By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Last week, when a couple environmental students at BGSU organized a protest in downtown Bowling Green against President Donald Trump’s administration, they thought a handful of people might show up.
But on Friday, for two hours in freezing weather, more than 250 people held signs, chanted, and found reason for hope.
There were old hippies, who had dusted off previously used protest signs – and who felt an urgency to speak out as never before. There were others of that generation, who had never attended a protest, but felt driven to show up.
There were young parents, who worried about their children having fewer rights than they did. And there were many college students, who see their country going in a direction they believe is unAmerican.
Since Bowling Green city officials sensed that the protest would be well attended, they asked the organizers if they would consider moving it to Wooster Green. So protesters took their spots along West Wooster Street, holding signs stating:
- “Hate Never Made America Great.”
- “Stop pretending your racism is patriotism.”
- “Trans rights are human rights.”
- “Elect a clown, expect a circus.”
- “This is our country, not your church.”
- “Who elected Elon?”
As motorists drove past, many of them honking and giving thumbs up, the protesters chanted, “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA,” and “This is what democracy looks like.”
At one point, the protesters walked through the downtown area, then regrouped at Wooster Green.
The only obvious pro-Trump responses came from a very small convoy of three pickup trucks flying “Trump” flags from their truck beds. One of the pickups was stopped downtown by a Bowling Green police officer for “rolling coal,” emitting a cloud of black smoke from his modified muffler. The officer told the driver he and the others could fly the flags from their trucks, but he gave the driver a warning about his muffler.
Among the oldest protesters at Wooster Green was Michael Peslikis, 88, of Bowling Green. Steadying himself with his cane, he shared an historic perspective of similar threats to democracy.
“It’s the 1930s all over again. The courts are in his pockets. The legislature is in his pockets,” he said.
Peslikis is no longer sure that “democracy will prevail.”
“Autocracy is the norm and it’s coming back with a vengeance,” he said.
“That’s why they want to dismantle the education department,” Peslikis said. “Education is the enemy of autocracy. They want to get rid of everyone who can think. God help us.”
Peslikis, whose uncle stormed the beaches at Normandy, holds some hope that Americans will rise up to save their nation.
“This needs to happen on a grand scale,” he said of the protest. “In every hamlet, in every city.”
Karen Wood, of Bowling Green, said she has never seen the U.S. in such dire circumstances.
“It’s like being in the ER and the patient is on the deathbed,” she said. “I never thought we would get to this point. Honest to God.”
Wood said she has always believed in institutions like the Department of Education, voting rights, and FBI. But all that is under attack. Just hours before the protest here, members of Congress were barred from entering the public building for the U.S. Department of Education.
“I’m so worried for these young people,” Wood said, looking at the many college students at the protest. “I don’t know what kind of world they will have.”
Paul Hagen came to the protest in hopes of changing his feeling of helplessness.
“I’m so frustrated. We need to know that other people feel the same,” he said.
“I’m scared of him becoming a dictator,” Hagen said, expressing anger at Trump pardoning Jan. 6 insurrectionists and turning his back on the environment.
“We’re going backwards,” he said. “I’m concerned about how bad it’s going to get for my kids and grandkids.”
Hagen held a sign equating Trump to Hitler – a sign originally made in 2016, but so much more relevant now, he said.
“It’s more pertinent now. We know now what he wants to do.”
Jean Suelzer shared those concerns, citing Trump’s desire to seize Greenland and turn Gaza into his own Riviera in the Middle East.
“I’m very concerned with what is happening. In fact, I’d have to say that I’m scared,” Suelzer said. “That’s what happens with a felon in the White House” and an unelected Elon Musk given unfettered control, she said.
Vickie Askins, a member of the Ohio Farmers Union, said she was at the protest on behalf of farmers.
“I’m here to fight for our rights,” she said. “The farmers are really going to hurt.”
Farmers in western states are already having trouble finding people to harvest crops, and bird flu continues to spread while national health agencies are being banned from studying the disease or communicating about its spread.
For Kathy Sweeney, of Bowling Green, the protest was a first.
“I’ve never done anything like this,” she said, explaining she was motivated by her concern about the administration targeting people in the LGBTQ community. Sweeney said she has shown her support in the past by providing homemade cookies to gatherings at her church. But she felt the need to speak up for those who are vulnerable.
“I want to be supportive of the LBGTQ community. They need to live their lives,” Sweeney said.
Janet Parks, of Bowling Green, said the religion being preached by Trump supporters is nothing like the Christianity she knows.
“The Jesus I grew up with is freaking out right now,” Parks said.
Parks was glad to see so many young participants at the protest. “These young people are inspirational.”
But many of them are also wary about revealing their names, citing all the hatred and vitriol they’ve seen unleashed on social media.
One young woman said she was at the protest for her children. “I want to make a change for my kids. I want them to grow up in a world like I did. Rights are being stripped away.”
A young man voiced his worry for immigrants and transgender people. “I’m really upset about the gross overreach of our president,” he said. “I think it’s important to speak up for people who are different than we are.”
And as for the two protest organizers, who had no idea how many people would stand with them, they no longer felt the same weight of despair.
“I was expecting maybe five or 10 people to be here,” one said. “I wanted to stand up for what is right – for people without a voice.”
And the other wanted to defend the earth after U.S. actions to back out of climate agreements and defy documented science. “It makes me scared for this earth. This is the time to stand up.”
