Growing up working in the fields during summer break in Fresno, CA. in the teenage years,  I believed that was the land of opportunity for many illegal immigrants who shared their stories while I picked out the peaches during summer harvest.

Fast forward graduating high school and moving to San Francisco, I thought that living in such a liberal city with so many different cultures was the new land of opportunity. However, I saw that Hispanics were less than the 20% of the population. It was a culture shock to see San Francisco is mainly a Caucasian and Asian populated city.

Walking down in the Mission district, seeing  the small vibrant Hispanic community touched me and it reminded me of home back in Fresno. I made San Francisco my home for almost 7 years, some of the best years of my life. I have always been a Democrat for various reasons since I began to practice my right to vote at age of 18. As I developed my journalism career with  The Guardsman newspaper for City College of San Francisco, I felt the 2016 election was creating tensions in the country. Witnessing the fear at the election party I covered, as many students panicked when Donald J. Trump won the presidential election.

San Francisco surprisingly had a lot of Republicans who were supporters behind closed doors since I never saw  Trump signs across town. And the Democratic support across San Francisco was vivid till the day I left. Seeing Bernie or many Democratic signs on windows as I walked down the streets or “Defeat Trump†banners showed that people did not tolerate what Trump created which was chaos, fear, and provoked racism to be more acceptable now that he is in Office.

My last year of living  in San Francisco I  worked at a civic space in the heart of the Mission, Manny’s where I had the honor to meet several Democratic presidential candidates and see the Democratic support that gives our country hope.

This year took a turn for the worst with Covid-19 Pandemic, Racism war, violent protests, and our country became more divided with the upcoming elections. In the effect of the pandemic and losing my corporate job, I moved back to my homeland, Fresno in the beginning of June, when all the racial protests were occurring.

I was caught off guard as I drove into Fresno and saw multiple billboards that read; “Keep America Great Again†and “Trump-Penceâ€. They were everywhere, on houses, on large intersections and even on car bumpers. To my surprise and knowing that Fresno is more than 70% Hispanic/Latinos, I was more appalled that many of them are actually Republicans and Trump supporters despite what he has said about our community.

Some of my family members shared their views, their support for President Trump and why they support him and will vote for him again. Many said they agree with his policy on the border and he is a great business man even though he has a dumpster mouth. To my surprise, I have seen more Latino/Hispanic and  Christian groups supporting President Trump by having signs on their church grounds and reading their Facebook posts on how they support him because of the ‘Pro-Life’, disregarding all the hateful things Trump has said towards women and the sexual allegations that have been made on court files of his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein’s recent sex scandal.  For  many religious Trump supporters, they believe he is the light and the future and he is an Angel from what they have expressed. It blows my mind! How can people who pray for world peace, be ok with someone who promotes hate, chaos, and violence?

Many Republicans I have encountered in my short time back home, demand schools and churches to be back in business and they are actually planning on opening their businesses indoors on October 1st disregard Governor Newson’s orders. What Surprised me the most is that the Republican business owners who will reopen all indoor operations next month are also suing Governor Newson and are trying to get him removed from the Office.

These past few months have been a huge eye opener for me in regards to political views coming from such a huge Democratic community and moving to the opposing territory without even knowing. I respect everyone’s views when they share their passion for President Trump but I learned to keep to myself my personal views on Trump’s actions because you cannot make them understand that Trump is wrong on some of his actions. To Republicans, he is not guilty of the sex allegations and he is not wrong paying lower federal tax, somehow, whatever he does “Makes America Great†no matter how bad it affects our country.

Due to the sake of my wellbeing, I keep my opinion to myself when it comes to political conversations because Trump supporters can be too passionate and aggressive as they speak on his behalf and to avoid drama and stress I just say I respect your voice as long as you respect mine, even though I am a Democrat at heart.

I have seen how some people can attack others who do not agree with Trump’s presidency. It’s best not to get into it.

I am currently 6 months pregnant with  the first African-American baby in my Hispanic family that currently is divided with political views.

For me, moving back to Fresno was a way to relax during some of the most crucial months of my pregnancy and although I have come across some surprising republican family members and a large Hispanic/Latino community,  I hope that people no matter what their political views are can respect each other.