A crowd of approximately 60 people filled Make Shift, a cooperative space in the South End, as the “From Community Outrage to Action: Beyond the Ballot II” forum was held Monday night. Those in attendance discussed issues that minority groups could potentially face after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Moderated and organized by Chanelle John and Hewan Aberra, the discussion lasted for nearly three hours and those who attended called for unity among those often marginalized.
“[Trump’s] ascendency to power will no doubt embolden the far-right; leaving marginalized people in crippling fear of what is to come,” the discussion’s Facebook event page stated. “The only answer to Trump’s win is to organize. We must come together as oppressed people to take action and begin building a radical militant movement.”
John, who said she has been organizing events in the Boston community for the past eight years, said after the discussion that none of the presidential candidates represented her interests.
“We really got to discussing … where we could have a more expansive political conversation about what we want the world to look like and challenge some of the larger systemic issues that we know are the root of oppression,” John said. “Earlier this year I had seen how politically divisive the rhetoric of the election had gotten, and was seeing how there was not a lot of nuance, how there was no room for alternative perspectives, particularly as a black women.”
Nino Brown, an organizer for the group Mass Action Against Police Brutality, said during the discussion that Bernie Sanders would have won the presidential election if he had been the Democratic nominee.
“To be honest, I wasn’t surprised when Trump won, it was more that the Democrats lost. People wanted something different,” he said. “I was at UMass Boston, and some students, mostly white students, were saying ‘I woke up and it was a shock.’ It’s a shock to you but this is how some people have been living for decades,” he said during the discussion.
After the discussion, Brown said he came to the meeting to talk about a united front for black liberation.
“People looking beyond the ballot is where our power lies,” he said.
Several attendees said they came to the event to take organized action against Trump’s election victory.
Madeline Howard, 26, of Jamaica Plain, said the election of Trump denotes larger issues that the country is facing.
“The reason I’m here right now is because the Trump presidency really kicked it in for me, that I should practice what I preach,” she said. “The election was a catalyst for things that have been a problem in this country for a really long time. I’m looking for tangible actions that I can take so people are protected.”
Sibyl Holland, 27, of Somerville, said she does research in psychology and is cognizant of issues most people pay no attention to, but require action, she said.
“I care about issues that most of the country doesn’t care about anyway,” she said before the discussion. “The election really exemplified the quote that ‘If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem,’ so I’m trying to be part of the solution.”
Leticia St. Remy, 26, of the Arlington, said the meeting was a great platform to share ideas.
“Seeing how we can create a larger platform to address all these different ideas, we don’t have to focus on one issue anymore because what ‘Trump’s America’ has presented to us is that all of these issues are connected,” she said. “[Hillary Clinton’s election] would have made people complacent and they would not have come to a meeting like this.”
