An estimated 30,000 Chicagoans gathered at Daley Plaza for a protest rally and march in downtown Chicago on the morning of April 5 as part of a nationwide action against the Trump Administration.
With the gutting of national healthcare, veterans’ services, education, Social Security, attacks on LGBTQ+ freedoms, attacks on immigration, and the unpopular levying of tariffs on American neighbors and allies the rallies were aimed at both the Trump administration and Trump Senior Advisor and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in particular.
The Chicago version of “Hands Off! Rise Up and Fight Back” was organized by the Chicago Federation of Labor, Equality Illinois, Indivisible Chicago, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Personal PAC and Sierra Club Illinois.
The action included speakers representing several constituencies and organizations, with Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago Commissioner Precious Brady-Davis speaking on behalf of trans individuals and the larger LGBTQ+ community; Bob Reiter for Chicago Federation of Labor; Lawrence Benito for Illinois Coalition for Immigrants and Refugee Rights; and Jack Darin for Sierra Club Illinois. Other speakers included Betty Alzamora, board member of Indivisible Chicago, and April Verret, president of Services Employees International Union.
After the short rally, protesters then marched west on Washington Street to LaSalle Street, and then south to Madison Street and north on State Street, finishing at Daley Plaza.
The weather was forgiving as a host of representatives took the stage after Rev. Jason Lydon of Second Unitarian Church of Chicago opened the action with a blessing.
Brady-Davis said, “We are here to demand justice, our civil rights, and equity. This administration is using trans people as a cudgel, and let me tell you that is pathetic. We have three million trans people to fight for and it’s time to get in the fight. Hands off trans people.”
Speaking about the recent Supreme Court election results in Wisconsin Sarah Garza Resnick, CEO of Personal PAC said they “gave me hope that people are waking up and realizing that every single level of government matters.”
Darin said, “No one voted to go backwards on climate change and stop building clean energy. No one voted to sell off National Parks and forests to pay for tax cuts for the rich. We say hands off our public lands…and no one voted to go backwards in the progress we’re making in environmental justice to protect our Black and brown communities that are breathing dirtier air and water.”
Photos by Vern Hester
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