Dear Editor: What a wonderful group of Sitkans and visitors who joined in for the May Day Strong March hosted by Sitkans for Peace and Democracy, one of over 1,000 held across the country yesterday.
May Day is a day to celebrate the workers who came before us and gave us the 8-hour workday. It is also a day to support workers and immigrants, the two go hand in hand.
Trump and his billionaire profiteers are trying to create a race to the bottom—on wages, on benefits, on dignity itself. Without due process we have nothing! We must not stand by and watch them kidnap and disappear people! We are fighting back. We are demanding a country that puts our families and neighbors over billionaireʼs fortune, public schools over their private profits, healthcare over their hedge funds, clean air and water over their corporate greed, prosperity over their free market politics.
One way to do this is to start locally. As we face devastating cuts to programs that help our community members meet basic needs, local nonprofits doing lifesaving work are the ones who are being asked to fill the gaps. At the end of our march, we were able to connect volunteers with agencies and programs in need of help, particularly in light of the recent unacceptable removal of the Americorps program.
We had over 150 marchers (and the Statue of Liberty!) even though it was wet and windy in the middle of a workday and a cruise ship day at that. It was so uplifting to see the enthusiastic response from locals and visitors. Thank you to the Sitka Police Department for keeping the marchers safe from traffic.
Thank you to our incredible speakers Lakota Harden, Bruce Gazaway, and Mel Beadle. Thank you to Ted Howard for the use of his amplifier and microphone so our speakers could be heard by our large crowd. Thank you to Harryʼs Custom Services for the quick printing of our Americorps banner. Thank you to Alaska Pure Sea Salt Shop who chose to close their store to allow their workers to march. That is solidarity! And thank you to KCAW and the Sitka Sentinel for advertising the event. We are lucky to live in a community with great daily news sources.
The best way to move through this and make change is to care for our community while we work together to build a government better than we’ve had before, one that helps regular people to thrive, not just survive. If you would like to be connected to a local opportunity or mutual aid reach out to Mel Beadle at services@SAFV.org. Please consider volunteering if you have the means.
Thank you Sitka!
Tory OʼConnell Curran,
Mel Beadle, Wendy Alderson
with Sitkans for Peace and Democracy
