Facing a new reality

Today, we’re facing a new reality – a president-elect who has denigrated people because of their race, their religion, their ethnicity, their gender, and more.

Our mission is to hold Donald Trump to what he is saying now – that he will be a president for all Americans and that he will work to bind the wounds of division, wounds that his own words have caused.

We’re already at work.

Today, we’ve provided resources to our nation’s teachers to help them begin to heal the scars that the campaign has left on their students.

And we’ve alerted the country to the reaction of white supremacists to Mr. Trump’s election in an effort to inoculate the nation against their growing influence.

Tomorrow, and every day in the future, we’ll fight for the rights of the most vulnerable people in America – those victimized by bigotry and discrimination.

We hope Mr. Trump truly means what he says about reaching out to all Americans.

But there is one group we hope he disappoints – the extremists who flocked to his candidacy and found in him a voice for their bigotry.

During his campaign, Mr. Trump named far-right extremists as advisers, re-circulated racist and anti-Semitic tweets, gave press credentials to a white supremacist radio host, and refused for months to disavow David Duke after the neo-Nazi endorsed him.

Now, white nationalists and the alt-right are celebrating his victory.

If he means what he says, Mr. Trump must make absolutely clear to them that neither their ideas nor anyone affiliated with them will have any influence or voice in his administration.

That is the first thing he must do to begin binding the wounds of division that his campaign has caused.