Donald Trump is the new leader of the free world. It still doesn’t make sense to a majority of the population—The Donald actually lost the popular vote—but it is true nonetheless. The fallout and internal conflict it has caused among our society has been greater than almost anyone could imagine. It’s bad enough that our nation put a man with no political experience in the White House; and it’s even worse that our nation put a sexist, racist, homophobic, misogynistic bigot in the White House.

Those who have been reading our editorials lately know two things—our staff endorsed Hillary Clinton, and we are all about spreading love and kindness. It may seem like an exercise in futility to preach love and kindness again, but after what has been happening the past week, it seems necessary to continue to spread a positive message.

When Trump supporters say they voted for Trump because they want to go back to a simpler time, some truly mean that. Baby Boomers want to go back to that “Leave It to Beaver” life like in the 1950s—simple and happy—the American Dream. But then there’s the other group of Trump supporters. They also want things to be like they were in the 1950s—white. The media coverage of the treatment by White (male) America has not been exaggerated. People of color and the LGBTQ+ community across the country are being harassed and threatened in ways that haven’t been seen in decades. It is happening within our own community here at Wayne State.

So to those who are practicing these acts of hate and evil, please stop. What good are you serving? Is your own life so miserable that you have to spread hate to anyone who is a different color or religion than you, to anyone who has a different sexual orientation than you? It’s 2016, people, racism and sexism went out of style decades ago and it’s never going to be cool again. Maybe if you took the time you spend spewing hate on being a productive change in the world, you wouldn’t have felt our country is so far down the toilet that the only one who could plumb us out was the Oompa-Loompa lookin’ guy who is only famous to millennials for saying, “You’re fired.”

And to those who are subject to this negativity and nastiness—we are here for you. There are people who care and will fight for you. Societal tensions are at their highest since the ‘60s. The hippie movement attempted to permanently eradicate this hate and violence in the world, and although they were largely ignored and turned down, that positivity still lives on. Our youth has more power than we know, and only we can bring the change we want to see. No matter how tough it is, keep your heads up, because we all know love trumps hate.

Mason Schweizer for The Wayne Stater