By Joey R. and Nancy L.
On April 5, the East Bay community rallied in opposition to Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s illegal looting and elimination of public services, resources, and jobs as part of the national HANDS OFF! day of protest – the largest single day of action since Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term.
Indivisible East Bay took the lead in organizing an event at Oscar Grant / Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, where an estimated 5000 people called for Trump, Musk, and their MAGA cronies to end the chaos and willful destruction of both the economy and federal programs critical to working families. Check out a short video with highlights of the event! Twenty-one other organizations co-sponsored the event (see the full list here).
While Trump and congressional Republicans are doubling down on their agenda to gut essential services, East Bay residents sent a clear message: Take your hands off our healthcare, our Social Security, our retirement, our civil rights, our freedom, and our education.
“We are not intimidated by injustice and structural evil,” said Rev. Michael McBride (one of the speakers at the Oakland event). “May today demonstrate a recommitment to rejecting corporate and totalitarian power and embracing the power of the people. Hands off the people.”
Across the country, millions gathered to show the historic unpopularity of Trump & Musk’s radical agenda. In Oakland, attendees also marched to the Oakland Federal Building to display local opposition to the proposed reopening of the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin as a detention center for the Trump administration’s illegal campaign against immigrants.
The massive showing across the country should put to rest the idea that “the resistance is dead.” In urban and rural areas, in large cities and small towns, people came out in force to reject the cruelty and chaos of the Trump regime. We are, once again, the ones we’ve been waiting for.
To see a brief video overview of the event on YouTube, click here.
Update [April 9]: Guess what? We are on TikTok now as well. Here’s the link to the video.
