Residents from across the borough convened yesterday as Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-Crown Heights, Flatbush, East Flatbush, Brownsville, Sheepshead Bay) held a Town Hall to fight back against what they perceived to be the most dangerous presidential administration they’ve ever experienced.
Since April 8, the United States Congress has been taking a recess for spring break, which will end on April 23. To take advantage of this, concerned citizens from all over the country are taking part in what they call a “Resistance Recess,” in which they directly communicate with their representatives at town hall meetings and urge them to resist the Trump Administration.
This period marks the second Resistance Recess since Trump took office, the first of which took place from Feb. 18 to 26.
At last night’s meeting, held at the New Life Tabernacle Church on Avenue D, Clarke, along from a panel of assorted experts, detailed what they perceived as a three-pronged attack from Trump and Co. on Brooklyn constituents – unforgiving immigration laws, a health care plan that will leave a large percentage of people without coverage, and dangerously lax gun laws.
“Let’s be clear that we are called to defend our community from the threat of a man whose very defining principle has been the denial of civil rights,” said Clarke. “His policies are a direct assault on our community. We are at the epicenter of his disruption.”
Clarke began her speech by discussing the new hardships faced by Brooklyn’s immigrant community. She pointed out that since Trump took office, Brooklyn’s sizable immigrant population has faced harassment and threats of deportation, some of which has come from nativists impersonating ICE agents.
“Since January 20, dozens, if not hundreds of people in New York City have been detained by ICE agents,” said Clarke. “Oftentimes, they’ve been deprived of their rights, and any available leniency, relief or party. These recent events, done under the sole authority of ‘The Donald,’ have terrorized our communities of law-abiding, hard-working immigrants.”
Clarke and her peers also discussed Trump’s highly contentious American Health Care Act, which, they claimed, would cover 24 million fewer Americans than the Affordable Care Act does, while providing 600 billion dollars worth of tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. As Clarke pointed out, this is especially problematic for the low-income communities that Clarke herself represents, such as East Flatbush and Crown Heights.
“In a hasty attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, [the Republicans] revealed to the American people their true colors,” said Clarke. “They were reduced to their basic nature; taking from the poor to give to the rich.”
AARP Associate State Director Reggie Nance maintained that while the AHCA failed to make it to the floor last month, the fight to preserve the health care of his fellow citizens was far from over.
“We made thousands of letters, petitions and phone calls, and [the AHCA] never made it to the floor,” said Nance. “But here’s the thing, they’re regathering steam as we speak. And from word that we’ve gotten, they’re coming out with something even worse than the nonsensical, illogical thing that they proposed before. So make no mistake about it; we’re gonna listen to our members, and we’re gonna fight anything that doesn’t protect and preserve Medicare for all generations.”
Things got personal when Clarke shifted gears to gun violence, bringing up the recent funeral of a 15-year-old boy from her district who was gunned down last month when he was mistakenly identified as a “gay associate or member.” The boy was someone Clarke had known personally, as she solemnly remembered him as someone, “with a captivating smile full of promise.”
Clarke went on to elaborate that, “the gun violence that we experience in Brooklyn… has always been a direct consequence of the easy availability and accessibility of firearms. Almost 90 percent of the guns recovered by the New York City Police Department after a deadly shooting are purchased from out-of-state.”
During the meeting, Clarke detailed several of the measures she and her peers have taken to resist the new administration. She had recently introduced a bill that would require ICE agents to wear body cameras at all times, and she credited District Attorney Eric Gonzalez for his efforts to intercept the influx of guns smuggled into New York from other states.
She maintained, however, that executive action only constitutes part of the equation, and civilian action will continue to play an instrumental role in the resistance against the Trump Administration’s policies.
Riki G., a 23-year-old resident of Carroll Gardens, concurred. “I think [Trump] is really threatened by how active people are getting nationally,” said Riki. “One good thing to come out of the administration is that people are becoming more civically active.”
