Trump's Victory Raises Concerns Among NY's Islamic And Immigrant Communities
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Several hundred people rallied Friday evening as part of a "Love Trumps Hate" demonstration that started in Washington Square Park before heading north on Sixth Avenue.
Walking towards a red, white and blue illuminated Empire State Building, the protesters held up signs with messages that played off some of Trump's more inappropriate comments that bubbled during his campaign, WCBS 880's Mike Smeltz reported.
"I really believe that this is a human rights issue. It's not just a matter of candidacy," Sierra, an NYU student and Hillary Clinton voter, said.
She said she was protesting to show the president-elect that he does not have a mandate, despite winning the White House.
"We are trying to give our voice to this tragedy," she said. "We need to make change, so here we are trying to make change."
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The Republican's victory raised many questions and concerns, particularly in the Islamic and immigrant communities.
"We are hoping that cooler heads will prevail. He will understand that whatever he has said, that this is not doable," Habeeb Ahmed, of the Islamic Center of Long Island, told WCBS 880's Mike Xirinachs.
Ahmed said many people are worried about Trump's campaign threats to ban immigrants from certain Islamic nations and deportation. He said hopefully it was all campaign talk and not future policy.
"We just have to try to work with him and make sure it is good for the whole nation," he said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio visited the Islamic Society of Mid-Manhattan with a message Friday.
"We will stand up in this city. We will stand up for our Muslim brothers and sisters," he said.
The mayor told the congregation that the divisiveness of the presidential campaign and the election results do not change the values of the city.
However, Imam Ahmed Dewidar said despite what the president-elect has said about making American Muslims register with the goverment or banning Muslim immigrants, he and others he knows aren't worried about the future, 1010 WINS' Samantha Liebman reported.
"We still enjoy the beauty of this American society, and we still enjoy the system. And we have to respect and cooperate with whatever will be elected, because this is part of the respected system we are loyal to," he said.
Thanu Yakupitiyage, with the New York Immigration Coalition, said Trump's looming takeover is creating a tremendous amount of anxiety among immigrant students in New York City schools.
"I've heard stories of kids crying in schools because they are so scared of the election results and what it means for their families," she said.
One-sixth of the city's public school students were born outside of the country, Smeltz reported.
"Particularly in New York City, you might have a child in a New York City school who is a U.S. citizen but their parents might be undocumented. So this has really raised a lot of concerns and real fear in these kids that their parents are going to get deported," she said.
Yakupitiyage said despite Trump's anti-immigrant stance, he has been light on specifics, meaning any fear being felt right now among students is based on speculation. She said her organization will work with the city and the state to ensure immigrant families are protected.
