On the first weekend of December, a group of 11 volunteers canvassed businesses along Bainbridge Avenue to ask shop owners to display a sign in their front window reading, “Standing Against Islamophobia and Racism.”

The idea of the signs, said organizer Pam Sporn, is to show Norwood that their neighbors and shop owners don’t agree with what she says is the hateful rhetoric of President-elect Donald Trump.

“It’s easy to feel depressed, disillusioned, and discouraged after the election,” Sporn said. “There is vicious and racist language coming out of politicians’ mouths, and [it’s difficult] to see the kind of appointments that Trump is making. But doing this with my neighbors and friends gives me a lot of strength. The government may try to deport people or set up a [Muslim] registry, but we’re not a passive mass to be abused. Our neighborhood is so diverse and this can really bring the community together.”

Over two hours, the group split into pairs, talking to business owners in English and Spanish and taping 50 signs onto storefronts. The materials were printed by the Network Against Islamophobia, a project by Jewish Voice for Peace.

“Put [the sign] anywhere, the best place you can put it,” said Muhammad M. Ali, perhaps the most enthusiastic shop owner to greet the canvassers, allowing them to hang the posters in the window and door of Ador Fashion, which sells traditional Bangladeshi clothing.

“Anything, anything against religion, and hated, I don’t like it. Any religions. We are human beings, and in the Constitution there is freedom of religion, freedom of choice. Somebody calls ‘God,’ somebody calls ‘Allah,’ but the creator is one,” Ali said on why he agreed to put the posters up.

Some shop owners politely declined, saying they didn’t want to get involved in politics. Others invited the volunteers to put the posters outside their store.

One owner, who is not being identified, said that he has been concerned about his safety since the election and has started closing his store earlier in the evening. He said he didn’t want a sign in the window that might indicate his religion.

“[People have] come in to buy something and they don’t want to pay,” the owner said. “They say ‘this is my country.”

Deli owner Mohamad Alsidi, however, said that he hasn’t had any issues in the neighborhood, and agreed to hang the sign because he is against “any kind of racism.”

Yamilet Galan, who was in a nail salon when the canvassers came in, took a sign to put in her apartment window on Perry Avenue.

“It’s not only Muslims, it’s Spanish [speakers] too,” Galan said. “I don’t know, I don’t understand the people [who voted for Trump].”

The group of volunteers started canvassing the previous weekend by knocking on apartment doors at 3400 Wayne Ave. and 3341 Reservoir Oval W.

“I’m a neighborhood supporter, and I have to revive my activism—I thought I was in retirement,” said canvasser John Losasso. “This election has reactivated and reanimated us as well. It makes me feel like I’m doing something necessary—we have to do something, and it feels empowering.”

“I’m a therapist, I work with a lot of people from Central America and there’s a lot of anxiety that has come up in our sessions,” said Jose Alfaro, a former Norwood resident who now lives on the other side of Van Cortlandt Park and who helped canvass the businesses. “I think we, in neighborhoods, need to organize and bring people together.”

Editor’s Note: A canvass of businesses along the West 231st Street and Broadway is planned for 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10. The group will meet on the northwest corner of Broadway and 231st Street by Chase Bank.