{"id":48444,"date":"2017-01-18T10:55:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T16:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=48444"},"modified":"2017-01-18T13:41:57","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T19:41:57","slug":"chicago-feminists-critical-of-obama-conflicted-over-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-feminists-critical-of-obama-conflicted-over-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago feminists critical of Obama, conflicted over Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ritu Prasad<\/strong><\/p>\n

For many involved with grassroots feminism in Chicago, Barack Obama\u2019s presidency wasn\u2019t all it was promised to be. Feminist leaders now look to the\u00a0 Donald Trump administration with a conflicting sense of apprehension and tentative hope.<\/p>\n

At the Women & Children First bookstore, seated beneath a colorful collection of children\u2019s books with titles like \u201cA is for Activism\u201d and \u201cHappy in Our Skin,\u201d organizers from the LGBT\/women-focused Masjid al-Rabia<\/a> and FURIE, or <\/a>Feminist Uprising to Resist Inequality and Exploitation,\u00a0 discussed their ongoing work and future goals in light of Trump\u2019s victory
\n
\nZaynab Shahar of Masjid al-Rabia wanted her fellow social activists to do more than just talk about their fears of what could happen under President-Elect Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people are really scared about what\u2019s going to happen, then this isn\u2019t the time to live in that ideology of fear solely,\u201d Shahar said. \u201cYou still see Muslim women bearing the brunt of hate crimes and interpersonal violence on the street, and people just standing there like, \u2018I don\u2019t know what to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The plight of Muslim-American women and other marginalized groups, Shahar noted, has not been easy under Obama either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would prefer it not be transitioning into Trump but I\u2019m not gonna lie, I\u2019m happy it\u2019s over,\u201d Shahar said. \u201cThere\u2019s no disagreement as to how anybody feels about Trump. \u2026People don’t feel the need to be polite about his incoming presidency in a way that they felt the need to [with Obama], which really inhibited people being honest about the flaws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shahar cited Obama\u2019s unique status as the first black president coupled with his ability to spin beautiful rhetoric as a key part of the problem with his presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s a double-edged sword,\u201d Shahar said. \u201cSo many of my family members were a part of the civil rights movement in Chicago and possibly did not think they would live to see a black president in office. \u2026 That\u2019s significant and I can\u2019t diminish that, but by the same token, I also think one of the things that the left has struggled with is how you hold this new representation of power accountable for his policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chelsey Sprengeler, an organizer for FURIE, criticized higher funding of the prison system, the bank bailout, and the Obama administration\u2019s war policies as reasons why she believes Obama was a \u201cterrible president.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focus on rhetoric instead of seeing we\u2019re being gutted\u2026under nice words,\u201d Sprengeler said. \u201cThe worst-case scenario [with Trump] is that he acts just like Obama, who acted just like Bush. \u2026As terrible as Trump is, there is something to be said for the anomaly of him being outside the establishment. Now granted, he\u2019s a billionaire, and he\u2019s terrible, and he\u2019s racist\u2026But we can\u2019t go back. We shouldn\u2019t strive to go back to comforting words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Obama\u2019s policies certainly have been widely debated. Under his administration, the government signed away $20 million per month for four years to a private prison company. According to The Washington Post<\/a>, under Obama, the United States went from 100 beds to over 3,000 for family detention, and the Pew Research Center<\/a> reported a record number of deportations during Obama\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

Ten times more drone strikes have occurred under Obama than his predecessors. His executive order<\/a> attempted to add transparency to these strikes, but the administration\u2019s defense of air strikes outside active conflict zones by calling terrorist conflicts \u201cnon-international\u201d has raised questions and concerns.<\/p>\n

While there are over 400 banks that have not yet repaid their loans, the Treasury Department reported that<\/a> $266.7 billion has been received\u2014$21.5 billion more than the bailout dispensed, thanks to interest and other revenue.<\/p>\n

The owners of Women & Children First feel justified in providing a platform for criticisms, but they also hope the anger inspired by President-Elect Trump will continue to increase momentum for the many social justice and feminist movements in and around the city.<\/p>\n

Sarah Hollenbeck, one of the co-owners, is no stranger to fighting for women\u2019s rights. In 2004, she marched in Washington, D.C. with the March for Women\u2019s Lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day after the [Trump] election, the bookstore felt like a wake,\u201d Hollenbeck said. \u201cBy showcasing different social justice organizations, we hope to demonstrate to folks that their voices matter–that there are direct ways right in our own neighborhood to become more politically and socially aware and engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Women & Children First has served as a space for marginalized voices in Chicago since its founding in 1979. Hollenbeck hopes the series will help continue the co-founders\u2019 mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is that each person leaves the event with one action item–one tangible thing that they will do in response to an issue that they learned about during the event,\u201d Hollenbeck said. \u201cI want attendees to not just \u2018feel\u2019 like they’re making a difference. I want them to leave armed with the tools to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community members await the activist leaders at Women & Children First bookstore’s first ACTIVISM series event in Chicago’s Andersonville. (Ritu Prasad\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ritu Prasad For many involved with grassroots feminism in Chicago, Barack Obama\u2019s presidency wasn\u2019t all it was promised to be. Feminist leaders now look to the\u00a0 Donald Trump administration with a conflicting sense of apprehension and tentative hope. At the Women & Children First bookstore, seated beneath a colorful collection of children\u2019s books with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":339,"featured_media":48452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3516],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2017"],"yoast_head":"\nChicago feminists critical of Obama, conflicted over Trump - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-feminists-critical-of-obama-conflicted-over-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago feminists critical of Obama, conflicted over Trump - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ritu Prasad For many involved with grassroots feminism in Chicago, Barack Obama\u2019s presidency wasn\u2019t all it was promised to be. 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