"Not Our President," Protesters Say

By Katie Todd

news editor

Photo Courtesy of  Makenzie Hutchings

After the long election season came to a close, protesters took to the streets in cities all across America, including Grand Rapids.

The local event “#NotMyPresident” declared the peaceful protest to take place downtown on Thursday, November 10th, just two days after the election. With over 9 thousand shares on Facebook, the event had one goal in mind: “Let’s come together as a community to help out all minorities. We must fight against injustice.”

“There was a lot of love and it was just a community,” said Northview junior Maya Hutchings. The protest attracted people of all ages, genders, races, and ethnicities. After gathering around Rosa Parks Circle, the near-thousand member group took to the streets with a police escort. Chants, such as “The people united will never be divided!” or “Whose streets? Our streets!” “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Donald Trump has got to go!” echoed through the buildings. Many people brought signs with sayings like, “Love Trumps Hate,” “Stop Fascism and Protect Our Rights,” and “Let’s Build Bridges Not Walls.”

“I know that there’s nothing that we can really do to change it but we can still work together with the community to just be as supportive and loving as possible for people who are vulnerable and for people who are feeling sad and afraid,” said Northview junior Chloe Boosamra who fears that Trump’s potential policies may put people in minority communities in danger, but the protest helped to encourage her. “It was a definitely a place where you could feel a lot of support and it was definitely focused on love rather than dissing on Trump,” she said.

The protests left Maya Hutchings feeling optimistic about the future. Seeing a lot of young people, from millennials to her peers to adolescents, coming together and speaking out inspired her. She thinks that her generation is open-minded and ready to support minorities not only at the onset of the Trump presidency, but in the future. “Once we get old enough to vote I feel like there’s hope that it will get better,” she said.

But for now, Maya says, “We have to focus on love and loving each other.”

Share on Google Plus