Two days before the inauguration of Donald Trump, more than a thousand people gathered on a cold clear day on the Boston Common to signal, in solidarity with similar events around the country, that opposition to the incoming president is alive and well.
It was a far smaller crowd than at a rally in Boston the day after Trump’s first inaugural , but protesters and speakers urged opponents of Trump’s policies to continue to fight and not be discouraged.
Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan told the crowd that Trump’s first election had taught her how to stand up for her values and she urged the gathered crowd not to lose energy.
“Do not give up. Do not despair. Do not back down,” said Durkan.
Felicia Jadczak, a newly elected city councilor in Easthampton, Massachusetts, and one of the few people of color in a largely white crowd, said she learned from the first Trump presidency “the system is not going to save us.” She urged people to continue to show up at local protests and make their dissent known.
“We have a lot of resistance ahead of us. And I know a lot of us feel tired. We feel defeated. We feel like we already did this. How come we have to do it again? But this is when it’s the most critical time to dig in and resist,” Jadczak said.
Thirty-year-old Meghan Dawe from Rockland, Massachusetts, who said she was a queer woman with a transgender sister, worries about the despair of those whose rights might be in jeopardy. She said she came to make sure people know “they’re not alone.”
“I think watching the results of the election felt very lonely - seeing the majority of the population, seeing where the vote actually landed,” said Dawe. “So I think right now people need to recognize that they’re not alone and that we are here standing with them and for them.”
Special ed teacher Matt Bean, who protested in DC on the day of Trump’s inauguration in 2017, drove from Claremont, New Hampshire to join the rally. He worries about threats to curtail or eliminate the Department of Education and interference in classrooms such as a push to teach the Bible.
Bean said he also fears the devaluing of knowledge – as Trump moves to get rid of experts on the environment and medicine in favor of political appointees.
“We’re going to, I don’t want to say make his life difficult, but I don’t want to see a lot of the things that he wants to do in office get done,” Bean said.
Durkan called for people to take direct action if the incoming president sends ICE officials to arrest immigrants.
“When Homeland Security is at your local school trying to deport your neighbor, I need you to put your body on the line when you need to. I need you to actually show up,” said Durkan.
No one marched at this gathering, billed as the “Women’s March: People’s March,” but the event came on a day where several rallies around the state, dozens around the country, and a march in the UK, called for for people to stand up for a range of human rights issues, from reproductive rights to the fight against racism.
“This moment that we’re in, it’s temporary,” said Durkan, ”But who you are during this moment will define you and your communities for the rest of your life.”
GBH’s Meghan Smith contributed to this story.
