Today, we wake up to the news that the Republican candidate for president, Donald Trump, has won the election. The President-elect has invigorated racism in this country against immigrants and followers of Islam, both citizens and refugees, and has amplified the latent nativist and xenophobic currents within this country with his cries of “Build a Wall” and “Make America Great Again.” The President-elect has endangered women and gender minorities, with both his rhetoric and history of sexual violence. He says he fights for workers, but he promotes the most greedy and selfish capitalist practices. Additionally, Vice President-elect Mike Pence is vehemently anti-LGBTQ and openly advocates gay conversion therapy.

The election of this racist and sexist sexual predator should show us the moral bankruptcy of this corporate-dominated two-party system and should motivate us to resist not only him but the entire system that allowed this. Even before Trump is sworn in in January, the deportations of immigrant families, the police killings of African-Americans and the bombings of civilians in the Middle East will continue. These are issues that moderate candidates failed to address and this contributed to their loss. However, now that the election has ended, we can use these results to jumpstart a true fight for equality and liberation. A fight that will end plutocracy, end police terror, end endless wars and end mass starvation. This will take time and hard work, but it is critical that we immediately begin to build powerful movements in the streets and at our jobs that advance the people’s cause, because it is clear with the election of Trump that the far right is advancing theirs.

We call on the Case Western Reserve University community to join the Radical Student Union (RSU) in fighting against these oppressive systems that will likely worsen under President Trump. On Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Crawford Hall, RSU had its weekly general body meeting dedicated specifically to how to fight back against a Trump presidency. We will have a second general body meeting tonight, Nov. 11, at 4 p.m. also in Crawford Hall, for further organizing purposes. We will continue to meet at these times for the rest of the semester. We hope to see you there.

Solidarity forever,

Radical Student Union @CWRU