Just hours after President Joe Biden took the oath of office, activists took to the streets of Boston demanding a “mass movement” on the political left to hold the new administration accountable.
“We have to build our own power, an independent worker’s party that must rally all those interested in the fight against racism, against homophobia and against all forms of oppression,” Jai Chavis of the Worcester Independent Socialist Group told the crowd surrounding the Boston Common bandstand Wednesday. “This will give us something to actually vote for, not just to vote against.”
With raised fists, the Rev. Vernon K. Walker encouraged the crowd of 75 people to continue fighting against racial inequality.
“Yes, we voted out a fascist from office in Trump. And while the darkness has seemed to recede, we still have to grapple with white supremacy,” Walker said. “There are too many Black and brown bodies who have been shot down and murdered by the police, who have been discarded and treated like less than human. We need to continue to band together to fight against those systems of oppression and injustice.”
The initial rally, organized by the Boston May Day Coalition and several other left-leaning groups, was met by another crowd of protesters marching from Government Center.
“Today is not a day for celebration,” Roxbury activist Ernst Jean-Jacques said. “We should all take a moment to rejoice that the monster known as Donald Trump has finally been de-platformed and removed from power. But the work is only now beginning. Joe Biden is not anyone's savior, and we cannot expect an immediate change … so as Joe Biden will fight to uphold the status quo, we have no other option than resisting.”
No matter who occupies the White House, activists will still have to work to fight the deportation of immigrants and the wrongful imprisonment of people of color in Massachusetts, said Antuan Castro Del Rio, a regular fixture at Black Lives Matter protests around the state.
“We have two people who got elected who are not as bad as the last guy," Castro Del Rio said. "hey were the lesser of two evils. But we are tired of evil. We need to get something good.”
As the sun set on the park, the combined crowds totaling 150 protesters marched down Newbury Street chanting, waving Black Lives Matter flags and holding signs reading “no honeymoon for Biden.”
“It doesn’t matter who is going to be in the White House if the problems continue here,” Arlington resident Sebatian Felipe said. “Racism, worker’s issues, social problems … that’s why this is no honeymoon for Joe Biden. He needs to know what kinds of things he needs to deal with in the next four years.”
Despite increased security surrounding the State House and a flock of some 75 officers bicycling around the area, Boston police barely interacted with the crowd as it marched through Back Bay and finally landed on the steps of the Boston Public Library.
There, activists stated their demands, including the release of all ICE detainees during the pandemic, specific COVID-19 resources and relief for Indigenous communities, a statewide eviction moratorium, rent relief and the legalization of driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. Protesters also called for the release of all people who have been incarcerated for protest-related charges and for protesters to be reimbursed for any bail funds they have already paid.
Willow Reader, an activist with Boston Socialist Alternative, listed national demands: better vaccine distribution, more individual payments for COVID-19 relief and the redistribution of funding from police departments into community-led initiatives.
Reader said that those policies seem unlikely under a Biden administration, but they planned to keep pushing for them.
"the biggest concessions that we've won historically, like Social Security and the New Deal, weren't just handed to us," Reader said. "They were the result of mass movements, of everyday people taking to the streets and demanding.”
