With the outcome of the 2016 election, life as we know it has changed. This election has made history, but not in the way we hoped it would.

As soon as the new president-elect was announced, protests broke out on college campuses across the country. To a lot of people, these demonstrations seem confusing or worthless.

Protesting is a lot more than being angry or violent. It’s about using your voice and speaking out about the injustices in our system. These are real people fearing for their lives, and for good reason.

We shouldn’t dismiss protesting as something that won’t matter. That’s what millions people thought about their vote and look at where that got us.

Ensuring people’s safety and fighting for their basic rights is not something that will come through passivity. We must actively work every day toward becoming the equitable country we’ve always advertised ourselves as. It’s hard to argue that “we must keep hate out of this nation” in these times when this country has already proven its hatred by electing a president who called Mexicans rapists and a vice president who believes conversion therapy can turn someone straight.

Now is not the time to call people dramatic or too politically correct for expressing their legitimate fears this administration has caused. It’s time for people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ and whoever else the Trump administration deems a threat to stand in solidarity.