Edafe Okporo is running for the New York City Council because he still believes in the promise that America represents, even despite the ordeal he faced in coming to the United States. He first arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in November 2016 after fleeing homophobia in his home country of Nigeria; a group of men banged on his door in the middle of the night chanting, “Gay! Gay! Gay!” and beat him unconscious, he says. Never having stepped foot in the U.S. before, he admits that he was “pretty naive about what would happen.” Watching Donald Trump chant “Build the wall!” on the airport’s television sets, he says he had no idea who Trump was or what those words even meant.