Black, Muslim community leaders urge calm post-election
When the nation awoke Wednesday morning to an impending Donald Trump presidency, members of minority communities that had felt targeted by the candidate's campaign likely endured a surge of "legitimate" anxieties and fears, according to a University of Tennessee psychology professor.
But local black and Muslim leaders said that while people are frustrated, their communities have endured tough times in the past and urged those who are discouraged to stay calm.
UT on Wednesday held two separate hourlong gatherings at the Frieson Black Cultural Center and made staff from UT's Counselor Center available to students.
"There are a lot of us who feel the outcome of this election is deeply personal and that this decision that the country made is a rejection of their identities," said assistant professor Patrick Grzanka, who is a faculty member in the American Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality programs at UT. "The Trump campaign has made explicit - not veiled, but explicit threats to civil liberties and freedoms of many minority groups. Today has been sobering, deeply depressing and terrifying in many cases."
Grzanka added that it's important to listen to people who feel anxious and disenfranchised, which includes blacks, Muslims, Latinos, women and LGBT people. Simply telling those who feel threatened by Trump's presidency that everything will be OK is "disrespectful and invalidating," he said.
Still, it's not unusual for the nation to see the pendulum swing after a time of social progressiveness, Grzanka said, pointing to the Jim Crow era that followed the South's first reconstruction.
The Rev. Harold Middlebrook, an activist during the Civil Rights era, agreed, but said that enduring those trials has made the black community resilient.
"We made it through Reagan, we made it through George Wallace's rule in Alabama," he said. "Those of us who lived a while, we see the cycle over and over again. We make gains, and then there's a letdown period where people try to take back gains that were made. But we are people who refuse to give up and refuse to believe we cannot make it.
"We would rather regroup, prepare our hearts and our minds, and try to prepare our young folks for what's going to happen."
Nadeem Siddiqi, chaplain for the UT Muslim Student Association, said he's seen the strong reactions on social media, but that it's important to remember that much of policy that affects American citizens happens on a local level. Siddiqi added that candidates often say things only to energize their voter base, and that he's hopeful that the partisan rhetoric will quiet now that the election is over.
"We will always be on the side of justice, always be pushing for rights and humanity, always focused on good governance, but an election is not the only way to contribute to society and politics isn't the only way to build a community," he said.