The Day | New London rally speakers encourage crowd to create a 'firewall' against Trump plans

By John Penney | Originally Published by the The Day

New London — As the rain fell onto Parade Plaza on Saturday afternoon, the 200 or so attendees of a “People’s Rally,” sang, danced and chanted to show their continued support for rights they said are threatened by a second Donald Trump presidency.

Speakers, including local and state leaders, along with supporters of immigrant, reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, urged the crowd of sign-waving participants to gird themselves for a protracted battle and draw strength through fellowship.

“The way to push back against tyranny is meet new people; that’s one of the ways we’ll get through the next four years,” said the Rev. Carolyn Patierno, pastor at the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregational Church, one of several event sponsors.

Mayor Michael Passero noted the New London rally took place as thousands of like-minded attendees convened in Washington, D.C. for the “People’s March” supporting the same issues that brought the crowd to New London.

“This is not a time to be discouraged,” Passero said. “We’ve been here before, we’ve been successful before and we will be successful again in standing up for the values this city represents. We have data and facts on our side versus the political rhetoric that divides us.”

Passero and other speakers specifically referenced Trump’s proposal to institute mass deportations of immigrants soon after his Monday inauguration.

“The undocumented, the people without papers, have been with us for years and decades; they are a part of us,” he said. “And we’re going to protect you. They don’t deserve to be persecuted. We need to fix a broken immigration system and not focus on the victims of that system.”

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said she and Gov. Ned Lamont will ensure state agencies, including those overseeing public health, education and public safety, will “step up” to ensure Connecticut laws protecting women’s reproductive, immigrant and labor rights remain in place.

She warned the biggest threat facing Connecticut is to the federal funding spigot through which state-earmarked education, school lunch and Medicaid monies flow.

Attorney General William Tong took several swipes at the incoming president, including the decision to hold Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Monday indoors.

“It’s too cold for the president to take his oath of office outside,” he said. “Well, we’re not cold. We’re fired up.”

Tong also vocalized his disdain for so-called “tech bros,” including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon leader Jeff Bezos, who he likened to appeasers for supporting Trump.

“They may be ready to bow down and others are ready to lie down,” he said before vowing to stand up any Trump that might threaten existing state protections.

Shiela Hayes, first vice-president of the Norwich NAACP Branch, was one of dozens of rally attendees from outside the city, a contingent that included Colchester, Mystic, East Lyme and Madison residents.

Hayes said it’s crucial for Connecticut lawmakers to band together with their counterparts in other states to ensure any federal directives threatening established rights are confronted quickly.

“We have to be strategic,” Hayes said. “(Trump) has made bold predictions on how he wants to move against immigration, education, health care and other protections. We need to figure out quickly how to keep them protected.”

Other speakers included Kris Wraight, president of the New London-based OutCT LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group; Angela Florex, the principal paralegal for the Immigration Advocacy and Support Center on nearby Eugene O’Neill Drive; and Liz Gustafson, Connecticut director of the Reproductive Equity Now group.

“We’re just two days out from Trump and his reality-tv appointed cabinet,” Gustafson said, urging the state to create a “firewall” of opposition. “And their plans can be summed up by ‘regression.’ We need every single person in this fight.”