Ian Sykes ‘28
Staff Writer
In wake of the protests happening recently nationwide to express disapproval with the Trump administration, citizens from everywhere in Massachusetts gathered around Worcester City Hall on April 19 for yet another protest. From children to seniors, folks of all kinds lined the streets, holding signs of confident resistance. Their messages ranged from, “They’re eating the checks and balances,” to “Resist Facism,” and “Hands off my neighbors!”
Though many Holy Cross students could not attend the protest due to it happening during Easter break, the author of this article was lucky enough to stay on campus and attend it, holding a sign with a quote from John Adams stating, “Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”
As passing motorists either honked in agreement or flashed obscene hand signals, the crowd cheered and chanted. Three demonstrators named Marion, Megan, and Morissa were kind enough to tell The Spire why they were at the demonstration. “We just wanted to stand up for what’s right,” said Marion. Megan agreed, saying “I just wanted to defend our democracy and our constitutional rights, and stand up to hate and facism because that’s not what America is.” Lastly, Morissa said she was at the demonstration to “help protect the future for [her] little niece and nephew to make sure they actually have a future and rights when they grow up!”
When asked about the biggest issue the country faced, they all agreed that the infringement of constitutional rights was the largest problem. They also implored students to protest if possible, with Megan saying that “we need everybody that we can [get] to come out and stand up for their rights. We are out here fighting for the younger generation, [and] we want the younger generation to know that we want them to join us. [The administration] needs to know that the younger generation stands against this facism [and] hatred.”
“It’s just so bad,” Megan said when commenting on the commonly perceived division of the nation. “We should be coming together to be better people for a safer, cleaner environment… to protect our climate, and our nature, and our forests without the greed of billionaires stealing it all away from us for a penny.”
The current nationwide discontent with the administration stems from issues like unconstitutional immigration detainment, climate destruction, agency layoffs, unprecedented attacks on higher education, the cutting of crucial programs like Social Security and Medicare, and defiance of the Supreme Court, to name a few.
As it applies to Holy Cross, not much has been said publicly in regards to the current administration other than the college signing on to an amicus brief, AAUP v. Rubio, to express rejection of the administration’s attacks on the First Amendment. However, the college’s leaders have repeatedly made it clear in campus dialogue events and student dinners that they are acutely aware of what was happening, and that they are developing contingency plans.
Though Holy Cross may currently seem insulated from the actions of the administration, 12 students from another local Worcester university, Clark University, had their student visas revoked roughly a week before the authoring of this article. Additionally, at Tufts university, another prominent university located in Massachusetts, a graduate student by the name of Rumeysa Öztürk was detained by plainclothes ICE agents for publishing an opinion article in support of Palestine. Her case has sparked a wild flame of hysteria and fear among students and educators nationwide, for her detainment has been deemed an infringement of the Constitution’s 1st Amendment rights protecting freedom of speech.
Just as Marion, Megan, and Morissa all agreed that the younger generation was the key to change, they reflected an opinion held by even the most accomplished change-makers, among them John Kerry. Kerry, the former White House Secretary of State, presidential candidate, climate envoy, and senator, instilled the same idea into Holy Cross students during his April 8 speaker event. Signaling a call to action, he noted that “I think everybody’s responsibility is clear and growing. … Young people played a critical role in the defining of a great nation like the United States of America… [and] you have got to decide what you believe in and decide what you are going to do.”
The statements reflected in this article are not indicative of the positions of The Spire.
Featured image courtesy of Worcester Telegram
Web Edited by Zexuan Qu ’28
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