Biden and Harris madness took to the streets in victory celebrations this weekend as the announcement for President-elect Joe Biden and first woman of color Vice President Kamala Harris won the general election.
Almost immediately people flooded streets downtown in major gathering areas with American flags and makeshift dance parties while cops did their best to block off traffic. Cars all over the borough honked their horns well into the night. Live bands played under the Grand Army Plaza archway, while people scaled the monument and waved flags.
Even Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, First Lady Charlene McCray, were seen strolling through the celebratory crowd incognito at the plaza’s roundabout.
The uncharacteristically warm weather and clear skies certainly helped keep celebrations going.
Cyclists rode up and down Flatbush Avenue and beyond with caravans of cars, screaming in excitement about Trump not winning the election.
CEO & Founder of Good Co. Bike Club Andrew Bennett, from Brownsville, said he was in the middle of a scavenger hunt with his biking crew when he found out.
“It was wild because I was in Fulton bike shop, all of a sudden I hear honking, honking, honking, and people screaming. So I was like what’s going on? We ran to the door, and we just kind of figured they had to have made the announcement,” said Bennett. “I feel excited, overwhelmed, and happy the clown is out of office.”
The general consensus from the crowds and people surveyed was that even if they were not particularly happy with the Democrat’s choice, they were certainly ecstatic that Trump lost.
Several people acknowledged that the fight was not over for them.
“I want to thank you for coming out and fighting for our democracy, but I want you to realize that we need to mobilize against these people. We need to send a message that we are not afraid of them. We are not going to stand by while people risk our people,” said Sam, of the Declaring Justice for Dominique Alexander group, to a chorus of bicyclists at the Barclays Center. Alexander was a 27-year-old Black man found hanging from a tree in Manhattan in June, which the group believes did not kill himself.
The group attributed his death to the vitriolic and racist atmosphere in the country stoked by Trump, they said.
Others, like S. M, have decided to be more pragmatic and wait for the courts to make an official ruling. She said that she’d rather reserve her excitement until the win was official given that former President Trump has said several times that he would go to court should he lose.
Just like in local and state elections the national election has procedures in determining who won. Elections can be contested within the states and candidates can ask for a recount up until December 8, and then electoral college members vote on December 14. Federal law says that the “certified electoral college result” is then set by December 23 to Congress, and Congress has to count them and make a declaration by January 6, 2021.
“I’m not going to celebrate until December 14th because I’m waiting for the electoral college,” said S. M. “They haven’t voted yet, so I’m waiting for the official vote because I don’t believe Donald Trump will concede.”
