General Election Results Brooklyn and Beyond Leaders Respond

By Nayaba Arinde
Editor-at-Large
“Don’t go into a deep depression because Donald Trump got elected to be the next US President,” former Assemblyman and City Council Member Charles Barron told Our Time Press, “This is the right time for deep radical systematic change starting from the bottom up. We said from the beginning that we have to win over seats in the City Council and state assembly with Black people who are authentically committed to us for these seats.”

Impeachments, indictments, convictions, and violent, divisive rhetoric, did not deter voters who literally co-signed the massive mandate, as Republican Donald Trump took the popular and Electoral College, making him the 47th president-elect. His opponent was current Vice President Kamala Harris, who did not concede until the next day. Protests were held in Cadman Plaza Park, with NYU rejecting the result.

“This is not the time to be fearful in New York, but faithful and steadfast,” said Attorney General Letitia James.
With 295 Electoral College votes, taking states like North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Philly, Trump’s win was a decisive, and not a contested election.
Issues like women’s reproductive rights, immigration, the economy, and the border saga inspired his voters.

Republicans took the Senate in this red wave, but the House is still up in the air at press time.
Trump campaigned on executive orders, mass deportations, tariffs, and travel bans, and the 34-count indicted felon has won himself a literal get-out-of-jail-free state and federal cases. While in civil fraud and defamation cases, he may still end up owing a half-billion dollars in money judgments, he will not face any jail time in any of the cases. Due to be sentenced this month in the fraud case in New York, that too is likely to be delayed.

“We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result,” said AG James, who successfully prosecuted Trump in a fraud case for overvaluing property. According to an NBC exit poll, 12% of Blacks voted for the former president, 45% of Latinos, and 38% of Asians.
As the nation was sullen and stunned on Tuesday night, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris did not even go to her own Howard University watch party and address her devastated followers.

She spoke the following afternoon to a tearful crowd at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, saying, “This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to organize, to mobilize, and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together.”

AG James held a press conference where she congratulated Trump’s presidential win. “If possible, we will work with the administration but will not compromise values, integrity, and principles.”
Neighborhood conversations ranged from questioning why a notable percentage of Black men voted for Trump; on Instagram, Exonerated Five’s Raymond Santana asked, “So…Latinos voted [for] Trump for president, to deport other Latinos?”

Other commentary stated that Harris herself did not address the disconnect with the Black community, not sufficiently relating to basic issues or presenting detailed policies to ease concerns of a historically disenfranchised and underserved Black community.

“The Democratic coalition collapsed when it should have been strong,” said political analyst Donna Brazille of Harris’s 107-day – 13-week campaign, after incumbent presidential candidate Biden pulled out of the election in July.

Justice for the Wrongfully Incarcerated co-founder Sharonne Salaam, the mother of the Exonerated 5 member, Harlem City Council Member Yusef Salaam told Our Time Press, “Many people not feeling heard by either party, and dissuaded by manipulative messaging which they said were campaign promises only.”

“This is a moment in a movement,” speaking at Bethany Baptist Church at a Sunday pre-Solidarity Day event, former Assemblywoman and City Council Member Inez Barron said, “We must work to deprogram our people and raise their consciousness [living in] a racially hostile world, where narcissistic white arrogance is dominant.”

Dr. Brenda M. Greene, scholar and literary activist quoted the words of scholar and public intellectual Dr. Eddie Glaude, to “Become ‘the leaders we are looking for.’
Asking ‘How do we move forward?’ Dr. Greene told Our Time Press that the outcome of Tuesday’s election speaks to the “State and temperature of our country. To elect a
convicted felon and a man who has attacked our democratic values is frightening..the people in this country re-elected #45 ‘with eyes wide open.’”

The Brooklyn educator added, “The outcome of this election signals a day of reckoning in our country, is traumatizing for many, and confirms the stark reality that racism and sexism are part of America’s DNA.

“We have to educate our youth and the community about the perils of being apathetic
regarding the role they play in safeguarding our freedoms. We have to strengthen our ties with our elected officials and community leaders.”

Former Assemblyman Roger Green told Our Time Press “After observing the dangerous political outcome originating from the most racist and fascistic presidential campaign in the
history of the nation, I’m inclined to imagine the challenges that our children and future generations will confront in the days ahead.”

To that end, the Medgar Evers lecturer cited the Malcolm X axiom, “Don’t Mourn Organize.”
He continued, “Now more than ever, we will need to organize and mobilize a massive pro-democracy movement that transforms an antiquated constitution, destructive body politic, and alienated citizenry. This movement must orchestrate the powers given to “We the People” as articulated in the First Amendment—for citizens to assemble, speak, and protest in defense of our democratic ideals as we seek to achieve a more perfect union.”