Ever since I witnessed the election results on November 8th, I’ve been racking my brain to figure out why anyone in their right mind voted for Donald Trump. His message was not unique; his policies were not new or sophisticated; his character is abrasive; he publicly belittled several ethnic groups and marginalized women; and his appearance is not attractive.

Then, I read a statement from one of his supporters, and it hit me: “I’m an American citizen, sick of being pillaged and endangered by my government for every faction, race, religion and cause other than my own.”

There are many people who believe this country belongs to them and them alone. They feel threatened by the demographic and social changes we have been experiencing for quite some time. In my opinion, this statement is extremely arrogant and short sighted. It is incredibly offensive to me, and probably many others. It assumes “other” factions, races, religions and causes are not American, or at least not as American as they are.

It seems the Republican Party has been infiltrated by a movement call the Alternative Right (Alt-Right). Their message is that the purpose of our government is to preserve traditional western civilization ideals and values. Basically, these people think that white identity is under attack by multicultural forces using political correctness and social justice to undermine white people and their civilization. They promote myths like “White Genocide,” and oppose any governmental policy, court ruling or social movement that focuses on equality for all. They actually believe that white people are getting the short end of the stick compared to black and brown people who are given advantages by the government. Honestly speaking, all they have to do is walk into any corporate board room, or any corporate executive meeting, or any country club, or any college campus, or any prison, or any unemployment office, and take a good look around. Not only is it extremely obvious that white people have the long end of the stick, it could be argued that they actually have possession of the entire stick.

Donald Trump was the presidential candidate of choice for the Alt-Right. I’m not saying that this was the only reason he won the election, but I do believe it helped. Donald Trump in the White House doesn’t concern me nearly as much as the thought of thousands of Alt-Righters who hold local leadership positions throughout this country. Imagine your judges, police officers, mayors, county commissioners, election officials, and school board presidents with these twisted ideals making decisions that could possibly change your life for the worse. If our local leadership is a part of the Alt-Right, or even sympathizes with their message, then non-white citizens would rarely get the benefit of the doubt in marginal situations. This might explain the discrepancy between black and white arrest and incarceration rates; or the difference between the black and white high school dropout rates; or why black people routinely get disrespected and even killed by police officers. Someone needs to inform the Alt-Right that this country doesn’t belong to anyone … it belongs to everyone.

Our new president wants us to believe that the single most dangerous threat to us is “Radical Islamic Terrorism,” but I beg to differ. Terrorists don’t routinely disrespect, marginalize and even kill black people without repercussion. Terrorists don’t systematically overlook qualified black candidates for employment. Terrorists don’t sit in the seat of judgment and give blacks longer sentences than they do whites for the same offenses. Terrorists don’t consistently and deliberately block black professionals from serving on paid corporate boards. Terrorists don’t make black people jump through hoops only to be rejected from entering trade unions. Terrorists don’t sabotage their local school systems to keep black kids from excelling academically.

Or do they?