Winner of presidential race is against everything I stand for

DONALD Trump is the next US president. Holy c***.

When the news broke, tears sprung from my eyes – tears of utter horror and surprise.

As both a woman and a member of a minority group living in the US, I could never support someone like Trump. He is against everything I stand for. Over the last year, he has mocked women, people with disabilities, blacks, Hispanics and Muslims. He has been accused of sexually assaulting women, of cheating students at Trump University out of their money and a quality education, and of inciting violence at his rallies.

He is a racist and a sexist. He is NOT a man of the people, as he claims to be, a man who claims he relates to the middle class.

Trump is a white man who grew up in an enormously wealthy family. A man who was spoon fed and has been handed everything he ever wanted in life. A man who doesn’t like anyone who is different from him or who disagrees with him. A man who doesn’t appear to comprehend or appreciate how much privilege he has.

My family is a family of immigrants. My dad is originally from China. My mom is from Canada. My brother was born with Down Syndrome. We are a diverse family of minorities and, therefore, are of no interest or concern to Trump.

It is 2016, America. We are supposed to be making progress, not spinning the wheel backwards. How can this country go from someone like Barack Obama to Donald Trump? They are total opposites with regard to values, morals, professional etiquette and economic background.

Obama cares about equality and giving everyone – no matter your race, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual identity, gender – an opportunity to excel in society.

Trump, on the contrary, judges you based on these categories. His campaign and beliefs are largely founded on generalisations he makes.

For example, Trump wants to ban Muslims. His reasoning? All Muslims are terrorists. Trump wants to build a wall between Mexico and the US and wants Mexico to pay for it. His justification? All Mexicans are stealing American jobs and not contributing to society.

We should all by now understand the dangers of this kind of thinking. To make generalisations is to try to fit complicated human beings into neat categorical boxes, to think in terms of black and white and ignore the grey areas.

Running a country is a complex responsibility. It is not simple. It cannot just be run like a business. If America has a problem with another country, we can’t solve it by dropping bombs.

We cannot solve our problems by building a giant wall or deporting millions of undocumented immigrants who we blame for our problems.

We cannot fight terrorism by pointing our fingers at one minority group and shutting them out.

As we can see from the election results, it seems like a majority of Americans are hoping for simple solutions to complex issues. But guess what, America? Simple solutions using small-minded approaches are not going to fix the country.

It’s time to wake up, America, and smell the coffee. While it is too late to change the presidential election, it is never too late to fight for progress.

Shen Wu Tan is a US intern at the Weekend Argus.