For 24 years, I have loved living in Chicago with my husband, a native Chicagoan. I have loved doing business in Chicago. The food, the sports, the culture and the arts, and the diversity of people have been a fertile ground for our life, and I have been proud to call myself a Chicagoan anywhere I went in the world.

But for the last year I have not loved living in Chicago. I am ashamed of you, Chicago, and the intolerance you now accept in the name of politics.

You see, I am a Trump supporter. My husband is a Trump supporter, too. And because we support Trump, we no longer feel proud, or safe, being in this city.

Chicago, you have always been a Democrat-run town, but this year you have become a one-party city terrorizing anyone not in your party for their beliefs. From the constant protests blocking roads and businesses, to the attacks on Trump supporters, to the verbal and online bullying going on every day across this city, Chicago, you have made it quite clear that Trump supporters are not welcome. When my fellow Chicagoans praised the riot at UIC that shut down the Chicago Trump rally I attended, I was angry and ashamed.

You have made it quite clear, there are two choices for Trump supporters in Chicago: Be silent about your politics or be bullied for them.

Since I am not one to be silent, I have been bullied. My husband and our music store, Worlds of Music Chicago, are still being bullied. Our store has had to cut employee hours due to the bullying, and soon we will have to cut our employee altogether. We will close at the end of April, because we are no longer willing to subject our staff, our customers, our neighbors and ourselves to the daily risk.

Sadly, my story is not unique. Other Chicago Trump supporters are experiencing the same hate, bullying and intimidation. If you need any further evidence of Trump supporters being unwelcome, you need merely turn on the local news, pick up a local paper or read your alderman's latest newsletter bashing and misrepresenting our president.

So, after 25 years, after a lifetime for my husband, we have to leave. In the end, it wasn't the high taxes, constant road construction or high crime. It wasn't the unchecked gang violence or political cronyism. In the end, we have to leave because of the hate you are willing to tolerate.

I'd like to say, it's not you, it's me—but Chicago, I've got to be honest . . . it's you. You've changed. You are no longer the nose-to-the-grindstone hardworking Democratic City of the Big Shoulders. You have a Trump-sized chip on that big shoulder, and it has turned you into a city of fear, hate and division. A city that encourages political bullying.

A city I can no longer call home.

Suzzanne Monk runs a music store in Chicago.

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