Protests are growing across the United States following Tuesday’s election. On Saturday, 10,000 people marched in New York City. Eight thousand more marched in Los Angeles, where 200 people were arrested. Protesters also took to the streets in Philadelphia; San Francisco; Oakland; Chicago; Oklahoma City; Salt Lake City; Springfield, Massachusetts; and in Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio. In Portland, Oregon, police attacked protesters with pepper spray and flashbang grenades and arrested 71 people. One protester in Portland was also shot and wounded during a confrontation on a bridge that was blocked by the protests. In Traverse City, Michigan, a police officer was put on paid leave for intimidating protesters at a “Love Trumps Hate” rally by driving around the demonstration displaying a Confederate flag while he was off duty.
This comes as, in Philadelphia, Mexican immigrant Javier Flores, who is the father of three U.S.-born children, sought sanctuary from deportation in a church and called on President Obama to stop his deportation and others’. Mayors from New York to Seattle have said they won’t cooperate with Trump’s promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, even though Trump says he’ll withdraw federal funding from such cities. Grassroots groups in multiple cities are also organizing anti-deportation self-defense networks.
Meanwhile, the Southern Poverty Law Center is reporting there have been at least 200 instances of physical and verbal harassment, abuse and intimidation against immigrants, people of color, Muslims and women in the wake of Tuesday’s election. In one case reported to SPLC, a boy told a 12-year-old African-American girl at school: “Now that Trump is president, I’m going to shoot you and all the blacks I can find.” A teacher in Washington state reported students chanting “Build a wall” in the cafeteria. The most commonly reported place where physical or verbal harassment occurred was in K-12 schools. This comes as school districts in Boston, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Denver, Colorado, have begun offering counseling services to students who are distraught and fearful both about Trump’s election and the possibility of deportation, as well as the ensuing attacks, threats and harassment faced by students of color.
