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Left on Long Island: Resentment and Redemption

By Ashley Mustashee

3/4/2026

Growing up on Long Island as a leftist can often feel isolating. Staring out at the horizon from my small, progressive island, digging my heels into the warm sand, I always hoped for more. I had to wade into the water of capitalist society, forcing myself to tolerate a bigoted environment for fear of conflict. I'm no longer alone in this experience.

In 2020, many of us felt that our individual “islands” were merging into an archipelago, hoping to form a nation of leftists. Black Lives Matter protests nationwide offered hope that change was possible. The media frequently covered these protesters despite the suppression they faced across the country.

But for various reasons, we couldn't sustain that momentum. The so-called “Woke Movement” fell apart, and our islands drifted.

Now, we’re in another revolutionary merging, and I find myself conflicted. The love I feel for humanity guides my pride in this new awakening. I’m fueled by the collective anger of neighbors who understand the legacy of segregation and redlining.

Yet, other communities—those who were (and likely still are) unaware of the imperialist violence imposed on marginalized groups—are now enraged too. It’s said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes; refrains of 2020 still resonate today.

One commonality between them is Donald Trump's presidency. That’s where much of my resentment lies.

My patience does not always hold because compassion and complicity are not the same. I struggle with those who voted for Trump repeatedly, even after witnessing what his presidency brought. At some point, repetition becomes affirmation.

And yet, I am now asked to welcome those same people into shared spaces of resistance.

So, how do I show charity to those who’ve awakened to the truth way too late? Sometimes I don't. It's like they were frozen in ice and just now thawed in a dystopian wasteland. How do you save someone who failed to act when the signs were clear and they only harmed those they ignored?

While acts of mutual aid and outreach humble me, it's easy to dismiss hopeless or revolting people at a glance. But when you share space with them—working together, sharing resources without malice—you see their willingness to learn and change. 

In those moments, they show they’re ready to shed their complicity and challenge the status quo they once upheld. They encounter a side of America that they had alienated themselves from because they were told to. By confronting the imaginary demons they had been taught to fear, they hear stories of transformation, experience challenges to their beliefs, and humanize those they had once discarded and left behind.

It is comparable to watching a child outgrow old habits while developing new ones. They learn empathy and communication. They become more thoughtful and better informed. Reactionary politics often stem from an immature impulse in which a sense of righteousness is prioritized over truth. The emphasis is on feeling righteous rather than being righteous, on seeking validation for poorly formed conclusions instead of questioning them. 

To watch someone step away from the cult-like machinery of hardline conservatism is to watch them mature a second time. You also begin to see what led them to fall headfirst into it, and the result is a mutual humanization. This transformation of thought is common in organizing spaces, and it is essential if we hope to overturn the authoritarian drift we are currently enduring.

In these times of conflict, I invite you to seek community. Even something as simple as a neighborhood meeting can have effects you never could have predicted. Talking to your neighbors about politics can be intimidating. It is often considered taboo in American culture, but I believe that taboo exists by design.

Ultimately, it is necessary to approach others with compassion and understanding, provided they extend the same to you. As human beings, we thrive in communal spaces. This simple truth may be the key to healing the fractured legacy of the so-called “Woke Movement.”