My emotions boiled over at Trump's rally

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Thousands of Donald Trump supporters cheered and held up signs as their favorite “politician” took the podium at Grumman Studios in Bethpage for Trump’s first Long Island rally.

“Build the wall!” they yelled, loudly enough for anyone to hear outside the studios.

“And who’s gonna pay for it?” Trump asked, fist up in the air.

“Mexico!” the crowd responded wildly.

I have never felt so uncomfortable in my life. As the chants grew louder, the animosity in the people around me grew stronger. Stares were longer. Whispers got louder, loud enough for me to hear criticism of my presence at the rally. What is a Latina doing here?

“Excuse me, ma’am,” I said to a woman as I tried to make my way around her and her family to meet up with my colleague Daine Taylor. She stopped her conversation, looked at me and asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”

I felt the need to explain myself. “I just need to get past you, please excuse me,” I replied. She threw daggers with her glance. She blocked the way, turned her back to me and looked at her companions. “Who does this spick think she is?”

It was clear that I wasn’t welcome. I wore plain clothes. I kept my facial expressions composed. My appearance bore no signs of supporting or opposing Trump. Whether I was a Trump supporter or not—and I’m not—my ethnicity, the way I look and carry myself, wasn’t welcomed. “I love Latinos,” Trump said later on in his 37-minute speech. The crowd booed. A “Build the wall” chant resumed. And he surely entertained them.

As a citizen of this country and a first-generation child with immigrant parents hailing from El Salvador, I felt that I needed to attend the rally. I wanted to walk away with my own experience. As a voter, I wanted to understand further what Trump is bringing to the table. What does he have to say about our economy? What are the specifics of his policies and what’s his stance on foreign affairs?
None of my questions were answered. Not fully.

Instead, my emotions boiled and blistered from deep within me. As he bashed President Obama and the Affordable Care Act, as he metaphorically belittled refugees through a storytelling of “The Snake,” and as protesters were continuously kicked out while some rally-goers chanted demeaning insults at them, my face turned red and my palms began to sweat. The rally solidified what I already knew: I will certainly not be voting for Donald Trump.