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Bracing for Trump, Protests Commence in Nation's Capital and Beyond
Saturday saw a national day of action for immigrant rights, as well as a civil rights march and rally in Washington, D.C.
Jan 14, 2017
With less than a week until President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, the resistance has officially begun.
People around the country rallied on Saturday to tell the nation: Even in the face of the threats posed by the incoming Trump administration, immigrants and their families are here to stay.
| #Heretostay Tweets |
"The Trump team has already announced that some of their first acts of brutality will be to lash out against immigrants and Muslims," organizers wrote in a call to action. "Their aim is to deport millions of immigrants, rip millions of families apart, and drive tens of millions of immigrants, refugees, and their families and friends into silence out of fear."
"We are committed to standing up for an America which values all people," they continued. "Just one week before Donald Trump's inauguration we will stand up to say yes to community, love for one another, shared strength, and human dignity. It is time for us to link arms and stand as a line of defense against Donald Trump's promised reign of terror."
Trump has pledged mass deportations, talked of establishing a Muslim registry, threatened to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and selected cabinet nominees with decidedly anti-immigrant views.
"To be quite frank, we fear the worst," Christina Jimenez, executive director of United We Dream, told the New York Times of a Trump presidency.
Marches, vigils, and rallies were planned for nearly 50 locations nationwide. Thousands packed a church in Washington, D.C., while an overflow crowd marched outside.
Church in DC has reached full capacity and people are still marching and showing support outside. #HereToStay pic.twitter.com/ZZtWpszjQ5
-- Rodrigo Huertas (@orchards24) January 14, 2017
Other events took place from coast to coast, organized by a broad coalition that included labor, women's health, environmental, and immigrant rights groups.
"We are prepared to defend our dreams and our families, whatever comes," Ricardo Zamudio, an organizer at Neighborhood Ministries, a faith-based organization that will be rallying in Phoenix, Arizona, told the Wall Street Journal. "There is a lot at stake here."
Meanwhile, thousands of civil rights activists marched and rallied along the National Mall and at the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial, at an event spearheaded by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network. This demonstration, too, was meant to galvanize a movement ahead of what many fear will be a hostile administration.
"We stand together, not as a people of hate, but as a people of hope," Charley Hames Jr., president of the Oakland, California, chapter of National Action Network, said to Reuters. "We believe this march is the first of many."
People were tweeting about the march under the hashtag #WeShallNotBeMoved:
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Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
With less than a week until President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, the resistance has officially begun.
People around the country rallied on Saturday to tell the nation: Even in the face of the threats posed by the incoming Trump administration, immigrants and their families are here to stay.
| #Heretostay Tweets |
"The Trump team has already announced that some of their first acts of brutality will be to lash out against immigrants and Muslims," organizers wrote in a call to action. "Their aim is to deport millions of immigrants, rip millions of families apart, and drive tens of millions of immigrants, refugees, and their families and friends into silence out of fear."
"We are committed to standing up for an America which values all people," they continued. "Just one week before Donald Trump's inauguration we will stand up to say yes to community, love for one another, shared strength, and human dignity. It is time for us to link arms and stand as a line of defense against Donald Trump's promised reign of terror."
Trump has pledged mass deportations, talked of establishing a Muslim registry, threatened to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and selected cabinet nominees with decidedly anti-immigrant views.
"To be quite frank, we fear the worst," Christina Jimenez, executive director of United We Dream, told the New York Times of a Trump presidency.
Marches, vigils, and rallies were planned for nearly 50 locations nationwide. Thousands packed a church in Washington, D.C., while an overflow crowd marched outside.
Church in DC has reached full capacity and people are still marching and showing support outside. #HereToStay pic.twitter.com/ZZtWpszjQ5
-- Rodrigo Huertas (@orchards24) January 14, 2017
Other events took place from coast to coast, organized by a broad coalition that included labor, women's health, environmental, and immigrant rights groups.
"We are prepared to defend our dreams and our families, whatever comes," Ricardo Zamudio, an organizer at Neighborhood Ministries, a faith-based organization that will be rallying in Phoenix, Arizona, told the Wall Street Journal. "There is a lot at stake here."
Meanwhile, thousands of civil rights activists marched and rallied along the National Mall and at the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial, at an event spearheaded by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network. This demonstration, too, was meant to galvanize a movement ahead of what many fear will be a hostile administration.
"We stand together, not as a people of hate, but as a people of hope," Charley Hames Jr., president of the Oakland, California, chapter of National Action Network, said to Reuters. "We believe this march is the first of many."
People were tweeting about the march under the hashtag #WeShallNotBeMoved:
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
With less than a week until President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, the resistance has officially begun.
People around the country rallied on Saturday to tell the nation: Even in the face of the threats posed by the incoming Trump administration, immigrants and their families are here to stay.
| #Heretostay Tweets |
"The Trump team has already announced that some of their first acts of brutality will be to lash out against immigrants and Muslims," organizers wrote in a call to action. "Their aim is to deport millions of immigrants, rip millions of families apart, and drive tens of millions of immigrants, refugees, and their families and friends into silence out of fear."
"We are committed to standing up for an America which values all people," they continued. "Just one week before Donald Trump's inauguration we will stand up to say yes to community, love for one another, shared strength, and human dignity. It is time for us to link arms and stand as a line of defense against Donald Trump's promised reign of terror."
Trump has pledged mass deportations, talked of establishing a Muslim registry, threatened to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and selected cabinet nominees with decidedly anti-immigrant views.
"To be quite frank, we fear the worst," Christina Jimenez, executive director of United We Dream, told the New York Times of a Trump presidency.
Marches, vigils, and rallies were planned for nearly 50 locations nationwide. Thousands packed a church in Washington, D.C., while an overflow crowd marched outside.
Church in DC has reached full capacity and people are still marching and showing support outside. #HereToStay pic.twitter.com/ZZtWpszjQ5
-- Rodrigo Huertas (@orchards24) January 14, 2017
Other events took place from coast to coast, organized by a broad coalition that included labor, women's health, environmental, and immigrant rights groups.
"We are prepared to defend our dreams and our families, whatever comes," Ricardo Zamudio, an organizer at Neighborhood Ministries, a faith-based organization that will be rallying in Phoenix, Arizona, told the Wall Street Journal. "There is a lot at stake here."
Meanwhile, thousands of civil rights activists marched and rallied along the National Mall and at the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial, at an event spearheaded by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network. This demonstration, too, was meant to galvanize a movement ahead of what many fear will be a hostile administration.
"We stand together, not as a people of hate, but as a people of hope," Charley Hames Jr., president of the Oakland, California, chapter of National Action Network, said to Reuters. "We believe this march is the first of many."
People were tweeting about the march under the hashtag #WeShallNotBeMoved:
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