Berkshires Turns Out in Protest Against Trump Administration
Hundreds of people were at Park Square on Saturday afternoon to protest actions by the Trump administration and expressed fears about the potential loss of civil rights and Social Security.
At least 150 people assembled in Adams around the Town Common, with the statue of voting rights icon Susan B. Anthony in the background, and at the Adams Free Library where Civil War veterans once gathered.
"Last time I was in one of these marches was in 1969 against the Vietnam War down in Boston," said Michael Wellington of Adams.
In Williamstown, more than 200 people turned out to line both sides of Main Street (Route 2) in front of First Congregational Church at noon on Saturday afternoon. And hundreds gathered at Park Square in Pittsfield, with chants so loud they could be heard from the McKay Street Parking Garage.
"We need peaceful protest, I think, is the only thing that is going to make a difference to certain people," said Jackie DeGiorgis of North Adams, standing across the corner from the Adams Town Common. "So I'm hoping we can get more people out here and say their peace. ...
"I would like our our representatives in Congress, to do their job and listen to their constituents, because I don't think that's happening."
Her friend Susan Larson King, also of North Adams, acknowledged that "government needs to be downsized, maybe."
"But we need to look at the programs and how they're being run and make changes there, not just slash people from their jobs," she said. "I just retired so I'm collecting Social Security. It's my whole income. I'm really scared, and I shouldn't have to feel this way."
Elaine Nash of Lanesborough was at the Pittsfield protest wondering how it all happened.
"I'm saddened by it, and I don't understand how we got here, because Donald Trump has told us what he is going to do right from the beginning," she said. "I'm looking for answers why everyone chose someone like him and the co-president Elon Musk."
The local protests, which also were planned in Great Barrington and Stockbridge, were part of a wave of "Hand's Off" assemblies across the nation. More than 20,000 people were expected in Washington, D.C.
In Boston, 55 Berkshire County residents took a bus to join thousands of protesters on Boston Common. Originally estimated at 5,000, by Saturday organizers were expecting 25,000 people to march to City Hall Plaza to hear speakers including U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and the Dropkick Murphys.
From North County south, protesters showed up with mostly handmade signs with messages targeting specific policies they say are threatening civil rights, health care, education and veterans, and bemoaning the chaos that consumed Wall Street this week after the president announced a dramatic increase in tariffs.
More than 200,000 employees have already been slashed from the federal workforce, entire departments eliminated and billions in grant funding terminated.
Kathy and Joseph Arabia, founders of the AYJ Fund, which supports research and families affected by child cancer, were holding signs in Adams calling for "Hand's Off Real Science."
Kathy Arabia noted the hollowing out of the National Institutes of Health and canceling of grants for cancer research.
"We're going to lose research, too, because the whole system is going to slow down," she said. "So the research is going to go other places. ...
"Then you start thinking long term, even people going into the industry, thinking, every four years, is this gonna happen?"
Adams Selectman Joseph Nowak was holding a large sign with a sarcastic "Climate change is a hoax — really?"
"I'm here because I've always loved the environment and it's under attack. It's getting to a point right now where we're almost too late to save it, so I'm doing what I can," said Nowak, who retired from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.
"No Kings No Tyrants No Trump," stated one sign, with others ranging from "Hands Off USAID" to "Hands Off Our Health Care" to "Hands Off LGBTQ+ Rights" to "Too Many Issues for One Sign" to the more simply stated "Trump Sucks." There were American flags, upside down American flags signaling distress, and a scattering of Ukrainian blue and yellow.
Protestors chanted and cheered and waved as passing vehicles blew their horns in support — or offered the occasional angry shout or obscene gesture. There were no counterprotests in either town or the city.
Bryan Patton's lived in Pittsfield his whole life and has been alarmed by recent events, particularly the raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
"I think I was primarily motivated [to protest] by just the compassion for the immigrants that I work with and and teach, but also work with here in the community," he said at Park Square. "Also just to be around other people who care about the basic tenets of the Constitution and that we are not descending in the monarchy. We are a democracy, and it only is that way if people stand for it."
Valerie Nicole from Lee said she was hoping the protests could turn things around. "I don't like the way we're going right now," she said. "I don't like the fact he's taking away a lot of the power of the people."
Sherwood Guernsey of the Berkshire Democratic Brigades, organizer of Williamstown's rally, said it was the largest such gathering he could remember in the town of 7,500 (fewer on Saturday with the college and its 2,200 students on spring break).
Guernsey said the nationwide event was the vanguard of a national protest movement and likened it to the revolution born in Massachusetts and the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s.
He scoffed at the notion the protests were no match for Republican control of major levers of political power: the White House, the Supreme Court, both chambers of Congress, 27 of 50 governorships, and 23 state legislatures (15 are controlled by Democrats and 11 are split and according to the National Conference of State Legislatures).
State Rep. John Barrett III tells protesters in Williamstown to keep up the pressure.
And if restrictive voting laws, 26 Republican secretaries of state and a Supreme Court skeptical of the Voting Rights Act tip the balance?
"It's a problem, we know that," Guernsey said. "But that means we're going to have more and more protests, and people will stand up. This is just the beginning.
"But we got over 200 people here. I've been doing this for 30, 40 years, and I've never had a protest this large in Williamstown. And hundreds of people all across Berkshire County, thousands across the nation are out. This is gonna make a statement, and it's gonna grow."
Other protesters felt the same.
"I'm here because I believe that our country is in a very uncomfortable place and a very negative place, and we need to stop and recognize where we're headed and why it's not good for any of us," said protester Sue Hanson in Pittsfield. "And we need to make a statement. ...
"I hope a greater awareness across the country that we will not stand for the injustices that are happening every single day."
A contingent from New Lebanon, N.Y., traveled to Pittsfield to protest.
"I certainly hope that our representatives in Congress and the Senate will wake up to the fact that they have a significant base of support for refuting the ridiculous policies and procedures that our president is pursuing," said Kris Cottam, president of the New Lebanon (N.Y.) Town Democratic Committee.
Peg Munves, another committee member, said she hopes people driving by and participating feel empowered.
"Many people are feeling powerless, and these kinds of things show that we're all many of us like do not like what's going on and we can do things to change it," she said.
Paul Borst said he's "just sick and tired of all the stupidity that's coming out of Washington, D.C."
State Rep. John Barrett III, D-North Adams, who grew up in Williamstown and has been a major figure in North County politics for four decades, agreed that Saturday's was the largest gathering he had seen in the Village Beautiful.
The crowds that lined Main Street migrated to the lawn in front of the church to hear Barrett speak on the steps.
Barrett told the group that the people can lead the politicians if they turn out in force.
"Like [Sen. Charles] Grassley is out in Iowa, fighting for his farmers like he should have been fighting before instead of fighting for Trump," Barrett said. "Fighting all over this country. Change is coming, and it's because of people like you. Don't stop what you're doing. It will make a difference, and I guarantee you, it will bring those weak politicians right to their knees.
"Keep it up."
Staff Writers Stephen Dravis and Sabrina Damms contributed to this report.
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