Protesters hold banners as they protest during a march in downtown Washington in opposition of President-elect, Donald Trump. Jose Luis Magana AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.The day after the American presidential elections, New York’s skyline was filled with darkness and rain. One friend told me that he stood outside his apartment block, on the upper west side of the city, observing those leaving for work that morning. “The atmosphere here in the city the day after was not unlike the trauma, shock and disbelief I experienced in the days after 9/11,” he said.
The atmosphere here in the city the day after was not unlike the trauma, shock and disbelief I experienced in the days after 9/11.
Mona Saeed Kamal, a visual artist who teaches part time at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, told me that it “was the hardest teaching day of my life. From the despair I felt when I woke up, to seeing all the tears on the subway and then only to see my students in tears. Men, unable to stop crying! Never in my years of teaching did I envision a day when I would be holding back tears, shaken, and my students the same.”
