I'm actively avoiding the election results, but my friends have been texting me about them. Half of this country voted for Trump and it's disappointing and unsurprising. Here's the deal. This is what you said when you voted the way you did:

You value property more than a person

Maybe you really don't like how people are protesting the Black Lives Matter movement. In some media depictions, people are destroying businesses, some of which belong to other minorities. I get it. It's frustrating and destructive and infuriating, that's people's livelihood. They worked hard for it and it shouldn't be pillaged in seconds. But guess what? The looters and business owners are both victims.

In the same way looters shouldn't be robbing the livelihoods of other people, police shouldn't be robbing Black people of their lives. We're fighting each other instead of breaking down a system that continuously victimizes Black lives. Then this system passes the cost of the destruction to the communities around it. Listen, if the police were here to protect you or your property… Shouldn't they be there dealing with it? You call them for trespassing and theft, this isn't really that much different.

Instead, they go to protest locations to "supervise" protests with your tax dollars. OH, and police aren't obligated to save you… In fact, here's some guidelines on how to protect yourself from them. So really, what are they there for?

Yep. Enforcing and "law and order" through power. You'd rather protect your power and your tenuous safety instead of removing a system that just jeopardizes it. Someone once asserted that if "Black men weren't participating in their communities, they wouldn't have so many single parent homes."

You know what robs Black families of their fathers, brothers, and uncles and sons? The incarceration system. Watch 13th on YouTube for free to educate yourself.

You complain about looters, but rob at-risk communities of resources and support… Then make small businesses pay the monetary costs and Black people pay with their lives. That's the cost of keeping your property safe the system intact.

Your give the dollar more dignity than a human being

Maybe you voted to cut your taxes. Guess what… Billionaires pay less in taxes than you do. Billionaires make money off their dividends and investments off stocks. Corporations can afford to pay you more and pay more in taxes. They're robbing from you to line their own pockets. Corporations have money to lobby politicians into cutting their taxes and increasing their profits. Hell, did you know TurboTax audits poor people more than rich people?

But no. You want to save your tax dollars instead of contributing to the society you participate in. Remember that the next time you complain about someone being "unaware" or "stupid" or "useless" to society. Remember when you get mad about some bureaucratic nonsense like filling out your parents' Medicaid forms. Remember that when you fly through an airport and drive around. Guess what? Those cut taxes fund education, Social Security and Medicaid, public transportation and more.

If you want to participate in society, you get it with all its problems. You don't stop participating once you've "made" it. You'll always be around people who don't have as much as you. Our social safety nets exist to help people from falling into despair and debt. One day they’ll contribute to the nets that helped them. Yes, there will always be freeloaders, that's part of being in a society. You don't get to choose who's in them, but you can choose how you include them. There will always be inefficiencies, and frankly, if you want people skilled enough to fix them… Then you better be willing to pay for it.

Instead of improving the communities you live in and making them more effective and efficient, you complain and vote for people who cut taxes… To what? Line your own pockets. Why? Because billionaires and corporations aren't paying their fair share in taxes and are profiting off your work and productivity. I'm willing to bet they profit millions of times more than you. You saved hundreds in taxes… They saved billions. They can afford it. Most of us can’t.

Your vote to "cut taxes" adds less value to society than the "freeloaders" who are part of it.

You excuse racist, xenophobic, anti-LGBTQIA+, misogynistic rhetoric

Maybe you treat your neighbors with dignity and respect, regardless of what they look like. You treat everyone the same no matter who they are. In the most ideal society, that's how it should be.

But that's not our society.

Your willingness to excuse these views tells me that you think you're better than these people. That they're not entitled to the same respect for who they love, where they come from, and what they look like. You don't mind the abuse and harassment is thrown their way because it's not targeted at you… Or worse, you think they're not good enough and they deserve it.

You don't care if someone is wrongly jailed because of their skin color. You don't care if people who immigrated here as literal babies are forced to go to a country they don't know. You don't care if someone's marriage is invalidated and their families aren't legally recognized. You don't care if someone feels entitled to a woman's time and body. This list goes on.

You want to feel safe, but you're jeopardizing other people's safety in order to do so.

You think you're better than me… somehow

There are countless things that you say when you support Trump. I'm frustrated when I see his supporters say liberals or Biden supporters or snowflakes are somehow "less compassionate" or "less loving" or "less kind"… And that's some bullshit. I don't always agree when Biden supporters say the same thing about the other side. No party or person is perfect and expecting people to be infallible moral bastions is an unreasonable ask.

But this is where we fundamentally differ.

The people I support aren't perfect and I don't expect them to be. Hell, they've made mistakes, but I do think they're open to change, they're willing to grow, and they're willing to improve. They’re willing to try. Being part of an inclusive community and society requires disagreeing on solutions, fixing toxic behaviors, and challenging core beliefs. Participating in a society is work.

So is choosing compassion and love and kindness.

Compassion becomes disappointing when people take advantage of it. It's high risk and high reward. People you love can hurt you. Being kind sucks when there's hate around you. But you persist and you try because it's braver than hate. Hope is crushing and disappointing but when nurtured, grows resilience.

I believe in the dignity of life. Unconditionally.

I believe in extending compassion, empathy, and respect to people whose experiences and views are different from mine. I don't support policies and views that make life more difficult for other people. I will never consider property and money more valuable than life. To me, people should live freely and without fear, so long as they don't violate the dignity of another life.

Trump and his supporters do not treat lives with dignity. By supporting a man like Trump, you're telling me that you don't mind the hate he enables. You don't care that others’ safety is at risk with the violence he encourages. Maybe you excuse it because you're your own person and you think you're better than them. Maybe you feel like you don't owe it to anyone.

I cannot and will not put up with your inability to respect the dignity of life. I can respect you as a human being, but I will not excuse your political views. I give my respect freely, but you are not entitled to it. I do not owe it to you when you demand it. I will not tolerate your views to help you validate your own goodness. That said, if you voted for Trump. That's fine. I have the grace to grant you the same respect as I would a stranger.

Even that has more compassion, respect, and dignity than the way you voted.