Amanda David felt a wave of devastation as reality sank in that former President Donald Trump would lead the country again. Yet, the past four years have felt as if he had never left.
She’s been battling ongoing violent threats, racism, and harassment from her white neighbor in Ithaca, New York. The college town and farming community more than 200 miles away from New York City prides itself on being progressive, with Tompkins County residents backing Vice President Kamala Harris and securing wins for Democrats across the board.
It’s a facade, David says. The racism and segregation is more subtle in the city, where Black people are only 5% of the nearly 31,400 residents. Mere miles away, she recalls seeing Confederate and Trump flags flying high.
It’s not just the rural South or conservative regions — Black people in rural areas across the country don’t feel safe. As David and others are still processing the election results, they told Capital B that another Trump administration will only perpetuate ongoing issues over the next four years. Long neglected by both his campaign and previous administration, they see little hope for change in their persistent struggles: limited resources, weak civic infrastructure, and constant threats of violence.
Sekou Franklin, political scientist and professor in the Department of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University, points out that part of the issue is the erasure of Black rural communities in American politics, and how the policies don’t adequately address the diversity of rural Black America — whether it’s the Arkansas, Tennessee, or Mississippi Deltas, the Georgia Black Belt, or the Gullah Geechee communities along the coasts.
Franklin suspects in states like Tennessee with Republican-dominated legislatures, lawmakers will pass substantial bills that will “legitimately” hurt Black communities. When it comes to opposing laws or fighting back against law enforcement officials, for example, many rural communities don’t have the infrastructure or extensive resources to do so.
“As bad and as tough as it may be in some of the urban communities, we have a little bit more of a grassroots infrastructure. We got young activists. We got civil rights leaders. We have attorneys,” Franklin said. “When you go to rural communities, where there’s brain drain and alienation, there’s no equivalent of a [Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee] group there.”
“The things of old are not old at all”
The election reminded Democratic Mayor W. Mondale Robinson of Enfield, North Carolina, of his own experiences as a Southern mayor who tore down the Confederate monument and received death threats from white supremacists for doing so.
“The reality is that America’s love for whiteness is on display at every turn, and this was no different,” he told Capital B. “I’m reminded that things of old are not old at all. They are around the corner and right in our face every day.”
In a crucial battleground state, North Carolina, voters there backed all Democratic candidates down ballot, but still voted for Trump to be president.
Back in New York, when David moved to Ithaca in 2020, she set out to build community gardens and teach herbal medicine and land stewardship through her organization Rootwork Herbals.
Immediately after she arrived, David said her neighbor constantly yelled at her kids, calling them the N-word while trespassing on her property, which consists of a home, community garden, and area for her animals. Despite several protective orders and several police reports, he continued the racist bullying.
“Anytime I felt threatened … I had this group of people that I would call, and they would come over because I had to do something to protect myself. The law wasn’t doing it,” David recalled.
With nowhere to turn, Central New York Fair Housing filed a federal housing discrimination lawsuit on behalf of David against Robert Whittaker Jr. in 2023. She’s also fundraising through GoFundMe to relocate her family and business, which she had to shut down due to safety concerns.
In Michigan, another key battleground state that Harris lost to Trump, Dilla Scott faced a lack of community support as her family experienced years of harassment and racism. She and her children moved to the small town of Cadillac in 2005 in search of better housing, becoming part of the 2% Black population. While in grade school, Dilla’s daughter, Angel Scott, was bullied by a white boy on the bus. One day, he even told her he wanted to burn a cross on a Black person’s lawn. When Dilla reported the incident, the school district failed to respond to take action, she said.
The bigotry came to a head in 2020 when one of her sons, Alex Marshall, was racially profiled by the police, which led to him being arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing a police officer. The county prosecutor later dropped those charges.
“In my experience from being in Cadillac, the white people thought they were entitled to do whatever they wanted to a Black person,” Scott said. “I think Trump had a lot to do with it, the influence of people mistreating Black people and its racist acts.”
After that traumatic experience, Dilla’s home became infested with rodents and her landlord refused to act. She sought help from several agencies, including the local housing commission and health department, but received no support. The 68-year-old fell ill and discovered she had 22 ticks on her body. She had enough, but at the time, the single mom couldn’t “just up and move. You know, you’re trying to survive,” she told Capital B.
