Protesting
I join tens of thousands of ordinary folks demanding change
This is a special edition
I had already written and scheduled a post for today, Saturday, April 5, 2025, but that was before I went to the anti-Trump-administration protest this afternoon in downtown Portland. What I found was to some degree unexpected and astonishing. So my reporting from there is now today’s posting.
What I expected
I knew the protest would be large—we’ve all been itching for a chance to vent against the administration—and it was. I’m not an expert at counting crowds, but I suspect tens of thousands of people attended. The Japanese-American Historical Plaza at the north end of Waterfront Park was overwhelmed early, and people kept pouring in.
It was hard even getting there. I started out early, but two full buses passed me by before I was able to board one, and I saw large groups of people walking across the Hawthorne Bridge.
I took a photo of some of the crowd from a parking garage at Southwest Pine and Naito, but the sea of people stretched beyond that to the south. Hundreds more lined the Morrison Bridge.
Creativity
What was most amazing and unexpected about this gathering were the signs. Not printed by the hundreds and distributed, like signs at the political conventions. No, each was individual. Each was crafted by someone who really cared about the issues at the forefront in the protest for them: preserving Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, threats to education and health services, Israel/Palestine, government by oligarchs, purging our history. . . . Here are some I saw:
Musk/Trump Lock them up!
No to Greed + Deceit
MAGA: Morally Absent Greedy Assholes
That’s not a cabinet, it’s a junk drawer!
Donald Trump is a Russian asset
Stop them!
Love wins
MO FO Must Go
(A reference to an epithet that begins with “mother”)
Silence is Surrender
Not My Czar
Science Saves Lives
Guard Against Truth Decay
Where is Justice?
Deeds Not Words
Stop Putin’s Puppet
No turn on red
No, that was a traffic sign, but it seemed appropriate
Hands off the 99% (that’s us)
Courage is Contagious
Make American Good Again
The Emperor Has No Brains
Veto the Cheeto
Some signs replaced the “u” in Musk with a swastika, a reference to certain hand gestures the man made at the Republican National Convention.
There were also many variations of “Hand off Social Security”—all of them different.
Crowds
There were supposed to be speeches, but I couldn’t hear any. Eventually, the crowd started to march southward. Participants chanted and banged signs with plastic swords, making a drumlike racket. I was so overcome with the claustrophobia of being amid thousands of bodies that I needed to leave.
A few blocks away, tourists, vendors and street musicians made the scene at the Portland Saturday Market while I waited for the Max train to whisk me away.
What now?
While at the parking garage, I fell into conversation with Bill, who just moved to Portland from Arizona. We both noted the fervor of the crowd, and agreed that so long as there is no effective opposition within the framework of our institutions, the people must keep protesting.
Today, Portland, you held a protest. A lot of people came out and shouted and marched and waved their handmade signs. Where can we go from here?
—30—
Next week
I told several people that today’s post would be about Trimet bus drivers, the FX2 bus, scams, Vikings and skeletons. I plan on publishing all those things next week. —fg
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Great photos and I’m glad you got to go. They will need to be frequent and ongoing.
Humor and meaning and community can be such motivational forces!