Groups of people crowded out onto the platform of the Red Line’s Lake station. While the Loop neighborhood is always busy at noon on a Saturday, there was a buzz in the air that something, somewhere was happening. All one had to do to find out was follow in the footsteps of those holding picket signs and upside-down American flags.
Over 30,000 people gathered at Daley Plaza on April 5 to protest the mass changes spurred by President Donald Trump and the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk. The effort was part of a nationwide mobilization by the Indivisible movement, alongside several partner organizations all over the country, which saw the formation of similar protests in Washington, D.C., Denver, Seattle, New York City and many other locations.
The revolutionary fervor of the protest was potent. Signs reading “Freedom,” “Dump the Trump,” “Resist” and “Support Freedom” were held high in the air. People representing groups ranging from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to the Revolutionary Communist Party passed out flyers. Pride flags of the LGBTQ+ community flew alongside Palestinian and Ukrainian flags. People from all kinds of causes turned out protesting cuts made to the Department of Education, impediments to the First Amendment, new tariffs, threats aimed at Canada and Greenland and more. The group was united by the chants of “Hands off! Hands off! Hands off!”
“I’m looking into my retirement, so hands off social security and our healthcare,” said Sarah Morris, 50, a resident of Oak Forest, Illinois. “This is America; this should not be happening.” She and her younger sister, Elizabeth, both spoke of feeling optimistic and reinvigorated by the protest. However, both acknowledged that more needed to be done. “People really need to band together more and get a plan together,” Sarah said. “We need our elected officials to get together and fight.”
Eric Eisenstein, 69, a member of Indivisible, was at the protest, yelling, “Grab ‘em by the testicles!” on the side of the street. “The only thing that will handcuff Trump is Congress,” he said. “I hope they reassert their constitutional authority over tariffs, because I think the tariff policy is going to lead to a global recession and perhaps a global depression. I’m extremely worried.”
Others seemed less optimistic about the government stepping in to make things right. “In Freedom Road, we have a slogan,” said Joe Iosbaker, 66, an affiliate of multiple organizations including the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and the Coalition Against the Trump Committee. “[Trump]’s creating chaos, so our slogan is to make the country ungovernable. We need protests, occupation of campuses, strikes,” he continued. “We’re in the process of building a new party that can bring an end to this nightmare.”
Although how exactly to fight Trump is a matter of debate, the universal consensus of the rally — as it poured out of Daley Plaza and marched through the streets of Chicago — was that Trump must be fought. “Everybody’s getting picked on right now,” said Caroline, 41, a resident of Chicago. “If my body in the streets can help that, then I want to be in the streets. It doesn’t matter if I’m optimistic or pessimistic about it,” she said, referring to what could happen in the future. “I have to keep fighting for it no matter what. Activism never ends — it ends when I die.”