Thousands of people across northern Illinois gathered on street corners, in parks, and along roadways this weekend as part of the nation-wide “Hands Off” protests. Passions ran high in demonstrations from Chicago to Freeport against the Trump administration and the President’s advisor Elon Musk.
In DeKalb, speakers and signs laid out the participants’ biggest issues with the Trump administration, including immigration, voting rights, the economy, and the slashing of federal jobs and programs.
Here's a sample of what some of the speakers at the DeKalb event had to say to the crowd:
Pastor Joe Mitchell, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, DeKalb
“In the words of Dr. King, our nation is morally bankrupt right now. We send money, billions of dollars, to take other people's lives, and at the same time, we're taking away money from food pantries. We're taking away money from Meals on Wheels. We're taking away money from the most vulnerable people in our society, and that should be a problem for everybody. From this moment on, we organize, we educate and we participate. Moving forward, we are the people and we have the power.”
Anna Wilhelmi, DeKalb County Democratic Party
“We will not give into fascism. We will not give into dictatorship. We will not give in this monarchy. We are a free people…but we feel this fear. We feel grief. We feel we have given our power to those who abuse us and defied our trust now. Now we call our power back.”
Veronica Garcia Martinez
“Immigrants are the backbone of this country. They are the workers who pick our crops, build our cities, care for our children, and they run our businesses. They contribute nearly half a trillion dollars to our economy each year. They start 1/3 of all small business. This is creating jobs and prosperity for all of us, even though they have no legal protections, and yet they live in fear. Do you see them here? They're not here because they're afraid, fear of ICE raids, fear of detention, fear that their children will come home to an empty house because their parents are taken away. We must ask ourselves, is this the America we want to be?”
Ron Slavenas
“Can America become a dictatorship? My answer is always, never, never, don't we do we have solid checks and balances? Aren't Americans the thinkers, the free thinkers? I'm beginning to wonder. But you are the true Americans here.”
Dan Kenney
“Over the next year, and starting since Trump and forward, we're going to lose $1 million for our food pantries here in DeKalb County alone. Imagine our food pantry people as they look at their shelves and struggle to keep food on their shelves as we go forward. So I encourage you, I encourage you to think about planting seeds. I want to bring something to your mind to think about. And that's what happened during the Second World War, which was Victory Gardens. I think we need Gardens of Resistance.”
