This election is proof of the longevity and prevalence of racism and sexism in America. Tuesday night, we elected a man who has been recorded discriminating against people for their racial and gender identities. Those that voted for this man and promoted his campaign have to own that. Whether they like the labels or not, that is what their candidate has stood for throughout his entire campaign. Separating a pro-Trump vote from his discriminatory remarks is not how your vote was counted. In a typical election, I would have been disappointed with an unfavorable result. This is not a typical election.

In a typical election, we could have discussed policy differences and the contrasting party lines. Instead, we spent a year finding ways to excuse Donald Trump of admitting to sexual assault on tape, calling Mexicans “rapists,” and creating a fake university for profit. I understand the difficult context of this election, but I refuse to believe this was the best path out of it.

We have failed our women, our people of color, our people with disabilities, and our LGBTQ+ community. For those who have chanted “lock her up” or “build the wall,” I hope you’re prepared to explain to your friends why their very identities should be ignored in this election cycle. This is not a radical request. When the newly elected president says hateful things about these people solely on the basis of these identities, they deserve to know why those in support of him did not care to include them.

It is unacceptable that the man who will be working in the highest office in the nation would not be hired for the positions I’m applying for as a graduating senior. Companies would look elsewhere if they saw tweets of a job candidate calling women ‘pigs’ and ‘bimbos,’ yet we have decided to excuse him for these remarks and make him our Commander in Chief. If there was a video of me bragging about grabbing women without consent, I would not even be considered. This is not a matter of “shaking up” politics. Donald Trump is not an anti-establishment vote. We wouldn’t have heard of him if not for established American institutions. This is a matter of privilege.

Mostly, I wish we would believe each other. I wish we would believe women when they tell us they’re scared of Trump’s remarks, rather than blaming women for reacting to these statements. I wish we would believe people of color who have been singled out by his campaign for over a year, rather than excusing his behavior as “telling it like it is.” Tuesday night, I saw people crying at restaurants as results poured in and this morning I woke up to headlines questioning how we explain this result to our children. I wish we wouldn’t tune out criticism of racism and sexism, as those concepts evidently still drive our politics. The result didn’t change anything, but it definitely exposed just how much work there is to be done.