Trump’s nomination has triggered Poughkeepsie voices
It has now been one week since the world was first informed that the next leader of our country would be Donald Trump. Since then there has been a lot of opposition from various communities about Trump’s nomination. In areas such as New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City and various other places people expressed their concerns for some of the policies Donald Trump said and hopes to implement. Though there hasn’t been any indication of protests or riots occurring within the Poughkeepsie area, feelings such as those expressed by other parts of the world are quite prominent especially within the poor neighborhoods of Poughkeepsie. With this in mind, I set out on a journey to find those people and to capture their voices about the 2016 election and its turn out.
With the help of my friend I went door to door within the Delafield complexes introducing myself to those who would open their doors and be willing to speak with me about the elections. The first person I had the opportunity to speak with was an elderly woman named Lenora Hayes. Hayes is 59 years- old and has been a resident of Poughkeepsie since she was two months old.
“Having Obama as president was important. It wasn’t because he was black, he was mixed. It was because he stood up for both sides, rich, poor that’s what it was about. Healthcare and everything else. Donald Trump is a A-hole…He does not pay his employees like he should so if you’re not for the people then what are you for?” said Hayes.
In my conversation with Hayes she also discussed Trump’s incompetency as a president and questioned how his experience within the business world was not enough to run a country.
“Majority of presidents in this country has been lawyers, judges, senators, congressman. Donald Trump is a businessman. What does he know about the laws? What does he care about the laws? He’s broken them himself, I mean will be honest there’s been presidents that’s broken laws and did whatever. George Bush Jr. prime example okay. But that’s neither here or there. His (Trump) statements are too racist for me so what he says is under my skin,” said Hayes.
The 59 year-old woman expressed great sadness and loss of hope when she shared with me that “this country is falling apart, I’m looking for a civil war soon.” While we spoke Hayes was also keeping watch of her grandchildren as they played outside in the playground area. In thinking about her grandchildren Hayes expressed what she felt needs to be done to ensure a better future for them.
“Listen, I hope that their parents can come together and work with other parents to make it successful for their children. Because if they don’t, it’s gonna be a lost generation with no respect for each other, you already see it. They have no respect for each other and no education and all they’re gonna do is work, work and have nothing because the government is taking everything. And I’m talking about poor people not only blacks, we talking about Mexicans, Asians, Whites, the poor classed people.”
In another interview I spoke to a couple millennials within the Delafield area to get their reactions about the election and if it had any impact on their lives. The first person I spoke to was Rasheed Brown who is 15 years-old. Similar to Hayes he has been living in Poughkeepsie since he was born. Though Brown didn’t have an opportunity to vote in this year’s election he expressed a couple of strong view points towards the president-elect.
“Honestly I didn’t like the election. I wanted Hillary to win because Trump is just talking all this nonsense about what he wants to do to us and stuff and like he can’t make us all move out of here but he’s gonna do things that would make us want to move back to where our ancestors originally came from,” said Brown.
Brown agreed that a lot of Trump’s racist remarks enables other people to act upon their own racism. He explained that all over his social media he has witnessed people bashing others and discriminating others because of their race, sexuality and other marginalized factors. He explained that on Facebook there was this group created called “The Boat” and it targets people that are from the Caribbean, sending the message for them to return back to their island.
Chevon Cotterell, 25, has lived in Poughkeepsie for about 16 or 17 years. He expressed that he has not been active in the election process and though he still continues to not keep up with it, it’s hard for him not to know anything about the election when “it’s all around me.”
“What I’ve seen and what I’ve heard is a lot of Trump and less Hillary. Trump is every way,” said Cotterell.
Cotterell went on to talk about why Trump has been the trending topic and why in his opinion he felt so many people fear his presidency.
“To be honest, I think that racism has always been there, but now it’s going to be more blatant, more in your face, and he’s saying a lot of racist stuff towards certain people and I feel like it’s going to enable more protests, some riots, miscellaneous things happening out of nowhere.”
Cotterell whose family background is Jamaican explained that his concerns about Trump’s policies on immigration worried him especially when it comes to the future and possibly denying the opportunity for his brothers, sisters and other family members to come to the states.
Trump’s presidency isn’t just affecting Americans but it is also infringing upon other countries and their ties and relationships to the U.S.
Maria Juarez, 29, has also spent the majority of her life in Poughkeepsie. Immediately when I asked her about the elections and her thoughts about it she responded, “A lot of It, I think is a joke.”
Juarez tried to take on a different approach to Trump’s nomination even though she did not agree with some of the things he has said. “I find it hard to believe that he will deport every Mexican. He can’t go door to door trying to deport people. It’s impossible. How many Latinos are here?”
She also made the effort to point out that a lot of the things Trump has said is just words. He hasn’t acted on any of those things. Juarez went on to explain that “if you’re doing the right thing, you shouldn’t be afraid. My family and I are not scared because we have nothing to fear.”
With hope still residing in Juarez she concluded her thoughts by saying that “One can only hope that humans are still kind.”
