Williamstown Protest Speakers Call for Citizens to Rise Together
State Sen. Paul Mark becomes the 1,001 signature on Hailey Peters petition to the federal delegation to 'fire' Elon Musk.
"They are dismantling our voting rights. They are gutting protections for workers. They are attacking public education, banning books and silencing honest history," said Dennis Powell, president of the Berkshire Chapter of the NAACP. "They are playing politics with our health care, putting corporate profits above human lives. They sow division, fear and hatred, because they know that we are weaker when we are divided ...
"So we are here to say we are not weak. We are rising."
At least 200 people were holding signs at the park and waving to a chorus of tooting horns, and a few catcalls. Saturday's event followed thousands held worldwide on Thursday for May Day and was the latest local protest of the president and multibillionaire Elon Musk's actions in hollowing out government agencies, and the government's detaining of immigrants and a flurry of executive orders targeting everything from education to showerheads.
"It's a dark time, but I think the resistance movement is building, and I think people are starting to get the message, like, we need to keep doing this," said Wendy Penner of Greylock Together, organizer of the rally. "This isn't going to be like a one and done thing in terms of standouts protests. And my hope is it's building, not just in Massachusetts, but it's building in all the purple and red states across the country."
She believes more and more people are disgusted by what's happening and that standouts and rallies will have an exponential effect, what researchers call the "theory of change" when the 3.5 percent of the population participates in a nonviolent resistance.
"When it's in the news in the blue states, then I think it's empowering our officials to use their leverage and power," Penner said. "And then when their colleagues are wavering, they can have conversations about how to get support. So it's kind of an inside/outside game, right? We're doing our thing on the outside, and we're trying to put all that pressure on the folks on the inside."
Hailey Peters of North Adams presented a petition with 1,000 signatures to state Sen. Paul Mark to present to the state's federal delegation to do whatever they could to "fire" Musk and dismantle his Department of Government Efficiency, and restore departments and public employees.
"This petition wasn't electronic," said Peters. "It is an old-fashioned, person-to-person effort. These signatures were collected by your constituents in rains at rallies, on street corners and at gatherings. ... they were collected by passing through hands young and old, picked up at houses, and one even survived a fall into the Hoosic River."
She described the signatures as being about 1,000 conversations "discussing democracy, building a community and taking an active step to save our country."
Tens of thousands of government workers have already been fired or targeted while the president is seeking to replace civil service positions with political appointees, said Peters, and there's fears that DOGE is collecting personal data from Social Security, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Mark attended a rally in Holyoke in the morning and was heading to another gathering in Pittsfield afterward. Other officials were attending the funeral of U.S. Rep. James McGovern's daughter on Saturday morning, he said, adding he had paid respects at the wake the night before.
"Seeing everyone here today makes me and my colleagues in the Legislature know we are a community," said Mark, a Democrat who represents 57 communities in Western Mass. "We have people that are fighting there with us, and we can fight as hard as we need to to push back at these horrendous things that should not be happening in this great country."
As a former union member and in light of International Workers Day, the senator's focus was on labor, and he told the story of his own family's struggles in the 1990s when his father lost his job.
"Right now, what is happening around this country, with these unannounced layoffs, with this attack on working people, federal workers, the cutting of grants, this is resulting in people like 11-year-old Paul Mark all over this country," he said. "It's happening now because a billionaire and a multi-billionaire guiding him decided they need to take more money, that they need a tax cut, and because of that, they are intentionally damaging our community and communities all over this country. This matters to everybody, no matter what party you are or if you're no party."
"Down the street," said the senator, referring to Lexington and Concord, "we started a revolution because the government then got a little too big for their britches. And I'm here to tell everybody that's listening out in Washington, Massachusetts isn't letting the king come back."
The gathering also heard from immigrants' rights advocate Fernando Leon, who recalled the eight to 10 immigrants taken from the Berkshires by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the impression that immigrants are a burden.
"In 2020, immigrants paid $650 million in local and state taxes," he said. "Thirty-five percent of main street business owners in Massachusetts are immigrants. Undocumented immigrants contribute to Social Security and Medicare but are not eligible for federal benefits. When immigrants move to Massachusetts, the economy grows. ...
"We are here to push against the lies. Let me be clear — no human being is illegal. But what happened on March 19, that was criminal."
Elizabeth Recko-Morrison of the Berkshire Labor Council said the quality of service delivery depends on supporting the workforce and the Project 2025 blueprint being used by Trump would limit union power, and threaten wage and labor protections.
"It is our unions that add power to our individual voices during good times and the horrific ones like those we are experiencing now," she said. "Unionized workers built the middle class, and we damn well intend to keep it alive."
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