Denver was one of the thousands of cities across the nation that joined in on the “Hands Off” protests this past Saturday. Our Co-Editor-In-Chief, Brandon Mattesich, was in Denver for the Western Regional Honors Conference and covered the protest.
The turnout was in the thousands, with many of the city’s senior population taking the chance to protest on a variety of issues including Trump’s federal policies.
One group of protestors had a key message in mind. “If generations before us had been complacent, we wouldn’t be here,” Beth Kelly, one protestor who attended the event with her church group, said. “So hopefully the march motivates our younger generations to realize they can get involved with us and lead us. Not only get involved, but lead us. Help us fight for free press, because that’s how you move forward.”
The group said they were there to protest for what they believe to be “core values,” arguing that everything that happened recently at a federal level was backwards. “I’m angry and motivated against the administration right now and all the injustices that they’re carrying out against all kinds of people,” Julie Coleman, a protestor with the group, said. “This year, the actions of this government have hurt our family, personally threatened our jobs and our health care.”
Coleman also discussed how she had personally been affected by the new policies, having watched systems she helped build up over years unravel. “It’s not the country I grew up in, and he’s rebuilding colonialism,” Coleman said. “If you go all the way back to FDR in the 30s, when we actually established social security, and we built that up in Medicare and Medicaid, and in one fell swoop, it is being threatened by this administration almost 100 years later. We marched for women’s rights back in the day, now it’s been reversed, that’s why we’re here today.”
Eileen Hunter Sweeny, another member of the protest group, shared a final statement, “Compared to what happened 80 years ago, World War II, and how far our country has come with the help of the allies … it’s gone. It’ll be gone in a matter of years.”
