Thousands take to the streets of Providence to protest the Trump/Musk Administration
Steve Ahlquist (text and photos)
There were a thousand sister rallies held in cities across
the United States and around the world.
“We’re marching to show that working people refuse to remain
silent while Trump, Musk, and their billionaire buddies in DC siphon money and
power from us,” said Rhode Island Working Families Party Political
Director Zack Mezera, explaining the rally’s motivation. “They’re
dismantling the economy, corrupting democracy, and rewriting all the rules to
make themselves richer while working people shoulder the burden. They’re
rapidly stripping America for parts, and Congress is joining in by trying to
slash Medicaid, Social Security, cancer research funding, Head
Start, veterans’ programs, and more. Thousands mobilized today because we stand
united against Rhode Island being bought, sold, and gutted just so billionaires
can get a few more tax breaks.
“If Rhode Island is going to withstand the Trump/Musk
administration’s assault on everyday Americans, state leadership will need to
choose: will they continue to defend a handful of very wealthy people? Or will
they stand with the thousands who came out today to march, rally, and defend
our state? We’ll welcome them to the front lines once they’ve made their
choice.”
Hope High School on the East Side of Providence was the
staging area for the march. Once the march started, the last marcher did not
leave the High School until over 40 minutes had passed.
The march ended outside the Providence City Hall, where
volunteers had set up amplification, using the stairs that face Kennedy
Plaza as a stage. The Extraordinary Rendition Band, Undertow,
and Anchors Away provided music on the march and at City Hall.
The Raging Grannies also sang a couple of songs.
Finally, there was a speaking program. I’ve done my best to
transcribe the speaker, editing for clarity. Also, a direct link to the point
they start speaking is provided.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Even in Westerly! According to the Westerly Sun, "Hands Off! Rally in Westerly Draws Thousands." The Providence Journal reported additional rallies in South Kingstown, Portsmouth, Tiverton and Block Island. - W. Collette
Harrison Tuttle, The Village Vanguard: So, Rhode Island, what do you want to talk about? Let’s start with the stock market, shall we? Has anybody taken a look lately? Too painful. We’re here today to fight. We’re here to resist Donald Trump. We’re here to resist the oligarchs and make our voices heard here in Rhode Island. It is time for us to come together, put our differences aside, and unite.It is time for us to support the women in our lives. It’s
time to fight for their bodily autonomy. It’s time to fight for our healthcare
workers. It’s time to fight for our teachers. It’s time for us to fight for our
climate. Who’s with me?
You’re going to hear from amazing people today. You’re going
to hear from union leaders, you’re going to hear from state legislators. I will
lead us with one more chant, and I want everybody in the state to hear us. Tax
the rich! Tax the rich! Tax the rich!
Reverend
Donnie Anderson: As we start, I want to clarify one thing. I’m a
minister, I’m transgender, and I’m a proud queer Rhode Island girl. It’s so
important that we’re all here together today. Not in isolated groups, but
standing together. I want you to look around at each other and realize this:
you are America! And by being here today, you are patriots. Don’t let anyone
take that away from you.
America has always struggled with human rights. Sometimes,
we’ve taken one step forward and two steps back, but right now, we are in a
human rights free fall, and we need to say it’s time to stop. This morally
bankrupt administration cares more about enriching the pockets of the
ultra-rich than in mercy for the most vulnerable in our society, and that is
wrong.
I’ve come here today because I want to say a word about
transgender and gender-diverse youth in our state. Right now, the spineless
bullies in Washington and here in Rhode Island are targeting our transgender
and gender-diverse youth. They are trying to pass laws up at the State House -
and thank God for the people we have in the Senate and the House who have said
"Stop" and will not let these terrible laws go forward.
All across our cities and towns, people are pushing to
change the way we handle transgender and gender-diverse youth in our schools,
and believe me, my friends, that will end in more mental health problems and
some of our kids losing their lives. It is wrong! Already, gender-affirming
healthcare has been taken away from the children of our military, and let me
share with you what happened with that.
