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Thousands packed Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park, on Saturday to take part in the “We Are All DC” march in the District.
It featured unions, community and faith groups and people of all ages, from an 83-year-old woman named Anne Morrison, who carried her cane, to 10-year-old Henry, who carried an inflatable sub sandwich.
The 5th grader’s father, Philippe said with his tongue firmly in his cheek, that the inflatable was the new symbol of democracy.
The turnout impressed Philippe, who said he brought his boys to the march to show them they had the power to make change.
“It feels like we’re all hiding behind our screens, and we don’t know if other people care. And it’s good to see it in real life, people care,” said Philippe.
At 83, Morrison, who moved to D.C. in 1972, was decades older than most of the other protesters, but she said there was no place she would rather be.
The administration should not be invading, not just D.C., but doing everything else that it is doing to undermine democracy,” said Morrison.
Along with the chants, speeches and dancing, the protesters took pictures, held signs and even wore certain shirts to get their message across.
“My shirt says, ‘be a good person,’” said Tom Bridge. “I think that that’s something we oftentimes need to be reminded of in the era of dirty politics from the Trump administration.”
While Bridge has called the District home for 15 years, another person at the rally named Suji told WTOP that 50 years ago she moved to Washington to attend Howard Law School.
“D.C. has never ruled itself. It’s always been a colony,” said Suji. “It’s just gotten worse since Trump has gotten into office and brought in, you know, the troops and militarized the police.”
It’s not just Washingtonians or even those around the D.C. area that made up the estimated 5,000 protesters that took part in the march. Some like Logan Smith felt like it was time to make their voices heard.
The Constitution is being shredded apart and stepped upon,” said Smith. “Our friends from D.C., put the call out. So we answered.”
Smith, who served in the U.S. Navy, drove six hours from Massachusetts to be a part of the march.
“Veterans are being treated like absolute garbage. Our health care is being taken, and our rights are being threatened. It’s not what I signed up for. I took an oath to the Constitution in this country,” said Smith.
Another member of the U.S. Navy marching was Jaime Contreras, executive vice president of the D.C.-area leading labor union SEIU. She was joined by fellow members who he said come from 60 different countries and speak 25 different languages.
“Our members are the people who maintain and secure all the commercial office buildings in the area. They’re security officers. They’re commercial cleaners, they also work at the airports, said Contreras.
At the age of 13, Contreras was brought to the U.S. by his parents who left El Salvador during the civil war. Contreras said it’s unbelievable that Ice agents are abducting people who are just going to work, which leaves children crying at home without their dad or their mom.
“I’m a citizen, and I served in the United States military, and it drives me crazy to see our uniform servicemen and women who I know are probably wondering, What the hell am I doing here?”, said Contreras.
As Contreras was about to join his members on the march he said, this is not what he called the American dream and it is a nightmare for people.
“You got like servicemen and women accompanying their parents to immigration hearings because they don’t want them to be abducted. Let’s not confuse patriotism with racism,” said Contreras.
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