Ariana Orozco

Nov 25, 2024 | indypendent.org | Ariana Orozco |Reed Dunlea

As election returns started to roll in on Nov. 5, dozens of immigrant-rights activists gathered in a highrise building near Midtown for a watch party. People chattered and watched with hopeful anticipation as the television analysts explained the brightly lit election map.

Nov 25, 2024 | indypendent.org | Ariana Orozco

As Donald Trump’s second term looms ahead, the wannabe dictator’s rise to political prominence is under particular scrutiny. While the question in 2016 was how he did it, 2024 boasts a much more complex question: How could Americans do this? Donald Trump’s supporters are no longer only fringe racists and Christian-nationalists. He has created the multiracial coalition of working-class voters that Democrats have been trying to assemble for years.

Aug 8, 2024 | indypendent.org | John Tarleton |Ariana Orozco

It was the closing minutes of a hard-fought Sunday afternoon basketball game at the Barclays Center. The crowd of  more than 10,000 fans chanted their team’s name — “Lib-er-ty! Lib-er-ty! Liberty!” — as they waved teal-colored towels with the image of the team’s beloved mascot Ellie the Elephant. “They are rushing too much when they don’t have too,” a fan said, shaking his head after another Liberty turnover.

Jul 17, 2024 | indypendent.org | J.D. Vance |Ariana Orozco

Donald Trump has named Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his 2024 running mate. Even moreso than former Vice President Mike Pence, the 39-year old endorses far-right political views including promoting conspiracies about the 2020 election, opposing abortion rights, and denying scientific consensus about human-related climate change. Vance was initially part of the “Never Trump” movement in 2016 going so far as to call his now boss “America’s Hitler,” but went on to support Trump during his 2020 campaign.

May 9, 2024 | commonwealmagazine.org | Ariana Orozco |Thomas Geoghegan |Beverly Willett |Sharon Mesmer

“Where you go I will go my friend / Where you go I will go / Your people are my people / Your people are mine…” A nightly song hummed on as hundreds of Columbia University students linked arms on the school’s south lawn to protest the university’s investments in Israel. As some students sang adjusted lyrics from the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible, others performed a Palestinian dabkeh dance, banged Malian djembe drums, and scraped Dominican güiras.