The decades of lack of local support served as a reason for why she chose not to vote, feeling things wouldn’t change.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a politician that has not lied,” Scott said. “I have no reason to vote for man. I vote for God.”
Others have used the racism they’ve faced as a catalyst to improve their community.
Delbert Jackson grew up in a predominately white, rural town in east Texas. Unlike Ithaca, Center, Texas is a majority-Republican town, and its racist roots trace back to the 1920s when Lige Daniels, a Black teenager, was lynched in the main square at the courthouse. When Jackson returned to Center in 2010, he noticed the racism wasn’t hidden anymore — it was public for all to see. He noticed Confederate flags displayed during parades. He also stumbled upon the private club called the Sundowner, “a discreet and exclusive establishment … offering a unique social experience for its members.”
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He kept digging, and learned the Little Pony League changed its name to the Dixie League. The local activist knew he had to get involved when he found out white families participate in an annual ceremony to hang blue ribbons on the tree where Daniels was killed. For years now, he’s requested the local city council to relocate the historical marker of Daniels from the Black neighborhood to the courthouse grounds. The request was denied, but he’s still working to get it moved.
“They didn’t like the language that was used on the marker that’s at the location in the Black community. They told us that if anybody wanted to read the narrative that’s on that marker, then they can go to the Black neighborhood and read that narrative, but they wouldn’t allow that language on their historical Courthouse Square,” Jackson said.
In a place like Center, there is no local chapter of the NAACP or civil rights groups to support Jackson in his efforts. When asked why people aren’t getting involved, Jackson explains that most Black people “want to just mingle and merge, stay in their own churches or whatever. It’s business as usual. It’s not the same Black community that was here during Reconstruction or pre-Civil rights era.”
Though Trump will assume office, Jackson knows Black folks, particularly in the South, “won’t go down lightly.” While local white Democrats blame Harris’ loss on economics, Jackson emphasizes the history of racism and white supremacy is why Trump is back in office.
“That’s the American mindset. It’s regressive. It’s always been here, and it’s still here,” he added.
“We got to get to work”
While they will keep fighting locally, Black rural residents urge the Democratic Party to invest and organize in these communities year-round, not just during election cycles.
Robinson, the founder of the Black Male Voter Project, emphasized the need for the Democrats to come to grips that their policies aren’t translating with how folks vote, and having celebrities and influencers speak on behalf of Black communities doesn’t work.
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“When you have [a large percentage] of Black men not voting at all, or only one of the last four or five federal elections, that’s a critique of the tactics, not of the demographic,” Robinson said. “We have to … rethink what it means to invest in trusted messengers outside of Washington, D.C., and invest in state level politics, local level politics in a way that we’ve never done, not in modern times.”
Over the next four years, Democratic Mayor Dwan Walker of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, agreed the focus should be on local and state races to “put us in the best position to keep what we have and try to gain more if we can.”
“The wars are fought in Philly and Pittsburgh and Erie, but the battles are won in these small areas like Aliquippa” he said. “By getting a lot of those people out to vote in these rural areas, you could neutralize some of the areas that you don’t get that’s not a stronghold.”
But, the policies must align with low-income and working-class people, which is an area he felt the Democratic Party missed the mark. Even with Harris’ economic plan, which included $25,000 down payment for first-time homeowners, some people questioned, “How do I even get there?”
“Like my Dad always said, ‘There’s got to be an avenue to success. Don’t show me something and not tell me how to get there.’ Say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna help you with your credit. We’re gonna give you some support.’ Show me what my insulators are,” Walker said. “Who’s gonna protect me when [or] if I fall? What if I lose my job?”
Beyond organizing, the moment calls for taking a moment to walk away and connect with your community, said Dr. Kenya Johns, a professor and licensed professional counselor. She’s also the mayor of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and recently lost the bid to become the next state senator for Pennsylvania District 13. Even Johns is still processing the outcome.
“This is my motto since it happened Wednesday. Everyone, cry today. Get your tears out. Get your sadness out. Because Thursday, we got to get to work, and that’s exactly what I feel,” she said.