• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Read An Issue
  • About
  • Advertising Information
  • Where to Find the Reader
  • Subscribe to our Mailing List
  • Contact Us

Park Slope Reader

  • The Reader Interview
  • Eat Local
  • Dispatches From Babyville
  • Park Slope Life
  • Reader Profile
  • Slope Survey

Republican

We are They: Post Election Thoughts 2016

November 14, 2016 By admin Filed Under: Community Tagged With: Democrat, fear, hate, racism, Republican, sexism, xenophobia

By Mark Nepo

mark-nepo-by-frank-berkhoutI have felt compelled to speak since the election of Donald Trump but every time I try, my heart sinks and I don’t know what to say. I was born in Brooklyn, New York, six years after World War II, after the defeat of Hitler and fascism, six years after the Holocaust, in which I had family perish. As a child, I saw unfathomable images of how the Atomic bomb obliterated Hiroshima. In grade school, we practiced hiding under our desks, as if that would keep us from being incinerated. I came of age in the sixties, part of a hopeful generation who questioned the war in Vietnam. I later saw the Berlin wall come down, and witnessed the first African-American president sworn in on the steps of a White House built by slaves. During my lifetime, there has been a slow, steady awakening of community that has upheld America as the land of the free. Through all this, I have grown to understand that, different as we are in what we believe, there is no they. We are they.

Given this paradox inherent in freedom, I have tried to stay true to what I know while listening to the opposite views of others. But the underpinnings of this election fall below politics, below Democrat or Republican. Because half of us have elected a man whose way in the world is built on fear and hate, whose tolerance for difference is tissue paper thin, whose understanding of strength is based on vengeance.

As I witness the level of racism, sexism, xenophobia, and unchannelled anger that is spilling out of us as a nation, I fear that Donald Trump has poked and stirred the darker angels of our nature. Now we are taking our turn, as civilizations before us, in the ever-present challenge to give in to fear or to empower each other to be brave enough to love, brave enough to discover and accept that we are each other.

For no matter where we come from, no matter how we got here, we all yearn to be seen, heard, and respected. We all long to belong and to be understood as whole and good. We all long to be needed. And all our gifts are needed to contribute to the tapestry of freedom.

So I am afraid today, afraid the noise of hate is drowning out the resilience of love that is always near. I fear that we are tripping into a dark age. If so, then, as medieval monks kept literacy alive during the dark ages in Europe, those of us committed to a life of care are challenged now to keep the literacy of the heart alive.

At a basic crossroad

For all the things we care about, all the endeavors of respect that we treasure, all the humble ways of finding strength in our kindness—all our efforts of heart matter now more than ever. We are at a basic crossroads between deepening the decency in how we care for each other, and the contagion of making anything different from us the enemy. And, as history has shown us, if we don’t recognize ourselves in each other, all is lost.

We must remain open and steadfast in the face of fear and violence. We must never make a principle of what turns us dark. And we must keep voicing the truth of human decency, no matter the brutalities that try to quiet us. Without this commitment to care and truth, we will become as heartless as those now lost in anger.

Most of all, we must pick each other up when we are heavy with despair. For the sun doesn’t stop shining because some of us are blind. Nor will the grace of democracy vanish because some of us are violently afraid to be in the world.

Still, we are they. And the timeless choice between love and fear, individually and as a nation, is not a choice of policy. It is the choice of decency that keeps us human. In the face of this dark disturbance that is upon us, I implore each of us to be kind and truthful, to be a lantern in the dark, and to call out prejudice wherever we see it. In addition to whatever ways we each are called to gather, participate, legislate, or protest, I implore each of us to never stop watering the seeds of human decency.

I implore us to stay devoted to the proposition that when filled with love, we can work as angels here on earth, using our care-filled hands as wings. Never forget that we are more together than alone.

 

Read Mark’s article: In Conversation with Life

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: Democrat, fear, hate, racism, Republican, sexism, xenophobia

Park Slope Votes

November 2, 2016 By Meghan Cook Filed Under: Community Tagged With: community, Democratic, election 2016, feminism, GOP, Park Slope, party, Republican, voters

Every four years November acts as a pivotal month in our nation’s political calendar. The months of lively debate leading up to the election often cause tensions to flare in communities across America, and never has an election stirred up controversy and vitriol as much as this one has.

