Black students gather to voice feelings and the impact of election results

Black Girls Vote and Black Student Union host an event after the 2024 election. (Nina Wilson/The Black Explosion)

By: Madeline Seck & Nina WIlson

Some Black students felt that Black women were not respected in the 2024 election, voicing their post-election reactions at a Black Girls Vote and Black Student Union post-election town hall on Nov. 19 in Nyumburu.

The meeting was moderated by Kaisha Snowden, the Vice President of Public Relations for the Black Student Union and Zyare Hill, Black Girls Vote Secretary Chair, to curate a space for students to express their feelings and concerns about election results.

President-elect Donald Trump won the election with 312 electoral votes to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 226, according to The Associated Press. Students expressed their reactions to the election results, many of which consisted of feelings of disappointment.

“I was crying towards the end, on the floor. I’m still in denial,” said Amira Adam, a junior psychology major. “It’s really easy to feel demoralized after this.”

Aniya Baker, a freshman government and politics major, was not surprised by the lack of minority support for Harris. 43% of Latino voters and 41% of voters from a different race (not Black, white or Latino) voted for Trump, according to the Associated Press.

“To be quite frank, I wasn’t surprised by any of the results,” Baker said. “As a Black community, we expect other people to understand our struggles…the reason they don’t care as much about us is because they don’t want to be treated like us.”

When asked, “Did Black men support us [Black women] during this election?’ Baker said that her Black brothers from Virginia would rather have President-Elect Donald Trump as president than a Black woman.

74% of Black men voted for Harris, compared to 89% of Black women, according to the Associated Press.

“In no way shape or form did I feel supported in this election,” Baker said.

Brandon Reed, a junior information science major, said “I feel like we [Black men] did show up, but we could’ve shown up a lot more.”

A question was posed about the audience's feelings towards a 1962 Malcolm X quote, “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.”

Reed’s hand shot into the air and he said that Black women have sacrificed their lives and voices for the Black community.

“Black women have to be independent. Even we, as [Black] men, haven’t been treating them correctly. We don’t give them enough credit,” Reed said.

The meeting ended with a call to action on how the Black community can move forward.

“Going forward, I feel that we should all stand together in unity and put an emphasis on education, starting at the root of the problem,” Reed said.