COMMUNITY ACTIVIST GIVES POST-ELECTION REFLECTION

Ashley Munson is a community activist and the senior manager of advocacy with the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Photo courtesy of Ashley Munson
Ashley Munson is a community activist and the senior manager of advocacy with the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Photo courtesy of Ashley Munson

 Community activist gives post-election reflection

BY TIA CAROL JONES
     While the presidential election was weeks ago, current President Donald Trump still has not conceded to President-elect Joe Biden. As votes continue to come in from states, Biden, as of the writing of this article, received 309 electoral college votes and on January 20, 2021, Biden will be sworn in as president of the United States of America while Kamala Harris will be sworn-in as vice president of the United States—making her the first Black, first woman and first Southeast Asian to hold that position.
      On Conversations with the Citizen, the podcast for the Citizen Newspapers, I sat down with Ashley Munson to talk about the election results. Munson is a community activist, as well as the senior manager of advocacy with the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
     Munson, who spearheaded the Juneteenth March For Us 2020, Million Man March in Chicago, described election night as her “Super Bowl.” She said this year, because the day of ballots were counted first, she tried to focus on the election and understand the real tally wouldn’t happen until after Election Night.
     “I spent the majority of the actual Election Day watching the news outlets. I was also out at some of the polls a little bit, just telling people to vote,” she said.
     Munson said the night of, she was frustrated until she remembered the other votes needed to come in. She said as the week progressed, she was happy.
     “It was a different type of happy. The first step was getting Donald Trump out of office, in my opinion. The second step is holding President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala accountable. Because this is just the beginning,” she said.
     Munson said her first thoughts were to think about what is next and how to hold the people elected accountable – on both federal and local levels. She said she was following the battleground states and trying to understand who came out to vote.
     “If you look at these states, you see the cities and how they really came out to vote. They voted blue and the rural parts and some of the Southern states, were really red,” she said. “And so, as the week progressed, I was looking at numbers, I was looking at who is voting, who is coming out. It was a lot of reading and research.”
     Munson said a lot of her focus was on Georgia and different dynamics that could shape the future of the country. Munson said she, like others, is ready for Trump to concede and she’s ready for what’s next, what does January 21 look like.
     Munson said while there is progression in the country, there is a lot that still needs to be done. Munson said she doesn’t think everyone who voted for Trump is a racist. “I really think some people think he’s the best choice and that concerns me,” she said. “I think Biden was the first step in bringing everybody to the table.         He has the charisma and competency to bring everybody to the table and that’s what we need. We need to discuss the issues as a “family” if you will, regardless of party and talk about what we need to do next.”

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