Minority groups on campus weighed in on comments president elect Donald Trump made about marginalized groups.
“I stayed up till 3 a.m. and watched the whole thing,” Manny Hurtado, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said. “It was a little hard to accept. I kind of wanted to throw up.”
Tania Radinson, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences said she was shocked Trump won.
“It felt so surreal,” Radinson said. “I couldn’t believe it was happening.”
Radinson said as a Latina, she felt personally affected by Trump’s comments and is concerned about possible reactions from his supporters.
“I get supporting your party, but not the values,” she said. “All of these people have been sitting next to me all semester, thinking ‘Wow they want me gone they don’t want me being here.’ I didn’t know there were such strong feelings on campus. It was kind of a reality check.”
According to a count by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the U.S. had seen 201 cases of election-related harassment and intimidation between Election Day and November 11th. For some, these incidents have only solidified a fear that existed before.
“I’ve never felt safe,” Brianna Hawkins, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said. “Him being president or president-elect doesn’t change that.”
For Hurtado, another concern is a perceived reversal of social progress could happen with Republican-led House of Representatives and Senate.
“I’ve looked at the (Republican) platform and it looks like it was drafted over 50 years ago,” Hurtado said.
Recently, Trump has been back-tracking on some of his comments, including his stance on the legality of gay marriage and promises of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Radinson is holding out hope.
“I’m not going to hope for his failure, because why would you want someone who is leading your country to fail?” Radinson said. “I just hope that he makes it work for everybody regardless of party, race, gender, or religion.”
Hawkins wondered if the change in rhetoric had an ulterior motive.
“I kind of am starting to wonder if his whole platform is just a scheme to just get elected,” she said. “I really hope there is no way for a person to be that dumb in life, I’m really hoping that it was a scheme.”