Several hundred people marched in frigid downtown Burlington on Tuesday night to air grievances against President Donald Trump’s two-week-old administration.
Rights and Democracy and the Burlington branch of the International Socialist Organization organized the rally after Trump signed an executive order closing the country to refugees and people from seven countries. Protesters filled a large swath of City Hall Park before they marched up Church Street.
“We had to do something to stand up,” said Nolan Rampy, one of the organizers.
Speakers decried Trump’s plans to build a wall on the Mexican border, the executive order curtailing refugee resettlement and the administration’s bellicose rhetoric toward foreign countries.
“No one is illegal; refugees are people,” the crowd chanted at one point.
“Hate won’t make America great again,” one sign read. “France called, they want the Statue of Liberty back,” read another.
Speakers included Winooski attorney Faisal Gill, who was born in Pakistan and is on the board of directors at the nonprofit Justice for All.
“When Mr. Trump looks at me, all he sees is a terrorist,” Gill said. “Well, screw him. To him, brown equals criminal; brown equals terrorist. Screw him.”
The rally appeared to draw many people who don’t usually engage in political activism.
“It’s hard to sit at home doing nothing,” said Burlington resident Molly O’Brien. “It felt necessary to take the time and get out on the right side of history.”
Sami Jarjour, a Syrian American from Colchester, said he is usually too shy to attend political rallies and mingle in large crowds.
But Trump’s refugee ban and his stance on environmental issues prompted Jarjour to come out, he explained as he marched up Church Street.
“I need to take a stand. I need to get out of my bubble,” Jarjour said.
Related Stories
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
I take issue with your quoting of Faisal Gill. While he may have said, “Screw him”, there was so much more that he said. He was well spoken and spoke from his heart. Your portrayal of what he said doesn’t reflect that.
Why are people who are so justifiably eager to protest Trump’s neo-fascism unwilling to rise up against Miro’s neo-liberalism? They’re both using capitalist social cleansing to sell-off our commonwealth to the 1%
Mr. Gill certainly has a justifiable right to hold a personal grudge against the Republicans after his treatment in the so-called “Faisal Gill Affair,” as reported by Glenn Greenwald on the left and the Washington Times on the right, among others.
However, I wonder if Faisal Gill is equally upset about the bipartisan neo-con support for aggravating and inflaming the situation in Syria, creating all those refugees to begin with? Columbia University’s Jeffrey Sachs has helped expose Hillary Clinton’s huge role in running weapons via the Saudis through Libya to CIA-trained rebels in Syria as part of the unauthorized, illegal proxy war vs. Iran. When Democrats are killing “brown” people, I guess it’s OK.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sach…