We’re a small community. We’re not a lot of the population,
so what happens is people say, "Well, for the greater good, we will
sacrifice the health of transgender and gender-diverse youth." That is
wrong.
I want to ask you to do me a favor today. From Foster to
Westerly, from Pawtucket to Aquidneck Island, there are children and young
people who are transgender and gender-diverse who are afraid and hiding. And
when I say three, I want you to say, "You are not alone." Can we do
that? 1, 2, 3.
Crowd: You are not alone.
Daniel
Denvir: I’m a co-chair of Reclaim Rhode Island, a housing justice
organization. But I’m speaking here today as the person who served as the
alternate uncommitted delegate to the Democratic National Convention in
Chicago in 2024. I’m here to speak up as an American citizen who is infuriated
and ashamed that our government continues to send weapons to the State of
Israel, weapons that are used to commit genocide against the Palestinian people
in Gaza.
We’re here to fight a grave fascist threat to our freedoms,
but the fascist threat is global, and so is the struggle against it. When our
congressional delegation sends weapons to Israel, when Senator Reed, Senator
Whitehouse, Representative Amo, and Representative Magaziner send weapons to
Israel, they are not only sending our tax dollars to murder Palestinians; they
are sending weapons and funds to prop up a leading member of Trump’s global
fascist alliance.
Nationally, a strong majority of Democratic voters support
an arms embargo on Israel. Seven unions, whose membership amounts to nearly
half of all union members, support ending U.S. military aid to Israel: the
American Postal Workers Union, the Association of Flight Attendants, the
International Union of Painters, the National Education Association, the
Service Employees International Union, United Auto Workers, and United
Electrical Workers—but not our congressional delegation.
Representative Seth Magaziner has received
$90,626; Representative Gabe Amo has received $100,563. Senator Jack
Reed $402,602; and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse $616,721 from the
Israel lobby. Who funds lobbyests like AIPAC? The same people who fund the
MAGA Republican Party - right-wing billionaires.
We need our congressional delegation to listen to the people
of Rhode Island. We cannot fight fascism at home while supporting fascism
abroad. The repression our government supports in Palestine has already swung
back here to the USA. Just witness the pro-Palestine activists like Mahmoud
Khalil, who have been disappeared by Trump’s ICE agents. This past week, 14
Democratic Senators, led by Senator Bernie Sanders, voted to stop U.S.
military aid to Israel. Our senators, Reed and Whitehouse, stood with Netanyahu
instead. Our fight for freedom here is linked to the fight for freedom
everywhere, including the struggle to liberate Palestine.
Fight fascism! Free Palestine!
Mel
Potter: I’m a tenant leader and an activist with the housing
justice organization Reclaim Rhode Island. Last year, I became a leader of this
state’s first private market tenants union. I organized a union with my
neighbors because my apartment was unlivable. With no warning, a 10-foot trench
appeared below my front door and remained there for six months. This was the
third winter in a row that I’ve had my heat not work when it’s below freezing
outside. I can see sunlight through cracks in my bedroom and living room walls.
Asking the landlord for repairs didn’t work. The calling code didn’t work. I
organized a union with my neighbors to get safe housing for the monthly rent we
pay.
Slumlords treat us tenants like Donald Trump treats all
working-class people in America. They are greedy, rich people who don’t care
about our wellbeing. They care about making money. Over the past five years,
rent has increased almost 35% in Providence. The housing crisis is a political
choice. Landlords can raise our rent through the roof and kick us out of our
apartments when we complain because politicians let them. We can’t stop them by
ourselves. The only way to stop them is to organize, fight back, and change the
law.
And we have to start organizing right here in our towns and
cities. It’s not just Washington where big business runs the show. We have the
same problem right here in Rhode Island. We deserve better than Trump’s MAGA
America in Rhode Island - and we have to build it. We need to fight to win rent
stabilization, so there are limits to how high a landlord can raise our rents.
We need the government to build mixed-income public housing available for every
Rhode Islander who needs and wants it. And we need you to join our fight for
just-cause eviction. That’s our top priority at the State House right now.
