under a drizzling gray sky, they arrived in droves on wednesday to bid an anguished farewell to the woman they had dreamed of calling madam president. the streets abutting the new yorker hotel in manhattan teemed with the bereft, with the emotionally and politically wounded seeking solace, camaraderie and some kind of reassurance that they could weather hillary clinton <u+2019>s astonishing loss to donald j. trump . they waited in stunned silence, a smattering of men but mostly women, some pushing walkers, others strollers, all there to hear their candidate deliver a concession speech that none of them expected and all of them dreaded. <u+201c>today, i woke up a second-class citizen,<u+201d> said tabatha garcia, an insurance claims adjuster from tampa, fla., who is mexican-american and black. she said she spent the morning in tears as mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign promises reverberated through her head: mass deportation, bans on muslims and building a wall along the mexican border. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m a brown-skinned woman named garcia,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>tell me why i shouldn<u+2019>t fear for my safety. that<u+2019>s a burden i have to carry now.<u+201d> ms. garcia said she hesitated even to criticize mr. trump, dreading the consequences of dissent in the forthcoming administration. she was not alone: several other people interviewed said they did not feel comfortable sharing their names for fear of publicly speaking out against the president-elect. <u+201c>this is what white supremacy looks like,<u+201d> said sylvia stevens, 38, a researcher from canarsie, brooklyn, who is black and worries that her mother may lose her health care. <u+201c>now i have to be concerned for my family.<u+201d> anya victoria, a human rights lawyer who specializes in deportation cases, was bracing herself for the daunting task ahead. <u+201c>immigrants were already living in fear,<u+201d> said ms. victoria, 35, who recently moved to new york from mexico city. <u+201c>i can<u+2019>t think of a word to describe what it<u+2019>s like now.<u+201d> <u+201c>in one day, everything i<u+2019>d thought and hoped about the united states was proven wrong,<u+201d> she added. indeed, even as their state remained solidly blue, many new yorkers mourned not only mrs. clinton<u+2019>s loss but also a previous understanding of their country. <u+201c>i know now that we live in two different americas,<u+201d> sabrina scandar, 29, a graduate student, said. <u+201c>and one clearly doesn<u+2019>t know the other at all.<u+201d> though she volunteered for president obama <u+2019>s previous campaigns, ms. scandar said she had chosen to sit this election out <u+2014> a decision that was already racking her with guilt. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m realizing now that i could<u+2019>ve done more,<u+201d> she lamented. still, some supporters refused to allow themselves even a moment of despair. among those waiting to hear mrs. clinton speak was kathy blute, a social worker who has taken part in liberal activism for decades. <u+201c>we fought for suffrage, we fought for civil rights, we fought to end our wars and we<u+2019>ll keep fighting now,<u+201d> said ms. blute, who wore a shirt with harriet tubman on it and a seneca falls button. <u+201c>this is not the end of anything.<u+201d> as she spoke, a man riding by on a bicycle began hurling invectives at the crowd. <u+201c>keep that whore out of office!<u+201d> he screamed. furrowing her brow, ms. blute took a deep breath and gathered her resolve. <u+201c>the midterms are less than two years away,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s time to get back to work.<u+201d>
crowd awaiting clinton is stunned by her loss and fearful of the future
noah remnick