WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the thousands who converged on the National Mall in Washington on Saturday, April 5, and in thousands of marches and rallies from coast to coast, the overall message to President Donald Trump was “Hands Off! [fill in the blank].”
U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, touched on many of the concerns as he joined four other self-described “liberated Democrats” from the U.S. House of Representatives at the Washington Monument.
“Hands off Medicaid and Medicare. It belongs to our seniors. Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme. It is part of the American Dream….Canada is not going to become the 51st state,” Green said. “Russia invaded Ukraine. Greenland is not for sale. And he also needs to note, dear friends, that Gaza is not going to become a resort. There must be a home for the Palestinian people.”
“Take your hands off of our democracy!,” the social justice activist Rev. William J. Barber commanded.
For some who trekked to Constitution and 14th Street, home of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the directive to Trump, Elon Musk and the MAGA team was even more pointed: Leave Black history alone and keep your hands off the museum fondly known as the Blacksonian.
WATCH: New Jersey community among many who organized ‘Hands Off’ protests
On March 27, Trump issued an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” and its primary target was unmistakable: the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which Trump claimed reflects “a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” He appointed Vice President J.D. Vance to take the lead in “saving our Smithsonian.” In response, Dr. Lonnie Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution’s museums, libraries, research centers and the National Zoo, assured the vast staff that “As always, our work will be shaped by the best scholarship, free of partisanship, to help the American public better understand our nation’s history, challenges and triumphs.” Bunch was the founding director of the 100 years-in-the-making Blacksonian. Amid uncertainty spawned by the executive order came news that Kevin Young, who succeeded Bunch at the helm of the African American museum, is on leave – for some an ominous sign that the Trump camp may be tightening the screws.
Organizers estimated that about 100,000 people rallied in D.C. for what Ezra Levin of a grassroots group called The Indivisible hailed as “the single largest pro-democracy movement in years.” According to the Associated Press, the turnout across the nation marked “the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the shock of the Republicans’ first weeks in office.”
In anticipation of large crowds, one woman, Erika Berg, took it upon herself to issue a call for “A Circle of Remembrance” to encircle the museum “in silent reverence for the ancestors.” She had a vision of hundreds of white activists taking part and making a powerful statement of solidarity before walking across the street to the Washington Monument for the noontime rally. From 11:15 to 11:20 some version of that took place, though among the thousands of people milling about the museum’s grounds, it was difficult to figure out who was taking part in a vigil. Many people simply did their own thing to show support for the museum and their anger at Trump for a plethora of executive orders, firings, budget cuts, tariffs, power grabs and insults.
Kira Canada, a junior criminology major at Howard University, held a sign that covered a host of concerns. “I’m protesting for the right to my education, health care, my right to democracy, [and] my right to not be in segregated spaces,” she said.
People traveled from far and wide. On a packed commuter train from Baltimore, women in their senior years stood for an hour and young adults sat on the floor with messages like “Hands Off SSA Benefits, Veterans’ Benefits”, “Silence = Complicity,” “Gaza”, and “Le Canada N’est Pas Á Vendre” (Canada is not for sale)” on shirts, headgear and picket signs. One woman’s sign summed up the general sentiment about resisting the dizzying swirl of actions taken by Trump since his inauguration on Jan. 20: “Don’t Even Know Where to Start.”
But outside the museum, it was clear that Dr. Tayarisha Batchelor, a diversity consultant from Connecticut, started with history.
“I believe that we have to make sure that our stories are not erased, [and] our stories are told so that our students can make informed decisions about their education, about how they can shape this world,” she said.
Batchelor is worried about Trump’s war against DEI — diversity, equity, and inclusion — as what he perceives as a left-wing scheme to provide opportunities to undeserving people.
“If we’re talking about all kids and all students, whether you’re calling it DEI or belonging or inclusion, we have to recognize that every student deserves quality education. We can’t mitigate what they’re not getting by erasing DEI.”
That was also on the mind of Laf, a retired federal worker from Arlington, Virginia, who declined to give his full name. He conducted his own vigil outside the museum for several hours wearing a “Black History Matters” shirt and holding a sign that read, “Hands Off! Civil Rights.”
“I’m here to stand up for the museum because there’s an attack on civil rights, DEI, and diversity and we’re just here to resist that,” he said.
It was a day for people from all sorts of coalitions to meet, exchange contact information, share strategies, and refuel for the work they are pursuing back home. They identified themselves as unionists, LGBTQ+ advocates, feminists, educators, scientists, and supporters of Palestinians and Ukrainians. At the museum, activists brought together by Third Act fired up a crowd with their call-and-response chants of “Hands off” Social Security, democracy, women’s bodies, and libraries, among other targets of the Trump administration. Third Act describes itself as “a dedicated group of organizers, campaign strategists, and communications professionals working together to build a powerful elder-led movement for climate action and democracy protection.”
While Kira Canada and her fellow Howard students expressed disappointment in a relatively sparse Black turnout in Washington, Batchelor from Connecticut said she was pleased to see so many people who were not Black taking up causes that she felt had too long been the domain of Blacks crying in the wilderness.
“What I’m really impressed by is that people who have held positional power for so long are recognizing that [Blacks] should not be the only ones talking about democracy and talking about our truths,” Batchelor said.
Pondering the message of the day, Jackie Sparkman, a retired lawyer, recalled hearing the Morgan State University Choir in concert a week before singing “Stand Up,” from “Harriet,” the 2023 film about Harriet Tubman.
“That’s what we have to do: stand up,” she said. “Trump is a bully, and we don’t cave to bullies. We’ve got to stop being afraid of people who are bullying us. Stand up!”
Noting how educational institutions, law firms and media companies are agreeing to Trumpian terms that dictate some aspects of how they operate, she, like others along the National Mall vowed: “We will not bow down. We will not kiss the ring.”