Just-cause eviction protections will ensure landlords can’t
kick you out for no reason. However, it’s not enough to help people once
they’re already on the streets. We need this law to stabilize our communities
and prevent people from becoming homeless in advance. We have to build
something truly good for the people of Rhode Island. Together, we have the
power to win.
Jenine
Bressner: Doesn’t it feel better to be together? We have nothing
more important than each other. I am a solo parent and artist, a teacher, and
an organizing member of the Atlantic Mills Tenants Union, the first
commercial tenants union in the history of Rhode Island. I have had a studio at
the Atlantic Mills in Olneyille for 20 years. Our building is currently being
sold from the family trust it’s been in since 1953 to developers who would love
for us to be gone so they could turn Olneyville into some imaginary new Silicon
Valley.
Most developers don’t care about existing communities.
They’re not coming here to make homes. They’re coming here to make money, evade
paying taxes, and rewrite eight-law. They want to gentrify our neighborhoods
because they value money more than your life. Megarich people don’t exist
without keeping everyone else poor on purpose. They are afraid of us and our
unified power.
The happiest people don’t have the best of everything; they
make the best of everything. That’s us. That’s why we are here together. There
is no greater wealth in a lifetime than to have relationships that span time.
As Rhode Islanders in families and communities for generations, we are
connected to each other, and everyone here is wealthier. We are wealthier than
they could ever dream of being. We have each other’s backs. We’re on the same
team in our fight against the people who hold power over us without benevolence
and care, without regard for our wellbeing.
If you can hear me and you work as a police officer, ICE,
or federal agent, don’t become the fascist your grandparents escaped. You don’t
have to stay there if you are on the wrong side of this fight and know it. We
are more than our jobs. You are more than your jobs, and you don’t need a time
machine to stop Hitler. Things are ineffably wrong right now, but there’s no
place in the world I would rather be than here with you. This is my favorite
place because of the high concentration of truly excellent people who are
actively building the world we would like to live in. We have art in order not
to die of the truth. Beauty is an important function. I’m not talking about
superficial appearances. Go to the botanical center in Roger Williams Park and
heal your heart.
In these heavy times, temper the gravity of the burden by
seeking and making beauty in the world around you. Go to a library. Make art
with your hands. Listen to music. Make music. Everything in every museum in the
world was made by someone who was once a baby. Don’t gatekeep yourself from
creativity. Creativity will serve us well in this fight, as well as our
resistance and resilience.
Please work with the Atlantic Mills Tenants Union to defend
our community by fighting for rent stabilization, which [Providence
Mayor] Brett Smiley is opposing. The people trying to buy our
building contributed to Smiley’s mayoral campaign. Are we on the side of the
working class, or are we on the side of people who haven’t bought their
groceries in decades?
This is a fight not only for the future of our building and
neighborhood but for the future of our city, our country, and truly, the future
of the world. It won’t always be now. Somehow, together, we are going to make
it through this, and we are going to fight ferociously along the way to protect
our communities. It may feel like we can’t do much to stop billionaires, but we
can be good sparks igniting more fires of positive change. As Corey Booker said
this week, less people are witnessing American history and more people are
determined to make American history.
Protect immigrants, protect trans people. Shine your light
on the darkness.
Jocelyn
Foye: I represent the community in this space that sometimes likes
to call themselves allies, but let’s call ourselves comrades. Let’s call
ourselves accomplices.
I’m a mom of an 11 and a 14-year-old, and they exist as
individuals making decisions for themselves already. I represent an
organization that fights for bodily freedom at the federal, state, and local
levels. At all of those levels, our children aren't getting access to their
bodies. Adults are not getting access to their bodies, and restrictions are
coming in waves of attacks. Please know that executive orders are not law. As
caring citizens, community members, networks, and neighbors, we have an opportunity
to go to our town councils and school committees. To show up and say, "Not
in our town. We want to include all children."
