“Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Trump and Musk have got to go! Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Trump and Musk have got to go!” echoed from Seattle Center last Saturday as demonstrators rallied together to protest the administration. Calling attention to human rights, the economy, immigration, cuts to government agencies and more, demonstrators mobilized nationwide to say, “Hands Off!”
More than 1,200 “Hands Off!” rallies took place on Saturday, with Washington state having protests scheduled in at least 40 other cities. The Seattle Rally organizing coalition included Evergreen Resistance, Seattle Indivisible, West Seattle Indivisible, South End Indivisible, Wallingford Indivisible, North Seattle Progressives, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates and 50501. While organizers only had 6,000 people registered to attend, it was later estimated there were approximately 25,000 in attendance.
“I am here because I am a lover of democracy. I am a queer. I’m a Jew. I’m a woman. I’m someone who cares about bodily autonomy. I’m someone who cares about liberation and that’s obviously something that’s not happening in our country right now,” a demonstrator in attendance who asked that their identity be anonymous, said.
Attendees crowded walkways, lawns, staircases and other areas, displaying homemade signs expressing various messages and emotions. “Stop the broligarchy.” “Schools just wanna have funds.” “Downward Doge.” “Chinga la migra.” “People power is greater than people in power.” “Expect my son’s existence or fear my resistance.” There were also some with Palestinian and Ukrainian flags.
Jennifer Crewe, 59, drove into Seattle from Issaquah to attend the rally. She carried a sign with the words “Hands Off” that was centered in large font near the top, and a list of various issues trailed underneath the phrase. The other side displayed the quote from Sen. Cory Booker, “This is a moral moment. It’s not left or right. It’s right or wrong.”
“I was going to have a sign that said ‘I don’t know where to start,’ but I think that this whole movement across the country was a good place to start, saying, ‘Keep your hands off everything…’ Everything they’re doing is affecting not only my future but my almost 90-year-old mother’s future and my children’s future,” Crewe said.
Her friend Stephanie Cross, 53, held a sign with the same quote but on the other side had an image of the American flag upside down, paying homage to the laid-off Yosemite National Park workers who hung a U.S. flag upside down as a call to protect public lands. They were a part of nearly 1,000 other National Park Service employees who were fired by the Trump administration back in February.
“Being from Washington, the national parks and public lands are very near and dear to me. The destruction we’re seeing, the disrespect of all these people who work for very low wages but do very hard work for us to enjoy the outdoors, and the threat of selling off all our legacy and our public lands, once you sell it off, you can’t get it back,” Cross said.
As the crowd told stories through their signage, the lineup of 22 speakers, including former Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Port Commissioner Hamdi Mohammed, echoed the people’s anxieties. Ultimately, they all warned that democracy, our livelihoods and our rights are all at risk.
“There has been a movement of power towards the executive branch, and [Trump] is obviously taking advantage of this…It sticks out to me as him trying to impose his own will onto the rest of the country,” Demonstrator and Redmond Resident Andy Keep, 47, said.
Since taking office, Donald Trump has signed 111 executive orders. Of only a few, some are targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, transgender athletes, and the Department of Education.
During the April 5 protests, Trump was playing golf in Florida, ignoring the mass mobilization, yet urging Americans to “hang tough” as the tariffs began to take effect.
Maya Walthall, a third-year political science major at Seattle University, attended the Saturday rally and described it as being “restorative.” Post-election results, Walthall encountered immense feelings of depression, but going to the Saturday protest began to restore her sense of hope.
“I think it is a good sign that there are enough people who care to turn out,” Walthall said. “My hope is that people will see that their efforts are not in vain. That there are people all over the country doing what they can.”
With the current administration, there has been an increase in political and social activism across the nation, reflecting a new social order that encourages Americans to build community and respond to various issues in the government.
