Buzzfeed
10.9.16 | Tyler Kingkade
"Waking up to a Trump victory today, I have not felt this violated, unvalued, or disrespected since the day of my assault.”
Tuesday was Fabiana Diaz’s first time voting as an American citizen. Like many twentysomethings, she celebrated by posting a photo on Facebook of her “I Voted” sticker with a few reasons why she cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton, one of them being that she is a sexual assault survivor.
Diaz hardly got any sleep knowing that Donald Trump would become the next US president.
“It’s taking me back to that night of my assault where I felt alone, where I didn’t feel believed,” the 22-year-old Diaz told BuzzFeed News on Wednesday. “This is half of America telling me they don’t stand by me.”
Diaz’s family immigrated to the United States in 1999, and she grew up in a small town in Michigan. Having experienced her fair share of racial discrimination, including people yelling at her to speak English, Diaz was against Trump long before October, when video leaked of Trump in 2005 boasting about kissing women without their consent and grabbing them “by the pussy.” Surely, America would not elect a man who made those comments, Diaz thought.
“But that’s my circle, that’s my newsfeed,” Diaz said. “Yesterday showed me that my newsfeed does not reflect America, and that’s what’s really hard to grasp.”
Natalie Green, the 24-year-old organizer of the social activism #AllOfUs campaign, helped stage demonstrations featuring survivors like herself speaking against Trump. Many activists incorrectly thought Trump’s chances of victory were shot after the 2005 tape leaked, she said.
