Editor’s Note: The first protest took place on Feb. 23, and has continued weekly. There is no definite end date.
On Sunday, Feb. 23, 30 people gathered at the intersection of Ninth and Massachusetts streets in protest of various political actions associated with the Trump administration. A week later, on March 2, approximately 200 individuals gathered at the same downtown intersection.
Organizer Robin Gingerich started the Feb. 23 protest through word of mouth, saying she decided to protest as a way to stand up publicly for her views. Gingerich said she believes the protests will continue on future Sundays but that the event isn’t officially organized through an organization.
“A week ago, Saturday, my husband and I had been at the rally in Topeka, and we had said, ‘What if we just make signs and go stand here? If it’s just the two of us, that’s okay.’ I texted a friend, and she texted some friends,” Gingerich said. “Last Sunday, there were 30 people here, just the spontaneous less than 24 hour thing, and then people were excited. They wanted to do it again. People started posting about it, and we got this [turnout].”
Protest participant Debra Baker said her top issue overall was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
This [administration] made me break my silence,” Baker said. “Even though [the interview] happened since I decided to come, the Zelensky interview yesterday seals the deal for so many different aspects of what’s going on. It’s just humiliating and horrible.”
For protester Jerry Jost, his concerns surround the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. These include the department’s policies to cut government programs and spending, and Elon Musk’s position as the de facto head of the department.
“What I’ve been witnessing for the last six plus weeks is an unaccountable, unelected billionaire who is now working with his own young engineers, going into our treasury, going into USAID, going into our social security information,” Jost said. “They’re totally unaccountable. It’s risking our private information, and so that concerns me, because it’s undemocratic. It puts all of us at risk.”
Protest participant and Free State senior Niko Eidemiller said the protest represents a large pushback against the Trump administration and shows Lawrence citizens they are not alone in their political stance. Eidemiller said they hope the protest will help spark further community action and citizen engagement in government.
“I hope [protesting] builds a community where we can organize more events like this and keep up constant pressure to show our representatives that this is what we want and that they should focus on [an] administration that supports our desires as a community in Lawrence,” Eidemiller said.
Speaking to the importance of community action, Jost said that the history of public protesting in the U.S. is long, and that citizens must be vocal both personally and collectively to best shape the government they want.
“We have to exercise our voice. At times, it feels like we don’t have the power we want, but the power that we have is being together, sharing a common voice, and calling our government to be competent, decent and accountable,” Jost said. “We have a long, rich history in this country that when the government gets off track, we go to the streets, and that’s what we’re doing right here today.”
