Donald J. Trump does not know how to respect people. Not women, people of color, or members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Not my black and brown friends, not my Muslim friends, not my disabled friends, not my friends who are in low-income housing. Not my immigrant friends.

I am a Cuban-American woman. I will not be affected by his presidency as much as some of my friends and family will. But I can’t be silent any longer. I am not in denial about the results, I accept them as reality, but refuse to support them. I will not stand for or with Trump, or anyone supporting his overtly hateful and divisive language.

I have been a victim of rape and sexual assault. I have been “grabbed by the pussy” without consent or permission. I have been penetrated without desire for it, and while being physically restrained, prevented from the ability to say no. I am not the only one. We need to teach our young men and women what consent is, because most of them don’t even know what they’re doing is wrong. We all need to learn.

I am ashamed of the outcome of this election. I knew it was a possibility but I did not think it would actually happen. I thought there were more people out there like me; people who could not fathom a presidency from this horrible human being whose rhetoric and actions condone such behavior. I can no longer sit here and listen to family telling me it will be okay, or that it is what it is, or that Trump says what’s genuinely on people’s minds. I cannot because I am a woman. I am Hispanic. I am queer. I have black friends. Brown friends. Muslim friends. Disabled friends. Immigrant friends. And we are all angry. I have a female body that I should have control over. I have had that control taken away from me before, and I will not stand for it to happen again. In my world, there all no walls.

— Alyssa Chavarry, dual degree BFA + BAVCS, 2018.