For many of us who hoped for a more compassionate, equitable, inclusive, and rational presidency, the unthinkable has happened. We have a President-elect Donald Trump.

Many of us are stunned and in shock. It would be so easy to throw our hands up, give in to hopelessness, and simply go silent or curl under the blanket. I had to remind myself that this is the time not to feel hopeless or give in but to come out, get reenergized, get together with other like-minded people, and continue to fight for the values of inclusiveness and equity no matter how much it feels like we are rowing against the tide.

Winning the fight for inclusiveness and equity matters. But what matters even more is that we are not silenced and that we do not give up. Every time we interrupt instances of sexism, racism, Islamophobia, gay oppression, classism, and other oppressions, we win, even if we are not successful in making the big systemic changes — yet!

The Rev. Cheng Imm Tan

Boston

The writer, a Unitarian Universalist minister, is the founder of the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence and the founding director of the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians, now called the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement.