This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Amaal Sharif is just about everything President-elect Donald Trump denigrated at some time during the campaign: She's a woman, she's Muslim, she's African-American and she's the daughter of immigrants.
So when Trump was elected this week, it wasn't easy for her to watch. Her parents came to the U.S. from Somalia in 1996 and when Sharif, 18, cast her vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton — after waiting in line for four hours — it felt like she was ensuring her family's continued refuge and freedom.
"Trump brings back the fear that my parents fled in Somalia," she said. "They fled one dictator and ended up with another."
Sharif attended an anti-Trump rally at Salt Lake City Hall on Wednesday night. She was surrounded by about 120 people expressing similar sentiments, shouting into the dark night.
Unlike more turbulent anti-Trump protests across the nation — erupting in Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh and Seattle with blocked roadways and trash can fires — Salt Lake City's rally remained mellow for its hourlong duration.
Demonstrators chanted "still we rise" and "stand up, fight back," peaceably decrying the Republican's stunning victory. Speakers called it a "state of mourning."
The rally focused primarily on people of color, whom Trump offended during his White House run with calls for a wall separating the U.S. and Mexico and his "bad hombres" statement during the final debate.
Emiko Itamura, who identifies as Japanese-American, carried a handmade poster that read: "We went from the first African-American president to a president endorsed by the KKK. Is this the change you wanted?"
She worries Trump normalizes hateful comments against women and minorities.
Ricardo Merino, 23, voted for Clinton. As a Hispanic man, he said he couldn't support what he termed as the GOP candidate's sexism and racism.
"At the end of the day," Merino said, "I see it as white supremacy."
Cries of "si se puede" (Spanish for "yes, we can") and banners calling Trump "el pendejo" (slang for "idiot") supported the calls for action from a primarily Latino crowd.
Protesters also championed the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, carrying rainbow-color flags and raising their fists in the air during a moment of solidarity. Democratic transgender Senate nominee Misty Snow, who lost Tuesday to Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, attended the anti-Trump rally with a message for those "really depressed" by the election results.
"[Trump] appealed to the worst in people," she said, hugging a supporter. "He misdirected anger toward minorities."
The Democrat encouraged people to fight for equality and inclusion at all levels of government. Most, though, left the rally dejected, their "He isn't my president" posters falling to their sides as they walked away.
Twitter: @CourtneyLTanner