A large crowd of protesters endured 22-degree weather outside of the First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton (FUUSN) to rally against the policies of President Donald Trump’s second administration on the anniversary of his inauguration on Tuesday.
“I’m so overwhelmed with the state of our country,” said Newton resident Stephanie Mandell. “Locally, in Minnesota, nationally—it’s absolutely chaotic and so unbelievable that we’re falling into a dictatorship and a fascist situation.”
The rally was part of a nationwide walkout organized by the “Free America” movement, which called for supporters to walk out of “school, work, and commerce” on Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. to “walk away from fascism” and “towards a free America,” according to its website. The walkout garnered nearly 50,000 registrations nationwide.
Senior co-ministers of FUUSN, Rev. Debra Haffner and her husband, Rev. Joel Miller, helped organize the rally outside of the West Newton church. At least 50–75 people gathered at the protest with signs that read “Stand for Democracy,” “ICE Kills,” and “Walkout on Fascism,” and more.
“We’re here to protect democracy and protect our neighbors,” Haffner said. “We are concerned about rising authoritarianism and the attacks on our neighbors of many kinds, the erosion of rights in America, and the increasing move towards what seems like fascism.”
FUUSN received promotional help from Newton Indivisible, a local group that routinely holds anti-Trump rallies on the Newton Centre Green.
“We have partnered often with the organizer of this event, [Newton] Indivisible,” Miller said. “From my perspective, it’s really important for our neighbors to seek us out, [and ask] our neighbors to vote for a country that believes in human dignity and decency. We don’t have much of that right now.”
Newton resident and protestor John Dundon expressed outrage at the incident in Minneapolis, where an ICE officer shot and killed American citizen Renée Good through her driver’s seat window.
“I just feel terrible for the people in Minnesota,” Dundon said. “And, you know, I hope that that doesn’t happen to the Boston area, which it could. And I’m hoping that we come to our collective senses at some point here and side with, you know, our better natures.”
ICE’s increased nationwide presence remained a consistent theme throughout the protest. While most drivers honked in support of the protest, one man rolled down his passenger window and yelled, “Go ICE!” This was met by a protester yelling in response, “F—k ICE!” and other expletives as the man drove away.
“This is just about human decency and about our democratic traditions,” Miller said. “Masked domestic terrorists funded with public monies to get people off the street? That’s not American. That doesn’t belong in this country.”
The protesters also referenced Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s capture and Trump’s threats to invade Greenland, among other complaints against the Trump administration.
“We could not have imagined the federal occupation of Minneapolis, that there are federal vigilantes kidnapping people off the street, that Venezuela has been taken over by the United States, or that the NATO alliance is being threatened by the United States,” Haffner said. “The list is long.”
Protesters were adamant that these issues aren’t going away and that more people need to start stepping up.
“It’s going to touch all of us,” Mandell said. “I’m hoping that people will join and do something … it’s easy to just scroll past and not be a part of it. But you can’t sit it out. None of us can sit this out. It is frightening that so many people are sitting it out.”