I can’t even believe it. Honestly, I am still in total shock that reality TV star Donald Trump has been elected to be President of the United States. I woke up the day after Election Day sick to my stomach that this is the statement we’ve made in our country.

It’s bad enough we elected a man who has no regard for women, minorities, refugees, immigrants, Muslims, etc. What’s worse, though, is that by electing him, we’ve decided to stand by him as a nation. I understand we all have our right to vote, and Donald Trump won, and so therefore I have to accept that he’s going to be President. But I don’t agree. And I can’t pretend I can give that man respect he hasn’t done a thing yet to earn.

Our country had made so many strides towards equality. We were nowhere near perfect, but at least we made laws and statements that showed our colors of wanting better lives for the disenfranchised. The nation of America was created by people who just wanted to be free, and for hundreds of years we have fought for freedom upon freedom, and now… this? Really? We elect a man who has mistreated his workers, a man who thinks illegal immigrants are all horrible, a man who disrespects women and chalks it up to “locker room talk” (as if that makes it okay), a man who wants to ban Muslims because obviously Muslims are terrorists – yeah, that’s the statement our country just made. And I’m ashamed of that.

Hillary Clinton was a morally gray candidate in some respects, but you can’t tell me Donald Trump wasn’t, as well. Hillary Clinton had her faults, but she was qualified. She deserved that presidency. Maybe she would have been a crappy president, and maybe she would have been great, but you know what? Now we won’t know. Why? Why didn’t she become President? Let’s just say it, get it out in the open.

She’s a woman.

If a man with her qualifications stood against Donald Trump, that man would have won. Honestly, I believe he would have won in a landslide.

So now I have to walk around in a nation that screams for the old ways, the unequal ways, the worst parts of American history. Now we, as a country, have to look at our daughters and try to tell them they can be anything, but we all know the truth, don’t we? And we, as a country, have to look at our sons and tell them that Donald Trump is our leader, and role model, and what does that say to them?

You see, now we’ve gotten the proof. Women don’t have the same opportunities as men. Our innocent daughters are standing around dreaming of jobs they might never have because of their sex. Our precious sons are looking up to Trump, a man who built a business nation on the backs of the little man, who bullies anyone who disagrees and strikes fear into all who listen, and do you know what our sons will do? They’ll mimic him. Because he’s a leader, isn’t he?

We haven’t just shamed ourselves and embarrassed our nation with this election – we’ve let down our kids. Decades of progress have now been shown for the fraud it apparently was. We’ve elected a leader who stands against everything our country was built on, and God, it makes me sick.

But at the end of the day, I have faith our country will see its mistakes. I have faith that we’ll realize our errors and correct our ways. And I know that I for one will not be running from this country and this fight – apparently, it’s just begun. President Donald J. Trump might have the White House, but he does not get to have my support. He doesn’t deserve it.

Today, I’m ashamed to be an American. I’m ashamed that I had to witness an outwardly smug, masochistic, racist man become President-elect.

But I have hope for tomorrow. I have hope in the half of Americans who didn’t want this Presidency. We can’t let go and give up and wallow in defeat. We have to keep fighting for progress, for hope, for peace and for love. Our love needs to be louder than his hate, and I believe that it can. It might be a long four years, but it isn’t the end of the story. Remember that. Hold onto that. And more than anything, hold onto what you believe with both hands and make sure you never lose it.

One day, I want to look at my daughter and tell her she can be anything, and I want to mean it. I believe in that America. And I won’t let this election take that away from me.