Yet, despite all of this, the majority of local residents seem squarely unified against a particular candidate in the running for the future President of the United States. It should not come as a surprise, that in a community as diverse and unique as Park Slope, that a certain resentment would be felt towards Donald Trump — a man who has distanced himself from nearly every minority group with reliably divisive rhetoric.

There are a number of Americans who admire Trump for saying what others won’t, and for not shying away from the more turbulent areas of conversation that most politicians avoid. But there are also those who find this mindset distasteful.

“I don’t like Donald Trump, especially for the Mexican people,” said Luis Correa, 64, local resident and taxi driver. “He speaks poorly of us.” Correa identifies as an Independent but he finds himself drawn towards Hillary Clinton, finding her likable and attentive. “She works for honest, hardworking people. She works for my community.”

For many, the upcoming election results are cause for concern, with supporters on both sides keeping their nominees aloft in the polls. But for Correa, the future is clear. “I’m not worried,” he said firmly, rapping his knuckles decisively against the top of his taxi cab. “Hillary Clinton will be our next president.”

img_9171Lizette Chaparro, 26, works for a non-profit affordable housing company and is a proud Democrat. She said that her party has “long championed the well being of the working class and has reached out to communities of color.” She plans on voting for Clinton come fall, “for obvious reasons.” She is genuinely a supporter of Clinton’s policies and calls her “the most experienced candidate running for office,” but she also is driven by a desire to “make sure Donald Trump doesn’t end up in the White House.”

Chaparro also praised Clinton for championing women’s rights. “As a future mother, I worry about equal pay and maternity leave,” Chaparro said. “If Hillary Clinton wins the White House she’ll do a lot for working women. She’s very focused on giving women equal rights and opportunity in the workplace.”

img_9165David Hoffer, 58, is a computer technician who has been a Democrat for his entire life. He believes in the Democratic party because “they seem to care more about people and want to truly do good for us.” He paused for a moment before admitting, “At least most of the time.”

Hoffer expressed his discontent with the current voting system in place. “It’s all gone digital. I know technology progresses, we all progress, but if you look at any other field where technology is a large component – there’s always going to be people who try to supersede the rules. It’s too easily hackable; it’s hard to challenge discrepancies.” Hoffer said frustration in the voting system is nothing new, referencing the Florida election recount of 2000 and the controversy over hanging chads, stating that gray areas such as this hamper true democracy.

When asked about his thoughts on Trump as a presidential nominee, Hoffer could not help but laugh and respond, “Where to begin? I think he’s the biggest pathological liar and bigot there is. The fact that so many support him makes me wonder about our country.” For Hoffer, his vote is less a personal choice and more about choosing the lesser of two evils. “I’m not a big fan of Hillary, but choosing between the two? No question.”

riyana-dasguptaLocal graduate student Riyana Dasgupta, 23, believes that this election has “struck a chord with many people for a variety of reasons” and that it is much more than a popularity contest. “The presidential candidates’ policies and character brings out the morality of their supporters,” said Dasgupta. “And I think this election has a lot to do with morals, in addition to electing a new Commander-in-Chief.”

Dasgupta described Clinton and Trump diplomatically, stating that, “One of the candidates has well thought out policies, a solid temperament, and a positive character that can truly enact change in this country. The other candidate, however, has policies that have the potential to do more harm than good and a quick, haughty temperament.”

However Park Slope residents personally felt towards either candidate, each expressed encouragement in every American’s right to vote. “I would like to see more people, older and younger alike, come out and vote,” said Dasgupta. With support mounting on both sides, whether passionate or resigned, this election in particular will ride on the citizens who actively stand in line for the voting box come November 8th.

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: community, Democratic, election 2016, feminism, GOP, Park Slope, party, Republican, voters

Primary Sidebar

The Spring 2025 Issue is now available

The Reader Community

READER CONTRIBUTORS

Copyright © 2025 · Park Slope Reader