By Milli Legrain
PHILADELPHIA .-- “I feel
beautiful
because we won!”, Says Raul Santiago, a Puerto Rican who arrived in the United States in 1967 at the age of 17.
Santiago works for the municipality and is in charge of taking care of the parks of Philadelphia, the largest city in Pennsylvania, the state that gave birth to the president-elect, Joe Biden, and that with his decisive 20 electoral votes propelled him to victory this Saturday.
Philadelphia, like many cities in the country that tend to vote Democratic, was dressed up for a party this Saturday.
Thousands sang and danced on the street to music from all eras and at full volume: white, black and Latino people, with banners and figures celebrating the end of the Trump era and the beginning of something uncertain, but hopeful and new.
[Follow all the details of the 2020 US presidential election]
Jay Blanco, a Venezuelan small business owner, said he voted for Biden.
He adds that in recent years,
many small businesses have closed in his neighborhood and that his own business suffered "because Trump did not know how to handle the virus."
That Pennsylvania had given Biden the victory was no small thing.
Both candidates had fervently sought the vote here.
Biden was born in Scranton, a small industrial town, and for Trump the state was crucial to his triumph in 2016. The state had chosen Democrats for decades, until Trump managed to win the majority vote of the white worker.
In this election, the mobilization of Latinos like Blanco was crucial.
It was tight until the last minute, and not everyone voted for Biden, of course.
That was the case of a Dominican man in his 60s, who preferred that his identity not be used.
He told Noticias Telemundo that he encouraged his children to vote for Trump because he is concerned that Biden will let the caravans of undocumented people enter.
"Trump has been good for the economy," he adds.
In the Hispanic neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Fairhill and the Golden Block, there is also much indifference towards politics.
Many view with suspicion those who have promised them an improvement in their living conditions for years and they stay with that, promises.
[What is the Democratic Party doing to reach Latinos, and the big question: is it working?]
Some Hispanic groups mobilizing the community took matters into their own hands this year.
Among them are the
Philly Boricuas
- the Puerto Ricans of Philadelphia - a group that registered 500 Puerto Ricans to vote in these elections.
Adrian Mercado and Puchi de Jesús, founders of this group, affirm that Biden's campaign was slow to mobilize the Hispanic community.
“They go to the last minute to tell them to vote without telling them how.
So we went out to search people, ”de Jesús said.
"Biden won because we put in the work for him to win, not because he did it."
Adrian Mercado and Puchi de Jesús, founders of Philly Boricuas, on Saturday, November 7, 2020, in Philadelphia.Milli Legrain
We understand that Biden "is not going to save us, and he is not going to fix all the problems we have, because the problems we have are not just Trump's, they come from before Trump," he said, such as immigration problems and the economy. .
"We understand that we have to work with the community, create more community power, and make elected officials work for us."
A week of intense choice: the state where all eyes were on
Philadelphia had been dressed up since Friday, the night before Biden's win was official.
Thousands of people had gathered in the center of the city of 'brotherly love' (which means its name in Latin) to ask for a transparent counting of the votes.
"Every vote counts!"
, sang in unison a crowd of young people gathered in front of the convention center, where the count had been followed since the day of the election, last Tuesday, November 3.
The peaceful gathering lasted three days and had taken on increasingly festive tones, as a Biden victory in that state, and thus in the country, was increasingly likely.
Trump lashes out at Pennsylvania authorities over development of vote counting
Nov. 6, 202001: 47
Every once in a while, a young man would walk by with a handmade banner, updated with the number of votes separating Democrat Biden from Republican Trump.
On Friday afternoon, Biden was leading by just 14,000 votes and the large crowd cheered him with shouts of joy.
Meanwhile, they kept dancing to the rhythm of songs like 'Ain't no stopping us now', or 'Nothing can stop us anymore'.
For Cierra Williams, 25, a Philadelphia-born black woman who had been partying with the crowd for hours, this was as personal as it was professional.
She is a communications consultant for The Voter Project, a nonpartisan organization that seeks to facilitate secure voting.
Organizations like this had had a lot of work in these elections, since already before in the contest, on multiple occasions, Trump had insinuated without foundation that there would be fraud at the polls.
[High suspense in Pennsylvania, why does that state take so long to count its votes?]
“We have been preparing for this for a long time.
We knew that Trump was going to try to divide us.
We knew this was going to happen, ”Williams said.
"That is why our message has always been that united we are stronger."
