I am not afraid of Donald Trump. I am afraid of what he unleashes.

This is not an overreaction.

It hasn’t even been a week since Donald Trump won the Presidency and I feel like folks are moving on too quickly. Too many people are adopting optimistic attitudes, sharing sentiments like “we have to give him a chance” and “he can’t actually do everything that he says without congress…”, “mass deportation will be too expensive”, etc., etc.. In the last few days I’ve heard so many excuses for Trump, so many variations of reasons for his behavior and all I can say is… I don’t give a shit.

This is so much bigger than Donald Trump.

I’m not afraid of him. I’m afraid of what he represents and what he has unleashed in the United States. I’m afraid that all of those previously dormant White Nationalist will start feeling themselves. I’m afraid that children, who don’t know better, will spew the racist rhetoric that they hear coming out of their TV’s and social media feeds when they go to school. I’m afraid that the physical and emotional safety of my children, my friends, and my family, who are Latinx, Muslim, Black, Brown, LGBTQIA, Middle Eastern, and Women, is in jeopardy. I’m afraid that my work, as a race equity educator just got so much harder, so much more dangerous, and so much more important that I ever understood.

I’m afraid that DACA and the Affordable Care Act will be repealed

I’m afraid he’ll appoint Supreme Court Justices who will overturn the DoMA ruling and Roe v Wade. I can go on…

See, this is not about Trump and whether or not he is actually racist. I am not interested in having that discussion that so many people are trying to convince me of. These are about things that can’t be left to “a chance”, we can afford to get it wrong. All of these things are about very real implications, on the day-to-day lives of real people.

So please, check yourself before you buckle down and move forward into your regularly scheduled programming. Don’t act like this isn’t significant, like Donald Trump is just another potentially bad President. This isn’t that.

And if you’re one of those people who voted for Trump, or who is already willing to give him a chance. Stay out of our way as we work around you, and don’t try to convince us about all the ways you think this will turn out okay.