City Council Member Stephen Levin (Brooklyn Heights, DYMBO, Williamsburg, Boerum Hill) last night hudlled with progressive advocates and national activist groups met to discuss and plan for the upcoming Trump Administration.
The event, held at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, focused on how Brooklyn residents can help keep progressive rights and policies in-tact by volunteering and becoming a member of local activist groups.
“We are facing a real challenge and in a lot of ways a real threat, and when taken in it’s totality, it’s very frightening,” said Levin, who went on to highlight some of the recent cabinet appointments in the upcoming administration.
“You look at Steve Bannon, who is supposed to be senior counselor to the president. He is the former chairman of Breitbart News, a far-right news website known for racist articles, out right conspiracy articles and hate speech. You have a proposed National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, who’s a board member of Act for America and has professed that the Muslim faith is one of the root causes of terrorism. He has described Islam as a cancer. Then there’s Rex Tillerson, who is proposed for Secretary of State and ex-CEO and President of Exxonmobil, whose legacy in our neighborhood of Greenpoint, is the largest terrestrial oil spill in American history, of 30 million gallons.”
The night’s message was one of camaraderie and unity as each organization emphasized the need for community engagement and direct action. A panel discussion was also held includeding members from the Arab-Muslim and LGBTQ communities, Planned Parenthood and the New York Anti-Violence Project.
“Since the election we have been educating ourselves and preparing as best we can for the new administratio. The work that we do and that we’ve been doing for decades is to fight for the rights and basic protections of LGBTQ and AIDS-affected people and it’s becoming ever-more urgent now. We are working to ensure that the national policy gives the rights to LGBTQ people, which we have won over the past decade remain in tact,” said Mia Mikowicz from the NYC Anti-Violence Project.
“We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen but there are several different scenarios where we can really drive the narrative and influence what happens by not waiting until it gets to that point but really by fighting back,” said Elizabeth Adams from Planned Parenthood NYC, who went on to talk about possible changes to the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. ObamaCare “The first thing we think is going to happen [under the new administration] in an aggressive attack on Obamacare, an attempt to either appeal or replace that, but it’s important to remember that the numbers on our side and as of now we don’t have an alternative to replace Obamacare. So you can’t just take away health insurance from millions of Americans.”
The defunding of Planned Parenthood has been a big target for the Trump and Republican party since the election. The Republicans have been looking to take federal funds from the almost 100 year old organization in the amount of $400 million in medicaid funds, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“We are focused uniformly at the state and local level, which I think we are all seeing, is going to be more and more important. I’m so thrilled to be here with folks from so many different movements all talking about how hard we’re going to have to work together because I think that is going to be the key to surviving the next four years,” said Danielle Castaldi-Micca, from the National Institute of Reproductive Health.
Last night’s event was just another in a string of community meetings being held around Brooklyn as New Yorkers discuss and organize for a very divisive Trump presidency. Just earlier this month the New York City Council passed the Sanctuary City Resolution, which will ensure the protection and safety of the thousands of immigrants living undocumented within the city.
“Ee are going to have to stay organized, not just come together a month after the election or in the days after Trump takes office, but we are going to have to stay organized for the next four years on the issues. Find the issues that you care about. Follow those issues, get involved on those issues both on the local level, and on the national level,” said Levin.
Some of the other organizations that were present at the event were Arab American Family Support Center, Brooklyn Community Pride Center, Food & Water Watch New York, and Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ).
