Hundreds of Ann Arbor community members braved the rain Saturday to participate in a people’s march against President Donald Trump’s administration. Protesters expressed dissatisfaction with what they saw as Trump’s increased authoritarianism, the cutting of important social programs and the transformation of the United States into an oligarchy.
The event began at the Federal Building, where several speakers presented a variety of grievances with the Trump administration. U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich, told the crowd she thinks the Trump administration wants ordinary citizens to be disoriented in order to quell resistance. She emphasized the need for targeted collective action and promised to resist Trump in the House of Representatives.
“This is intentional chaos,” Dingell said. “There is so much happening that we don’t know where to put our minds, our thoughts, our words, our actions, and we can’t let that happen. We have to be targeted and effective, stand up collectively and let America know that they’re attacking our democracy, and they’re attacking our constitution and they’re attacking our neighbors. We are going to stand up and fight.”
U-M Dearborn junior Ethan Price later spoke to the audience about how he was able to recover from an addiction and become a student at the University due to the support of social services. He said those same support systems were now under threat due under Trump.
“(My) future is now being threatened, because today the same systems that helped save my life are being gutted,” Price said. “Social services are being slashed, financial aid is being frozen, and the people who need the most help, people like me, are being told we don’t matter. Let me be clear, these cuts are not just numbers in a budget — they are the difference between life and death.”
Local activist Jessica Prozinski was the last speaker, telling the crowd about the detention of Tufts University doctorate student Rumeysa Ozturk by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Let me tell you about Rumeysa Ozturk: Tufts student, anti-war activist and immigrant on a student visa,” Prozinski said. “She wrote an opinion in the student newspaper calling for an end to the war on Gaza, and signed her name. A few days later she was surrounded by masked agents, dragged into an unmarked van as she screamed. That video has gone viral, and it should terrify us. This is political repression.”
Following the speeches, the protesters marched down Liberty Street towards Main Street, and then from Main Street to Huron Street. People carried signs with messages like “stop the coup,” “Elon must go, no kings,” “reject fascism” and other slogans.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Michigan resident Dennis Tomlin said he believed the Trump administration fundamentally lacked respect for the rights guaranteed to Americans in the Constitution.
“The Constitution and the rights guaranteed in that are the bedrock of the United States, and this administration has shown a clear contempt for that bedrock,” Tomlin said. “They’re fighting to take away our rights … (which has been) made abundantly clear by the most recent abductions of the immigrants who are speaking out against the federal government and against their homicidal policies. I feel we need to speak up before we don’t have the right to speak up.”
The route ended at Liberty Plaza, where the people gathered and chanted slogans like “This is what democracy looks like” and “Hope, not hate, makes America great.”
Tomlin said he wished people more people had come out and protested in order to show resistance in the current political moment.
“I would encourage everybody to get out, just speak up, have those conversations with people as hard conversations and fight for what you believe in.” Tomlin said. “Fight for your rights. Otherwise, they go away.”
Daily Staff Reporter Glenn Hedin can be reached at heglenn@umich.edu.