Racial justice
As Williams spoke, an activist with a speaker took the floor: "This party is to protect democracy!"
But in a city like Philadelphia, with a majority of black and Latino people, the issue of racial inequity is always present.
This year, the elections coincided with the death of a black man at the hands of the police, Walter Wallace.
The activist did not take long to refer to the young man who was shot on October 26.
“Speak up if you believe there is justice for Walter Wallace!” He yelled.
[Latinos came out to vote with a desire for change and with the economy as a priority]
Williams and her friends are uncertain whether the situation will improve under a Biden administration, but they do know that Trump's racist rhetoric fuels divisions.
“Our wounds are still open.
But we have to have hope.
And getting Trump out is a first step, ”said Reda Nicholson and Brianna Williamson, who also attended the event.
Party and creativity
In the distance, a giant paper mache unicorn moved to the beat of the music.
Meanwhile, in another street, a massive replica of the United States Constitution was displayed, the original version of which was signed in this same city in 1787.
Among the crowd, three people dressed as mailboxes walked.
They are professionals from the world of theater, sponsored by the Center for Art Activism, who for weeks toured Pennsylvania to fight against misinformation and encourage the vote.
“We were concerned about the vote suppression tactics used in these elections, the attempts to discredit the postal vote and even the call for far-right militias to intimidate,” Larry Bogad, artistic director of the group, told Noticias Telemundo.
"For this reason, we have been distributing information on how to vote safely," he added.
“Every vote will be safely counted,” says Pennsylvania Secretary of State
Nov. 5, 202004: 53
After the elections, now these artists also demand a count of all the electoral ballots.
Meanwhile, they sought to dissipate tensions with a fun choreography and an alternative rendition of the song "Please Mr. Postman" or "Please Mr. Postman" by the group The Marvelettes and performed by The Beatles.
Those who don't celebrate, Trump's followers
Across the street, a group of about 20 older people also want to be heard.
They are Trump's voters.
They carry posters of Catholics for Trump, Women for Trump, some red cap, and many posters with the name of the president.
Some dance, raising flags, to the rhythm of songs like Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen or the disco song 'YMCA'.
Among them, Nicole Del Giorno seems distraught.
"It's very frustrating," said this hairdresser, who since the pandemic has had to stay at home in the south of the city to take care of her son.
"Many of Trump's supporters feel that there is electoral fraud," he added.
“Trump was winning in Pennsylvania.
You have to count the legal votes, ”he
said, echoing the allegations of fraud that President Trump himself continues to make, without presenting any evidence.
What the president does not mention is that the decision to extend the deadline to count the 3 million ballots requested in advance by voters who wanted to avoid voting in person due to the pandemic was made by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in October.
According to Kathy Boockvar, Pennsylvania's secretary of state, since the 2016 presidential election, voting by mail has multiplied by 10.
Security and confidence in the choice
Both sides, those who want all votes to be counted and those who accuse fraud, were divided not only by their values, but also by a metal fence and a line of armed policemen on bicycles.
The atmosphere, however, was peaceful and calm.
That's not too surprising for Del Giorno.
"There are a lot of police," he says.
"But I'm glad this is cordial."
Williams says her family is texting her telling her to take care of herself.
"But I feel safer here than at home," she told Noticias Telemundo.
“Here I see that democracy works.
At home I am isolated and all I do is wait for the results ”.
Of course, in the distance, one of the activists with a loudspeaker can be heard addressing the crowd to give them a couple of tips.
“Don't leave here alone.
Go accompanied ”.
And although almost everyone wore a mask, he said, "Please get tested for COVID this week."
The coronavirus is the ghost that lingers in the background in the midst of happiness over Biden's triumph.
On Saturday, when he learned that the Democrat had won, and that it was Pennsylvania who had given him the victory, Pablo Fernández, a Puerto Rican born and raised in Philadelphia's Golden Block, was happy, but not without a dose of skepticism.
[Puerto Ricans in the key state of Pennsylvania want to defeat Trump. Why won't it be easy at all]
“We are happy,” he said, “we hope they cure this disease, because many people are dying.
We hope that we deliver on what was promised.
We hope this brings a big change ”.
Fernández said that “They have promised us many things, boy, housing things, a cure for the disease, medical insurance, the minimum wage.
We hope they are fulfilled.
That's why we voted for him ”.
Journalist Juliana Jiménez Jaramillo contributed to this report.
