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Column: The kids in Berkeley are not feeling all right: rage, grief and excellent homemade signs
Berkeley residents Cristina Levert, and her daughter Soha, 17, spent Wednesday morning on the UC Berkeley campus protesting the election of Donald Trump as president.
Reporting from Berkeley — The day after Donald Trump became our president-elect, UC Berkeley junior Kalila Kirk showed up on campus wearing a homemade sandwich board.
The back said: “White America — We Did This. We should be ashamed. We need to change.”
The front: “If you are a person of color, a Muslim, a woman, undocumented, a person with disabilities, etc. you are loved.”
I bumped into Kirk late Wednesday morning, as she stood at the edge of a mass of students who had gathered at the base of the school’s famous bell tower. Most were teenagers who had walked out of classes at Berkeley High School and marched half a mile to the Cal campus.
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Taking turns at an open mic, students shared their raw emotions. Some cried. Some raged. Some were so upset they had trouble articulating their feelings.
“I’m angry,” said Belinda, who gave only her first name. “I’m so [expletive] angry.
Kalila Kirk, a UC Berkeley junior, was dispirited by the results of the presidential election, and the harsh rhetoric of Donald Trump.
(Robin Abcarian/Los Angeles Times )
“I have a right to be angry,” she said, breaking into tears. “Not all Mexicans are rapists.”
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Kirk listened. “I feel really disheartened and bleak and powerless,” she told me. “I understand why poor, working class people don’t identify with Hillary Clinton, but the Republican Party is not going to help them.”
The only thing that cheered her up, she said, was the success of progressive measures on state and local ballots. Also, Berkeley elected its first Latino mayor on Tuesday.
“Maybe it’s time,” Kirk said, “for Berkeley and California to be the shining light for the rest of the country.”
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Or to break off. More than one person on Wednesday here joked that what California really needs is a wall. Across our eastern flank.
In social media, they’ve been calling it #CalExit.
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Just after noon, a second protest was taking form at Sproul Plaza. This one comprised UC Berkeley students, who sat quietly for the most part under a banner that read, “Undocumented. Unafraid.”
Fatima Al Khaleef, a sophomore, wore a baseball cap under her sweatshirt hood. Normally, she said, she wears a headscarf, but several times in the past week she’d been subjected to slurs, so she took it off for her own safety.
“People told me to take it off,” she said. “Go back to where I came from.”
Fatima Al Khaleef, a Muslim-American, worries about Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric
(Robin Abcarian/Los Angeles Times )
That would be San Jose. Her Iraq-born parents are naturalized U.S. citizens. I asked if she was Muslim. “I’m Muslim American,” she replied.
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Berkeley High School senior Soha Levert, 17, and her mother, Cristina, 39, stood in the throng, holding their signs high.
Soha said she woke up Wednesday completely out of sorts.
“I was enraged,” she said. “I wanted to just sit home and isolate myself. Instead, my mom calls me and tells me she is going to go give out free hugs.”
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They made signs, and headed out to protest. Cristina’s sign said, “Are we awake yet?”
Her hope was that peaceful demonstrations like these would be the rule.
“We need to come together like never before,” she said.
A middle-aged woman walked past us, and hesitated for a moment. “How do we stop crying?” she asked, then walked on.
At that moment I had a flashback to 2008. Barack Obama had just become our first black president, beating John McCain in Ohio by 4.6%, a solid win but nothing compared with Trump’s 9-point rout of Clinton on Tuesday.
I was in Cincinnati, interviewing people at Price Hill Chili, a local landmark. I stopped to talk to two middle-aged white women.
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Police arrest an anti-Trump protester in the early morning hours Saturday. The LAPD arrested about 150 people at Grand Park after a night of marching through downtown L.A.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Police arrest about 150 anti-Trump protesters at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles in Saturday’s early morning hours.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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An anti-Trump protester scales a fence at Grand Park in Los Angeles to avoid being arrested by police in the early morning hours Saturday.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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LOS ANGELES, CALIF. -- THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2016: Anti-Trump protesters on the 101 freeway, in Los Angeles, Calif., on Nov. 10, 2016.
((Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times))
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Police prevent anti-Trump protesters from accessing the Harbor Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Friday night.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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On Friday night an estimated 3,000 people marched throughout downtown Los Angeles protesting the election of Donald Trump.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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An estimated 3,000 people filled the streets of downtown Los Angeles on Friday night to protest the election of Donald Trump.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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LAPD officers circle a protester while he was being arrested during an anti-Trump protest Friday night.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters fill the streets of downtown Los Angeles Friday evening.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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A large group of anti-Trump protesters walks over the 4th St. ramp, off the I-110 south freeway on Friday night.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester stands in the middle of Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles during an anti-trump march Friday night.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes)
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Anti-Trump protesters on 4th steert marching into downtown Los Angeles on Friday night.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes)
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Garrett Gage, 28, of Woodland Hills holds an American flag as he protests in downtown Los Angeles on Friday night.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes)
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A passenger takes a video of anti-Trump protesters on downtown L.A. streets on Friday night.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters stream down Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles on Friday night.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters gather on the steps of L.A. City Hall before beginning their march through the streets of downtown on Friday night.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester waves the peace sign to LAPD officers blocking the intersection of Olive Street and Olympic Boulevard during an anti-Trump march through downtown Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A police officer takes aim at demonstrators after cans and bottles were thrown at LAPD officers during an anti-Trump march through downtown Los Angeles
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters chant and wave signs as LAPD officers halt their march through downtown Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters raise their hands as LAPD officers halt their march through downtown Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers stand guard at LA Live as anti-Trump demonstrators hit the streets.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A anti-Trump demonstrator waves a large Mexican flag as protesters on the march snarl traffic in downtown Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Motorists wait it out as anti-Trump protesters on the march snarl traffic in downtown Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A small group of demonstrators blocks traffic at the intersection of Figueroa Street and Chick Hearn Way.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Demonstrators gathers march near LA Live to protest President-elect Donald Trump on Thursdaynight.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A small group of demonstrators march down Second Street in L.A. to protest President-elect Donald Trump.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Demonstrators march down Spring Street in L.A. to protest President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday night.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Some motorist join in to cheer on the anti-Trump protesters march up San Pedro street in Los Angeles on Nov. 9. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters march down Spring Street in Los Angeles on Nov. 9. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters gather outside Los Angeles City Hall chanting, “Love Trumps Hate” on Nov. 9. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters flood the 101 Freeway. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters gather outside of Los Angeles City Hall on Nov. 9. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters gather outside of Los Angeles City Hall chanting, “Not my president, not my president,” in Los Angeles on Nov. 9. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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There was graffiti tagging along the sidelines of the anti-Trump protest downtown in Los Angeles on Nov. 9. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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An anti-Trump protester stands in defiance blind folded and holding an American flag in front of police officers, as protesters block up the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles on Nov. 9. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Police shout at anti-Trump protesters on the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles on Nov. 10. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A protesters with a Guy Fawkes mask stands aside watching other anti-Trump protesters on the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles on Nov. 10. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters march on the 101 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 9.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters flood onto the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday night. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters climb out of the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday night. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters flood onto the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A police officer watches protesters behind a concrete barrier along the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers form a line to prevent protesters from walking onto the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Police block traffic on the 101 Freeway near downtown L.A. as protesters rally against Donald Trump’s election as president.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters on the 101 freeway, in Los Angeles, California.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters march on the 101 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 9.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A driver is stuck in his car while Trump protesters block traffic in downtown Los Angeles.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters stop traffic in downtown Los Angeles.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters clear the road for an emergency vehicle in downtown Los Angeles.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters walk the streets of downtown Los Angeles, rallying against the election of Donald Trump.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters burn an effigy of Donald Trump outside Los Angeles City Hall.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters burn an effigy of Donald Trump outside Los Angeles City Hall on Wednesday.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Hundreds of anti-Donald Trump protesters hold a demonstration in Washington Square Park as New Yorkers react to the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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Hundreds of anti-Donald Trump protesters hold a demonstration in Washington Square Park as New Yorkers react to the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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Demonstrators block traffic on the 580 Freeway during a march through the streets in protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Oakland, California.
(PETER DASILVA / EPA)
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A demonstrator faces off with police during a march through the streets in protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Oakland, California.
(PETER DASILVA / EPA)
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A protester in San Francisco holds up a sign for President Obama in opposition of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.
(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
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Thousands of anti-Trump protesters shut down Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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Protesters yell in San Francisco.
(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
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Students stage an anti-Trump rally on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Tears are shed at the postelection candlelight vigil outside the White House.
(Michael Reynolds / EPA)
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Fletcher Jones, 14, joined other students at an anti-Trump rally at L.A. City Hall.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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An anti-Trump rally in Seattle.
(Karen Ducey / Getty Images)
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Emotions run high at the postelection protest at L.A. City Hall.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Approximately 200 students protested President Elect Donald Trump on the steps of city hall
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Anti-Trump protesters in New York City.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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Anti-Trump protesters march through downtown L.A. early Wednesday, shortly after the election result was announced.
(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
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A postelection vigil outside the White House.
(Michael Reynolds / EPA)
Could I ask them about Obama’s historic victory? They shook their heads no. They were too upset. One wept.
It’s hard for adults not to take these losses personally.
So imagine how much harder it is for the teenagers and young adults who have been through cataclysmic social upheaval in the past couple of years.
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They’ve watched videos of police killing unarmed black men, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, and heard the dark Trump rhetoric about Mexicans and Muslims.
They may not fully grasp that the American political pendulum is ever in flux. Eventually, inevitably, it will swing left again.
Robin Abcarian is an opinion columnist at the Los Angeles Times. She writes about news, politics and culture. Her columns appear on Wednesday and Sunday. Follow her on Bluesky @rabcarian.bsky.social and Twitter @AbcarianLAT.
