BOSTON — Many communities of color were shocked and surprised when it became clear the nation was going to elect Donald Trump as the next president.
"It was sad," Latoya Sanford said. "It was sad, just because of his bigotry. And normalizing bigotry isn't something that i wasn't interested in seeing."
The Boston mother of two told FOX25 she woke up fearful for her children -- especially her son.
"I have a son who this was his first year voting and I think it was really discouraging for him," she explained.
Trump's campaign rhetoric often hit a fever pitch with minorities, women, the disabled and Muslims targeted at rallies across the nation for the last year and a half.
"Everybody has concerns," Grizzelle Martinez told FOX25. "There's a lot of scared people. Especially with all the talk he did about big walls being built."
Martinez is Cuban-American. She said she was shocked so many Latinos and Hispanics voted for trump. Exit polls show trump won roughly 29-percent of the Latino vote.
"[I'm] Unsure of the future. But hopeful. Always hopeful," Martinez added.
Trump will be able to choose who fills a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court and that has civil rights activists like Matt Cregor, from the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, concerned.
"This is a difficult time to put forward an affirmative agenda, but it's essential that we do so; that this is not simply playing defense against a continually eroding back wall," Cregor said.
"I think he's the president, we just have to see what has to offer and there's no turning back now," Sanford said.
There are a number of community events and private ones being planned to talk about the next step in this Trump presidency.
Cox Media Group