On election night I stayed up until the early hours of the morning, bawling my eyes out and on the phone with my mom and my sister. We didn’t say a word, we just cried, and when I woke up the next morning, I felt like I was in strange dream. The reality didn’t hit right away, but when it did, I felt a weight on my chest, and a sense of fear like I had never felt before.

I was unable to go to my classes that day, and I was unable to do much more than stay in my bed and cry.

I feared for my family because we rely on my father’s social security as a means of income. I feared for my sister and I who rely on my father’s healthcare. I feared for my friends and family that are members of the LGBTQ community and who are non-white. I feared for myself as a woman. I feared for our country and for the steps away from progress we had taken in a matter of a few hours.

I cried because I gave up hope.

But then I saw people posting videos and pictures of protests. I saw them fighting, standing up and making their voices heard. I saw them being brave.

The more I saw, the more I wanted to be brave and the more I wanted to fight.

The people that protested Donald Trump becoming president, the people that cried and got angry, the people that didn’t vote for him, those are the people that have something to lose.

If Hillary had won, I’m sure Republicans would have been upset. There’s no doubt about that. But they would not have been upset for the same reasons.

They wouldn’t have been upset because they feared for their lives or the lives of their families. They wouldn’t have been upset because they were worried about being deported, or being discriminated against. They wouldn’t have been upset because they didn’t know if they’d be able to keep their houses or put meals on the table.

Instead, there would be white men who feared that women and minorities had the same rights as them: that they were equal. There would be billionaires who feared that their money would be taken away from them (even if they could still live more than comfortably without it).

Donald Trump will never by my President. He might live in the white house, but my country, the one I am proud to be a part of, will never become his.

I shouldn’t have to explain myself, but I’m sure there will be plenty of backlash and people who disagree with me. There will be people that say that in order to have a strong country, we must be united. We must embrace him and support him.

I won’t be doing that.

By giving my support to him, just because he was elected by the electoral college (which should be abolished in its own right), would mean that I am supporting who he is, how he behaves, and what he believes in. I have too much integrity and respect for myself and my loved ones.

Donald Trump will never by my President.

My president will not openly say that he will build a wall to keep immigrants out of our country.

My president will not say that he will create a law which will make some forms of discrimination against the LGBTQ community legal.

My president will not brag about assaulting women and getting away with it because he is famous.

My president will not spread fear and encourage hate.

My president will not condone violence or call for the jailing of anyone who opposes him.

My president will not attempt to limit women’s reproductive rights: birth control, access to abortion, access to pre-natal care, and much more.

My president will not be an egotistical, racist, bigoted, bully.

Donald Trump will never be my president because he does not represent us, and he does not represent our America: the America that does not stand for fear, hate or violence.