About a dozen Lexington residents and people from neighboring towns protested President Donald Trump’s policies and his appointment of Elon Musk by the Minuteman Statue on Wednesday.
“I’m fighting for our country right now,” Cheryl Meadow, a Lexington resident, said. “This is the birthplace of America, we’re celebrating our 250th anniversary, you know, I don’t want it to be the death of America.”
Protesting in front of the statue on the Battle Green is intentional, Christine Southworth, an organizer of the protest told LexObserver. It symbolizes the birthplace of American liberty, which the protestors worry will continue to be taken from citizens due to Trump’s policies.
“It’s just so overwhelming,” Debbie Beers, a Lexington resident, said through tears. “Our democracy is being eroded.”
In below freezing temperatures, the protestors held up signs that read, “if you are not angry, you’re not paying attention,” “resist,” and “stop the power grab.”
Meadow said she is protesting the “illegal and immoral activities of the current administration.”
She and other protesters said they’re worried about how Trump and Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, a government organization created to curb federal spending, could affect climate, public health, resources for the disabled community, and LGBTQ+ rights, among other issues.
“It’s not an oligarchy,” Meadow said. “Our president is trying to act like a king, people are losing jobs, our civil liberties are at risk, and I can’t sit still and watch this.”
The rallies followed a series of Trump executive orders and came just days after layoffs across federal agencies as part of an effort to reduce the government workforce, the Associated Press reported.
The group of people who protested on Wednesday in Lexington came together by emailing and texting each other, Southworth said. Since the beginning of February, they have gathered for four protests.
Approximately 45 people came to the group’s protest on Monday, which was President’s Day, outside of Cary Hall, Southworth said. Similar protests were held across the country on the same day as a part of the “No Kings” movement, which was orchestrated by 50501, a nonprofit that aims to fight against “the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies,” its website states. Approximately 1,000 people protested in Boston on Monday, AP reported.
Southworth said her group in Lexington plans to protest every Wednesday.
“It’s really meaningful to be with likeminded people who also want what’s fair and reasonable and lawful,” Meadow said. “I’m not here because I just dislike the man, I’m here because I dislike and abhor the policies.”
Please post the newsworthy story of President Trump’s creation of the “American Heroes Garden” that will honor, with a statue, of Lexington’s own Prince Esterbrook.
Let’s not count our chickens before they are hatched. While I’m sure President Trump has the best of intentions, we should wait until a Prince Estabrook statue is unveiled to post an article.
I absolutely agree with the intent of the protest — I think that democracy itself is under attack. However, I disagree with that one Musk sign. That reminds me of the iconography that Nazis used to describe Jews. We should only be protesting ideas and actions.