We can show up at the State House. It’s our house. It’s the
people’s house. It’s not a castle. We need people power. We need you all
because what’s coming is a round of deficits in our state. We don’t have enough
money to pay for things, and it’s time to find money elsewhere.
Where are [our elected leaders] going? They’re going to the
concept of bodily freedom. They’re going to Medicaid. They’re saying, “How do
we cut away at the rights people have now?” We need to stand up as a community
and say, “One in three of us uses Medicaid.” We all need it. That covers kids
in schools, families, education, and healthcare. All healthcare is healthcare.
All education must be included, and all people should be included. Please join
The Womxn Project, introverts and extroverts alike. We have actions to do, and
we use artivism to do it. Join us to be civically engaged - safely or a little
fun, and we’ll do it together.
Representative
Karen Alzate: I am a first-generation American and a State
Representative from Pawtucket and Central Falls, fighting for my community. I
have the pleasure and the honor of a lifetime to make sure that we continue to
fight for this state with my colleague and sister in this fight, Senator
Murray. For too long, the wealthiest among us have hoarded their riches while
the rest struggle to make ends meet. They live in our mansions. They fly their
private jets to go golfing with our money. Enough is enough.
We must be clear: Our country does not suffer from a lack of
money. We know because they take our money. Our country suffers from an unfair
and unjust tax system rigged to protect the most powerful while working people
foot the bill. They say that taxing the rich will hurt the economy, but whose
economy will it hurt? The economy is for us, and we’re here to tell this new
administration, "No, you will not continue to tax us and use our money for
your gains. You will not continue to deport my family, my friends, and my
neighbors.
When this bill is heard by committee, how many of you will
support this legislation? The Senator and I will continue to fight at the State
House, but we need your help. I hope to see the State House full when this
legislation comes up. I hope to see all of you there. I’m honored to represent
the community and the State and even more honored to continue this fight with
my colleague and sister and the Revenue for Rhode Island Coalition.
The Economic Progress Institute is doing the work. Make sure you
check them out and be informed. Ensure we see you at the State House when this
bill comes up.
Senator
Melissa Murray: There are so many things that I could speak about
right now. The preposterous plan to dismantle the Department of Education, the
vilification and attacks on our trans friends and family members. But I digress
because I’m here to talk about taxing the top 1% of the wealthiest Rhode
Islanders and making them pay their fair share. The wealthiest have benefited
from state and federal tax cuts for decades, and we know they will get even
more over the next four years - but at whose expense? Ours.
The wealthiest Rhode Islanders pay a smaller percentage of
their overall taxes than you and I. Millionaires in Rhode Island pay less than
you and I. Is that fair? Is that equitable? Folks are struggling to get by -
having to choose whether to buy groceries, pay for their medications, or keep
the lights on. Moms are skipping meals to feed their kids. Sick folks are
skipping meds because they can’t afford to renew their prescriptions. Families
must double up in apartments because the rents are out of control. Enough is
enough.
Representative Alzate and I have been pushing this proposal
for years. It would create $190 million in new revenue for our state each year.
With $190 million, we could fully fund a truly equitable education formula for
every child in our state. It’s money we could use to fund badly needed mental
health support in our schools. Money [could be used] to supplement Medicaid,
fund a robust public transit system accessible to all, help expand childcare so
parents can get back to work, help restore cuts to pensions, or help fund free
school meals for all kids, and so much more.
Taxing the top 1% creates tax fairness. It addresses social,
racial, and wealth inequity. The millionaires and billionaires are not here to
save us. Facts and data disprove the myth that they will flee our state if
taxed like the rest of us. Quite the contrary, this proposal can help fund the
vital programs that everyday, hardworking Rhode Islanders depend on. That will
strengthen our state and is the right thing to do. The time is now.
Jesse
Martin, Vice President of SEIU 1199: At this moment, there are 330,000
Rhode Islanders on Medicaid. Five out of eight nursing home residents are on
Medicaid. 74% of Rhode Islanders on Medicaid are working multiple jobs to
survive. If there are cuts at the federal level, we will see devastating
impacts on our healthcare system.
