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Hands Off nationwide rally
- Boston Common 4/5/25 (Jesse's YouTube video)
- [Article links to come]
- Photo essay below
Ovver a hundred organizations helped organize the nationwide rallies on April 5. Some of them had nicely-printed signs, but I think the hand-made signs say a lot more.
[There was a "sign-making station" with posterboard and markers, at the Boston Common, but most people made their signs at home]. Here's a sample...
DOGE and Elon Musk were major targets of many protestors. The theme of "Hands Off" applies to many DOGE actions:
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| This was my favorite sign of the day; it reads,
"DOGE is not healthy for children and other living things."
I said to the sign-holder, "I get your reference to that wonderful poster from the 60s." (Shown to the right -- a popular Vietnam War protest slogan.) She responded, "I'm giving away my age!" I responded, "I was too young to be a hippie but that poster made me wish I could have been." |
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MAGA and Trump were also general targets. I saw no guidance from organizers on what to say on signs, so if people are just anti-MAGA, they focused on MAGA. I considered focusing on "Resisting" to mean "Act more like Sentaor Cory Booker than like Sen. Chuck Schumer, and stand up to Trump."
Many people focused on immigration issues. If you care about immigrant rights, I recommend attending the Randolph Town Council meeting on April 14, regading the Welcoming Resolution -- our local resistance by honestly telling residents the police rules.
LGBTQ+ rights was a major focus too. And DEI issues, too. Rep. Ayanna Pressley focused on this issue in her speech to the crowd, describing protecting back-sliding on rights as the "civil rights issue of our time."
Women's rights were addressed by the now-classic "pussy hats". My mom knitted me a pussy hat, which I wore to previous rallies, and I wished I had here too, since they were what all the Cool Kids wore. (P.S. My mom attended the Hand off rally in Manhattan while I taking these photos in Boston].
Foreign policy did come up -- although the focus was on domestic policy. There were a lot of Ukraine flags, and this fine paean tying Denmark Rights to anti-Trumpism:
I didn't understand every sign, and I like to understand all the issues. So when I didn't understand it, I asked the sign-carriers what they meant. Here are their answers:
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I chatted with this woman about what cats want with regards to peace; I noted "my cats want a piece of mouse, a piece of bird, so yes, my cats want peace!" |
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The 3-year-old on dad's shoulders made this sign, and I asked what it meant; she responded, "It's an emoji!" |
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Mom elaborated "She drew the 'Angry Emoji' because she sees that people are angry." |
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This is a general anti-corporate sentiment. I guess it's about Elon Musk and the billionaire class. I reminisced with this protestor about "Billionaires for Bush" [where I dressed up in a tux on the Boston Common] |
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