On Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 11:32 p.m. I felt the most potent fear and disappointment I have ever felt.

I have never been one to be overly critical of the government and I have trusted in its ability to create a just world—even if it takes longer than it should to get there.

On Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 11:32 p.m. it all changed.

I no longer felt safe in my own country. I am frightened because there is no protection from the eccentricities of radical violence and legislation anymore. I fear for my future, I fear for the safety of the people I love, I fear for the safety of all marginalized people, and I fear for a world run by a man that does not believe in climate change (the U.S. will be the only industrialized country to deny its existence and human causes). The United States of America is a much more broken place than I could see from the protected northern California bubble I live in. It was all there; I just wasn’t listening.

And then I got angry.

Angry that now my future and the futures of my classmates have been warped and convoluted because the national standard is that our careers are based on a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese. That the country of my origin stripped every one of my beliefs and dreams from me. That hate crimes and sexual assault are now societal normalities and that racial and ideological tension will only get more volatile.

But fear and anger never got anybody anywhere and I refuse to let it define me.

I read articles, listened to speeches by our country’s leaders, attended a sit-in and a protest or two, had an enlightening discussion with one of my professors, and watched as another professor cried for the environmental progress that will be lost under the new administration.

This election was never about Republican versus Democrat; it was and still is about the oppressed peoples rising up because of the overwhelming discontent across the United States. And to be clear about what I say next, I am talking about post-election America. I am talking about the acts of hate and violence. And while I believe you should continue to speak out for what you believe in, we also need to figure out where to go from here by communicating with each other.

People of color, immigrants, women, and people of the LGBTQ community have been oppressed since the beginning of the U.S. and it will be a fight for equality no matter what administration we live under, but it is important to recognize the reasoning for the current presidential elect on the supporting side. It is because there are more discontent groups of people than just the ones enumerated above.

The under-educated, the people living in poverty, the “rednecks,” and rural farmers have become increasingly unhappy with each title assigned to them by the educated and the people living in cities. Every label put on them—sexist, racist, incestuous, homophobic, white trash—and the obvious, unabashed disdain for their lifestyles continue to pigeonhole them. This, coupled with an antiquated economic structure that can no longer provide a sufficient livelihood for its people contribute to the growing hatred and retraction into blame we're seeing in the U.S.

Hate has been accumulating across the country and hate is what this election gave us.

Even though Trump supporters chose hate in this election, it does not make every Trump supporter an inherently bad person. We all have family and people we love that are good people. Good people that voted for Trump. Good people that at heart are not racists and sexists. But as a voting citizen in the United States of America you should know that when you vote for a candidate, you do not get to pick and choose which parts of them you vote for. You vote for all of them.

And Donald Trump is a hateful sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, misogynistic person. Maybe this is just a platform he used to garner support in the election, but that is the platform he ran on, so those are the “American ideals” he is going to implement.

And despite all this I am apprehensively willing to open my mind and give him a chance at leadership.

Because I have great faith in people. People are resilient. Time and time again people have risen in the face of injustice and proven the strength in congregation, so, we, the people will show him when he is wrong. And we already are.

Unfortunately, the earth doesn’t have any more chances. The climate does not have the resilience we, as people, do. There is no time to try and convince the new administration to not all but shut down the EPA. To not compromise the health of the people and the environment for personal interest. To not cut the little amount of money budgeted to environmental protection. To not re-up the Keystone pipeline. To not pull out of the Paris agreement. To not increase coal withdrawals. To not repeal the Clean-Air act. To not deny climate change. There is no time to bother with the federal government.

As an environmental studies major, as an environmental activist, and as a compassionate steward of this damaged world we inherited, I will continue to be heard locally, at the state level, and in educational institutions for the rights of the earth.

Because climate change is real, it is happening, it is human caused, and it is not going away.

And today I ask you all to be my brothers and sisters in this journey towards a sustainable, equitable, and just future. I ask you to shirk the complacency that has settled on much of the U.S. over the past few years. I ask you to walk with me hand and hand towards a country of understanding because we are all tired of feeling repressed and forgotten. We do not need to be fighting each other. We need to be listening and having open conversations. We need to be our own champions and this is our time.

Tonight I go to sleep an only child, but in the morning I hope to wake to millions of brothers and sisters, both Republican and Democrat, ready to counter the war of hate with love.