If you have private insurance and a good health plan through
your employer, you may think Medicaid cuts won’t affect you. But if you go to
the hospital, the lights won’t be on. Seventy cents of every dollar in every
State of Rhode Island hospital comes from Medicaid or Medicare. If we do not
preserve these benefits, our entire healthcare system will fall apart. We
cannot allow that, can we?
We need our local government leaders. Governor Daniel
McKee, we need you to have some courage. We need you to have some fortitude
and integrity. In Governor McKee’s current budget, he has doubled down on
Trump’s cuts to Medicaid. He cuts $25 million from our hospitals. He cuts
millions from our nursing homes. His budget cuts safe staffing in our nursing
homes that [causes] people to not to have the chance to take a shower or to go
to the bathroom with dignity.
We need a budget that preserves these benefits and increases
our revenue by taxing the rich. The rich will get their tax cuts from the Trump
Administration, and we can’t have that here. We say no. In our union, we have a
saying: “When the boss says no, we say yes.”
Dawn
Williams: I’m a proud registered nurse at Butler Hospital.
I’ve been a nurse in Rhode Island for 20 years. Today, we stand together as
members of the working class who refuse to be silenced or exploited. We’re here
because we see what’s happening. We see billionaires like Trump and Elon Musk
hoarding wealth while working families struggle to make ends meet. We see our
rights being stripped away, piece by piece, for the benefit of a few at the
expense of the many. Here in Rhode Island, Governor McKee’s budget threatens to
cut over $25 million from hospitals. Our healthcare system needs to be invested
in, not cut. To them, we’re just numbers on a spreadsheet. But these are our
patients, coworkers, and community.
Investing in the physical and mental health of Rhode
Islanders is not just a financial decision. It is a moral obligation. At Butler
Hospital, we’re fighting for a fair contract right now, not just for ourselves
but for the quality of care and safe environment our patients deserve. We need
the General Assembly to stand with us to fight against these cuts, protect
worker’s rights, and protect healthcare.
Today, we say, "Hands off!" Hands off our
hospitals and our future. Together, we fight. Together, we win because
together, we’re indivisible.
Jesse Martin: On May 3rd, healthcare workers
will rally at the State House for a moral state budget to insulate ourselves
from the attacks of the Trump Administration. We want everyone to join us in
front of the State House and hold Governor McKee, our General Assembly, and all
elected leaders accountable to workers and improve our healthcare system.
Sophia
Wright: Every important march that’s ever happened in Rhode Island
happened in the rain. Am I right? My name is Sophia Wright. My pronouns are
they/them. I’m from the Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance. AMOR was
founded in 2017 as a response to the attacks on the immigrant community across
this country and to defend our immigrant community here in Rhode Island. Right
now, AMOR is fighting to shut down ICE at the Wyatt Detention Center in
Central Falls. We need you to tell folks at the Wyatt, the State House, and
everywhere that ICE detention is inhumane and against the human rights of our
people and every person everywhere.
As of November 2024, the number of people in ICE detention
at the Wyatt nearly doubled. That was before Trump was inaugurated. In January,
110 ICE detainees were counted. That brings the total population at the Wyatt
to 701 people. The Wyatt has a long history of medical neglect, leading to the
death of a detainee in 2008 named Jason, who died as a result of cancer that
went untreated. Even when he told correctional officers that he had back pain,
they accused him of faking his pain, and he died in 2008.
The ICE contract ended, but it opened again in 2019 under
the Trump Administration. Right now, the Wyatt Detention Center has an ICE
contract only because of a lawsuit by the investors against the City of Central
Falls. This is just another example of for-profit detention happening in our
country against our will and against the interests of the people. Detention
centers and prisons are collaborating with ICE to profit from the suffering of
our communities. They are a business where everything costs money: phone calls,
nutritious food, soap, toothpaste, hygiene products, you name it, it costs
money. And immigrants are bearing the burden of that cost.
