Protester at Evanston, Ill., demonstration against Trump/Musk on April 5, 2025. Photo: News & Letters.

Evanston, Ill.—About 1,000 demonstrators showed up, surprising organizers and police, who ended up closing several streets they had not planned to as the crowd spilled out of Fountain Square into three streets in downtown Evanston. It was very surprising because the Evanston demonstration was only announced two days before the event, after organizers had previously urged people to demonstrate in downtown Chicago. Many older people attended, as Toni Rey, a 90-year-old resident of a retirement community, asked Indivisible Evanston to have an event closer to home. A young mother made a similar request. There were many young parents with children as well and people of middle age. And people were angry; angry and happy to be letting Trump/Musk, etc. know we are angry and determined.

‘HANDS OFF’ EVERYTHING!

The theme was to tell Trump et al “HANDS OFF” a huge list of issues, issues that affect so many people. They included: Medicaid, Medicare, funds for the disabled, LGBTQ+ issues, women’s bodies and reproductive health, veterans’ healthcare, science, schools, Ukraine, Black history, women’s history, FEMA, immigrants, democracy, my vote, elections, democracy, Greenland, Canada, vaccines, free speech, national parks, clean air, clean energy, the National Weather Service, the Post Office, the rule of law—everything that makes the country run and everything that helps people live a decent life in our society.

Protester at Evanston, Ill., demonstration against Trump/Musk on April 5, 2025. Photo: News & Letters.

Signs were all handmade and some expressed disgust at Trump and Musk: “I could poop a better president,” “My body, my choice. Creeps!” “If Woke means not being a selfish ass then I’M WIDE AWAKE,” “Racist, Egomaniac, Sexist, Ignorant, Soulless, Traitors,” “Teachers give Trump/Musk an F,” “No more Nazis,” “Immigrants over oligarchs,” and several others comparing them to excrement. One guy was giving out foot-long sections of toilet paper with Trump’s picture on each sheet.

The protest in Evanston was one of over 1,200 taking place in every state of the Union. The one in Washington, D.C., was estimated to be over 100,000 strong when only 20,000 were expected. Most experienced what we did in Evanston: a much larger crowd than anticipated.

These demonstrations reveal that a majority of people in the U.S. are opposed to what their government is doing. They show both concern and fear for a direction clearly leading to fascism, and a realization that some in the U.S.—especially immigrants, people of color, and women of all colors, are already experiencing that fascism. Front and center was the feeling of urgency to fight the obviously reactionary direction Republicans are revealing. At the same time, the idea that we can leave it to the Democrats is dying if not already dead. Taking to the streets in these kinds of gatherings is a first step in taking corol of our destiny and creating the kind of world that will make it impossible for fascism to ever rise again.

–Participants

Protester at Evanston, Ill., demonstration against Trump/Musk on April 5, 2025. Photo: News & Letters.

Protesters at Evanston, Ill., demonstration against Trump/Musk on April 5, 2025. Photo: News & Letters.

Protesters at Evanston, Ill., demonstration against Trump/Musk on April 5, 2025. Photo: News & Letters.

Protester at Evanston, Ill., demonstration against Trump/Musk on April 5, 2025. Photo: News & Letters.

Protester at Evanston, Ill., demonstration against Trump/Musk on April 5, 2025. Photo: News & Letters.

A small portion of the crowd at Evanston, Ill., demonstration against Trump/Musk on April 5, 2025. Photo: News & Letters.