Dear Editor: On April 5, 300 Sitkans joined millions of people around the country and world for the Hands Off! National Day of Action. People participated for different reasons and with different priorities, but we all came to protest the Trump administration’s dismantling of civil society, and to advocate for a democracy that puts the needs of people first.
We were veteran protesters and newbies. We were young and old and in between. Some of us focused on threats to our own jobs or benefits, or those of our families, friends, and neighbors. Others on threats to democratic values like civil rights and liberties, to immigrants, to the earth, or to our common humanity. We protested the erasure of our diverse identities, histories, and cultures. We carried signs protesting U.S. complicity in the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, the dismantling of USAID, threats to the Constitution, and threats to the sovereignty of other nations. The Statue of Liberty was there, as was Abraham Lincoln, wondering what has happened to his party. People came whose presence alone expressed their resistance.
Certainly, we didn’t all share the same priorities and passions, but people at the demonstration were interested in the things that were important to one another, and we’re all learning about the ways these issues are interconnected. There were no speeches, but lots of conversation, some chants, and a sense of hope and determination.
In other words, Sitka’s Hands Off! demonstration looked like democracy.
The fight is just beginning! Keep calling Congress and we will see you in the streets! And at the roundabout every Saturday, noon to 1.
Mel Beadle, Tory O’Connell Curran, John Bruce Gazaway
Tori Hay, Cindy Litman, Joann Torgeson
Sitkans for Peace and Democracy