In recent weeks, we’ve watched members of our community here
in Rhode Island snatched off the streets and detained at the Wyatt. These are
heads of household, now a cost [to their families]. Our city and our government
are paying for people who could be supporting their families to be detained at
$180 a night. You think that with $180, they’d be treated well, right? But no.
They are guaranteed nothing. They are made to fend for themselves in ICE
detention: to beg for phone calls and withstand the racism and xenophobia
they’re facing from the guards at the Wyatt Detention Center.
We’re fighting for legislation to end the ICE contract at
Wyatt and prevent any other ICE contracts here in Rhode Island. House Bill 5724
is being heard at the House Judiciary Committee this Thursday, April 10th, at
4:00 P.M., and we would like you to show up and say, "No to ICE detention
in Rhode Island."
This community hasn’t sat still when our families have been
attacked. The AMOR Network and other folks have been organizing to defend and
respond by setting up a deportation defense line: 401-675-1414. If you see ICE
in your community, we want you to call that number, and we need our community
to show up.
When we hear that ICE is somewhere, we want to be able to
mobilize and say, "We will not let you take our families without bearing
witness, fighting back, and resisting.
We’re organizing a community fund for ICE detainees. If we
can get $40 a month from 90 people, we can give every person in detention at
the Wyatt funds to communicate with their families and attorneys and access and
pay for things like toothpaste, shampoo, soap, and conditioner. When people
can’t eat because they’re not provided culturally appropriate or religiously
specific food, they can buy it from the commissary. They can buy them when they
are not provided with clean and hygienic products. With your support, the
Community Fund for ICE Detainees can make sure that folks in detention have
access to the financial resources they need to survive this traumatic
experience that nobody should go through.
And finally, we’ve heard from folks calling our Detention
Support Line and in communications from inside the Wyatt right now: We’ve seen
people have their lives thrown around. We’ve seen 40 people transferred into
the Wyatt from the Plymouth County Detention Center. We’ve seen folks sent to
and transferred from the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls to Berlin, New
Hampshire, in the middle of the woods with no previous notice and no guarantees
they’ll have access to their families. This is what’s happening right now in
this country. People are being disappeared into an unjust immigration system.
That’s why I say, together with you all, that we need to abolish ICE. We need
to shut down the Wyatt and free them all.
Aseem
Rastogi, Indivisible Rhode Island: What a crowd. Our collective
power, which drives a functioning society forward, cannot be understated or
underestimated. Today is but another reminder that there are more of us out
there who believe in a greater America and are true patriots because we will
hold this country, state, and elected leaders to account every time. I started
my career, one of many that I’ve had, teaching in a Title I school in northeast
DC. I worked with brilliant young students persistently subjected to the
remnants of redlining in this country. Students who relied on the school to
feed them relied on public transport to get them to and from school and
cherished playing on safe fields like Morley Field - breathing cleaner air and
getting a chance at being successful at whatever they could dream up. I was
part of a powerful teacher’s union and learned quickly the power of collective
bargaining and worker protection.
I would not have been able to get that job if it weren’t for
the Department of Education. In 2009, amid the financial crisis, my mom got
laid off. She was a single mom and an immigrant, working two jobs to make ends
meet. We simply didn’t have enough. I got an emergency Pell Grant from the
federal government to finish college. Without that Pell Grant, I would not be
standing here today.
We need elected officials, especially the Trump
Administration and Elon Musk, to remember what we all learned in kindergarten.
Keep your hands to yourself, mind your own damn business, and for good measure,
don’t run with scissors.
Hands off our futures. Hands off our bodies. Hands off our
money. Hands off our neighbors. Hands off our schools. Hands off our dreams.
Hands off the United States of America.
This country has never been perfect, nor will it ever be.
But one thing is for damn sure, this country is better than this. The people
are better than this.
There’s one thing I want to leave you with: Hope may be our
state motto, but hope is not a strategy. We ought to tell them hands off, and
we have to be hands-on to protect our future. The word "no" is a
complete sentence. You’ve got to be hands-on to get their hands off.
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