On Saturday, members of the Lorain County community, including many Oberlin residents and community members, gathered in North Ridgeville to protest the actions of the current Trump administration. The protest was held outside of Lorain County Community College’s satellite campus, with the crowd stretching across Lorain Road.
“It was affirming to know that so many people from Lorain County would make the effort to attend the protest,” Ann Francis, an Oberlin resident and attendee of the protest, wrote to the Review. “It showed me how deeply concerned we are about the policies, actions, and intentions [of the Trump administration]. The protest connects people who care and motivates us to continue to work for change whenever and wherever possible. This is our time to be vigilant and to act.”
One of the organizers of the protest, Ann Pilisy, chair of the Oberlin Democratic Party, noted that the protest was part of a larger movement by organizers in Lorain County to aid Democratic candidates in Ohio running in this year’s midterm elections, including Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown for the gubernatorial and senatorial elections, respectively.
“I think it’s good for thousands [of] people to get together and know they’re not alone [and] there’s more of us than there [are] of them,” Pilisy said. “The current administration is out of control, and we don’t like it. What else can we do? … I have to believe strongly that Democrats will get elected in the fall. I’m doing everything I can do to promote that. We can’t be hopeless.”
The Chronicle-Telegram reported that the organizers estimated over 1,500 protesters attended the event.
Lili Sandler, an Oberlin resident and founder of Lorain County Rising, a local political organization, said that many attendees of the protest were motivated by opposition to the current war in Iran and the resulting increase in gas prices. She also noted that some of the attendees may have been motivated to get more involved in local political organizing as a result of the opposition to the planned mega site to be built in New Russia Township. Despite the high attendance, Sandler mentioned that student involvement in local protests has declined in recent years, especially after the 2024 election.
“I would love to see more student involvement,” Sandler said. “Oberlin College has a long and beautiful history of students being very deeply, passionately involved in politics and social issues. I would love to see students … tapping into that beautiful history that Oberlin has, because I know that Oberlin students are just as passionate and just as smart and just as dedicated to social and political justice as they were in the ’60s … I’m just not seeing the protests here on campus. And I think it would be really great if students got activated in that way again.”
