Several hundred people filled Tappan Square Saturday to protest policies of the Trump administration. The protest was part of a nationwide mobilization, consisting of more than 1,400 “Hands Off!” rallies around the country. The event marked the largest single-day protest against the Trump administration since the start of Trump’s second term, with hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrating in cities around the United States and globally.
According to Lili Sandler, founder of Lorain County Rising, the April 5 rally was a “call for mass activation of people’s power to defend democracy.” Sandler emphasized the peaceful nature of the rallies.
The protest in Oberlin was organized by a coalition of local groups, including Lorain, County Rising, OC Votes, League of Women Voters of Lorain County, and Oberlin Seniors for Democracy, and was made up of a plethora of local community members, as well as some students and faculty from Oberlin College.
The rally included a number of speeches by various community leaders, with a keynote speech by Rev. Thomas Bowen, an Elyria native and associate minister at the historic Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and former senior advisor for public engagement at the White House under the Biden administration. Other speakers included Ben Guess, executive director of ACLU Ohio, and a number of community leaders from Elyria and the Oberlin student body.
“This is what democracy looks like,” Bowen exclaimed in his speech. “We’re gathered here, not in the spring, but in the season of urgency, when the very foundation of our democracy feels unsteady. … A democracy dies not only in darkness, but also in silence. And we refuse to be silent.”
Participants at the protest listed a number of issues, from threats to social security, to the revoking of international students’ visas, to concerns over LGBTQ+ rights.
“This is our first protest; this shows how strong we feel about the state of our country right now,” rally attendees Stacy Bock and Shannon Ives said. “I’m hoping that mass crowds like this and even bigger crowds in D.C. and bigger cities will draw attention to the news, will draw attention to Congress, and hopefully some action will take place. I think we kind of got in a lull for a minute, and it’s nice to regain a little momentum. It’s also nice to see solidarity. We felt very alone after the election. It’s nice to see that it’s not just us.”
Several student clubs were represented at the rally, including Sunrise Oberlin and the Young Democratic Socialists of America.
“Aggressive displays of power by this current administration and this blatant fascism has been a bit alarming for a lot of people,” College second-year and YDSA co-chair Dylan Kim said. “And I think a well organized event like this is important because it shows that people together are going to be stronger ultimately. It’s very much a real fight for democracy.”
The protest included people of all ages, from young children to many residents of Kendal. It also included people from all over Lorain county, which went red in the last election, with 52.12% of the county electorate voting for Donald Trump.
“As a social studies teacher, I recognize turning points in American history and this is one of those events people need to take notice of because things are happening without people’s consent, and this leads to fascism and authoritarianism,” Tony Borowski, an attendee at the protest, said.
Another attendee at the rally, Nancy Lombardi, echoed these sentiments.
“I think it’s important that we not be silent,” Lombardi said. “They often wondered what the good people of Germany did in the 1930s; they did nothing. We can’t do that again. We have to do something. We have to speak up. I think it’s Elie Wisel who said that we may not be able to prevent injustice, but we should never not protest.”
