In Kensington, Bengali Activists and Local Officials Pledge Resistance to Trump

KENSINGTON, BROOKLYN — Leaders from Kensington's Bengali community rallied with Councilman Brad Lander and newly-elected State Representative Robert Carroll on Friday, decrying president-elect Donald Trump's rhetoric concerning Muslims and declaring they would stand united in defense of immigrant communities.

On Dec. 7, 2015, Trump called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," a statement he has never officially repudiated. A Trump press release announcing the policy stated that "it is obvious to anybody that the hatred [of Muslims] is beyond comprehension."

Trump has also consistently called for the deportation all undocumented American residents, a position that he is still espousing today.

At the rally, which filled Kensington's Avenue C Plaza, community leader Mamnun Haq said that city and state officials must support the "safety, respect and dignity" of the area's immigrants, many of whom are Bangladeshi.

"We don't want to live in fear," Haq said.

"You're elected officials have your back," Lander said. "We will not let this country become a place that is characterized by Islamophobia, that gives into fear and hatred."

The councilman said that the NYPD doesn't coordinate with officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), praised New York's IDNYC card — a form of documentation available to all, regardless of immigration status — and said NYC is a "sanctuary city" which "protects and defends and welcomes immigrants."

On the transition website for his administration, Trump has said he will "Block Funding for Sanctuary Cities."

Carroll, meanwhile, said Trump's election "shook me and my family to our core," adding that "good people" must "stand up against those know-nothings who want to push back against American ideals."

Piyali Basak, an attorney with Brooklyn Defender Services, said her organization exists as a legal resource for immigrants, and will continue conducting free legal clinics throughout the borough. And Tarek Ismaeil, a senior staff attorney with the CUNY School of Law's Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility Project (CLEAR), told the audience that if FBI agents come to their home, "tell them you will not talk to them without an attorney."

One of the rally's most striking moments came during the remarks of Hasiba Haq, the 23-year-old daughter of Mamnun Haq, and a Kensington native and a community activist in her own right.

Haq said her pent-up emotions burst out the day following Trump's election, when she broke into tears after a co-worker hugged her.

The lives of young Muslims in New York have been heavily impacted by the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, Haq said, explaining the psychological toll of "watching yourself be constantly vilified."

Trump, she continued, represents "what privilege looks like in this country," a man elected despite his verbal attacks on minorities, Muslims, women and those with disabilities.

"I can't even say his name anymore," she continued, explaining that there was nothing Trump could say now to win her over, considering that he had "spent the last year emboldening people" to "act out" such sentiments.

Haq described Trump's election as "a wake-up call for a lot of us," and pledged dedicated opposition tohis policies. And she called for women to be proud feminists.

"I'm so ready to break every single glass ceiling and more," she said.

Pictured at top: Friday's rally in Avenue C Plaza. Photo by John V. Santore