on "The Big Bang Theory" tweeted, "If you look like me - you'd better start shaving your beard every day."
Welp if you look like me- you'd better start shaving your beard every day.
— Kunal Nayyar (@kunalnayyar) November 9, 2016
Never in 15 years of living In this country have I ever felt afraid to look like I do. #immigrant
— Kunal Nayyar (@kunalnayyar) November 9, 2016
For persons of colour from the LGBTQ+ community, the fear was doubly present.
Imagine having brown skin, being lgbtq, and a woman...
— devynn mabel (@devymabel) November 9, 2016
Hate crimes have sparked since Trump's campaign started.
I've never been this afraid
with my brown skin
— rishi (@rmagia) November 9, 2016
and dark features
and beard
and homosexuality
i am legitimately scared of the future #ElectionNight
A Facebook user posted a status late Wednesday night describing the "hardest class" of her life, where she was teaching Introduction to Social Justice to a class of students, almost all of them persons of colour. She asked them then about how they felt (post the election presumably), and the answers she got, after a brief silence were:
"I'm so scared." "Terrified." "Devastated." "Scared." "Disappointed." "Afraid." "Worried." "So confused."
The teacher then asked them why, and they started recounting their experiences. Here are excerpts from her post:
"A young black woman said, ‘My mother called me this morning and said, this means you need to keep your voice down in public, and you need to work ten times harder than you already are, because it's going to be this much harder for you.’ She began to cry and shake."
"Another young woman, white, said her mother was at the local grocery store. A man approached her and asked if she (the mother) would be voting for Trump. She said no. He said, ‘Well, I’ll have to take you outside to show you some of his moves in the parking lot so you’ll change your mind.’"
"A young trans student, hoping to transition this year, said now they think it’s impossible. ‘I feel like I don’t have a body.’"
"A young Black man said his best friend goes to Penn State and has already been in five altercations around the things Trump says about race. His voice wavers."
The teacher writes that all of them cried. When she hugged them, she could "could feel their bodies heaving, their hearts beating out of their chests".
Read her full post here.