The Grief and Hatred of a Divided Nation

For many people in the school, students and faculty alike, the morning of November 9 was a time of mourning. Sadness, anger, confusion, fear, and frustration gripped their minds as they came to the realization of who the next president of the country will be. Several of them struggled to come to terms with the fact that a man who has made misogynistic, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, and ableist statements would be at the helm of our great nation. In response to the fear and sorrow that nearly took control of the school, the faculty saw the grief and allowed the school to become a place of peace, acceptance, empathy, and kindness, exactly the setting the school and the country should be. Many teachers cancelled classes and opened their classrooms up as safe spaces for those that needed it. Both one-on-one conversations and group meetings were held between teachers and students, allowing the latter to express their emotions and thoughts outright. Winchester Thurston came together as a community, and fulfilled its credo of “Think also of the comforts and rights of others.”

The response across the United States, however, was far more divided than at WT. Thousands upon thousands of people came out to protest against the idea of President Donald Trump, marching and informing the nation that Trump is not, and will never be, their President. While the point of the protests is not to prevent Trump from assuming office, it is to show the nation that he does not represent their values. Of course, as the election of Donald Trump drew a strong response from those who oppose him, it had a similar effect on those who support him. Immediately after the election of Donald Trump, radical support for the president elect could be seen in physical violence against different minorities–Hispanics and Muslims especially–and further use of racial slurs against them. Here in Pennsylvania, African American students at the University of Pennsylvania were added to a text group, where they were proceeded to be referred to as heinous racial slurs and even threatened to be lynched. Across the nation, reports have been flying in of beatings of Muslim and Hispanic students, claiming they should “go home where they belong,” all in support of the new President-Elect. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has claimed that, in only 10 days after the election, 867 cases of hateful harassment and intimidation have occurred. The president of SPLC, Richard Cohen, has commented on these reports, “They’ve been everywhere–in schools, in places of business like Walmart, on the street.”   

It is reasonable to say, given these astronomical numbers, that the election of Donald Trump has given a voice to those that wish to express their hateful and harmful views. One example of this is the rise of the “Alt-right,” a term given to a new wave of white nationalists. One such member of this group of white nationalists is Steve Bannon, the founder of right wing news source “Breitbart News.” Bannon was Donald Trump’s campaign manager before being promoted to Chief White House Strategist and Senior Counselor. Many Americans are reasonably terrified of this new development, as Bannon has a track record of racist, xenophobic, homophobic and islamophobic remarks. Bannon is not the only example of the “Alt-right” society making a name for itself. Following the election, a conference was held in Washington D.C. specifically for those of the “Alt-Right.” Richard Spencer, a prominent figure of the blatantly racist movement, was quoted as saying “Hail Trump! Hail [white] people! Hail Victory” and ushered in a Nazi salute. Spencer was also quoted as referring to the press as “Leugenpresse” the German word used during Nazi rule used to attack their enemies in the press. When pressed about his use of the Nazi salute, Spencer excused it as an act done “ironically” and as an “act of exuberance.” Many saw this excuse as dangerous and historically inaccurate.

The responses to the advent of Trump in the United States have been a perfect example of how truly divided our nation is at the moment, with some protesting the very idea of Trump’s presidency and others glorifying him (and his ideas) as a divine being. In our views, however, if there is anything that can be taken away from the election results, it is that we all need to come together as one American people, and at the moment, that is exactly what is not happening.