Moving forward?

By Jenelle Franklin
Editor

An unknown man ran by a woman on Liberty street in Ann Arbor, striking her cheek with a safety pin and leaving injuries Ann Arbor Police reported as “minimal, and the superficial wound over her cheek didn’t require stitches.”

An attack on a community member may not have been as random as it would appear. After racial and cultural tensions post election escalated as Donald Trump secured the position of President-Elect, a movement was started to use a safety pin on one’s clothing to represent a safe person for LGBT community members to turn to.

“Safe With Me,” the community created on Nov. 10 to show support for diversity via Facebook has been a rally cry for those who feel vulnerable, especially post election.

Jess Miller, who lives in Plymouth, started the Facebook community two days after the election to promote the safety pin movement. Within the first day, the group got over 1,100 likes, according to their Facebook account information.

The community has more than doubled size since its creation.

Ann Arbor has experienced threats towards a woman in her hijab, Dewitt students blocked a Mexican student from accessing her locker by building a human wall.

These acts are despicable and do not move America forward, or help to establish greatness, as our president-elect has preached in his campaign.

The speech given after the election results were tallied and Trump had secured his spot in the White House showed a glimmer of hope in finding a resolve to the bigotry America is embracing, but it’s still just a hopeful outcome. Jan. 20, 2017 will start the regime of what could be our most divided in history, we can only wait and see.

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