By Lauren Victoria Burke, BlackPressUSA.com Newswire Contributor
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the base of the Washington Monument to push back on President Trump and his Administration. In less than 75 days in office Trump has created economic uncertainty and laid off thousands of federal employees.
The day started with a large group of mostly white demonstrators holding hands and encircling the National Museum of African American History and Culture with “Hands Off!” signs and other anti-Trump banners and slogans.
Though there weren’t many Black people in the large crowd there were several Black leaders speaking on the main stage. They included Rev. Dr. William Barber, the former President of the North Carolina NAACP who is currently the President of Repairers of the Breach, and several civic and labor leaders.
Among the labor leaders were Everett Kelley, the national President of the American Federation of Government Employees. The group represents over 800,000 federal government workers. Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE have targeted civil servants as outlined in the Heritage Foundation document Project 2025.
“We’re not here today just as federal employees, we are here today as the defenders of democracy. We are here to protect our freedom and the American way of life,” Kelley said to the cheering crowd.
“Today our nation is at a crossroads,” Kelley yelled into the microphone standing on a small stage in front of a diverse group of labor and civil rights leaders.
National Education Association President Becky Pringle also spoke.
“The right to learn is the most fundamental. The freedom to learn has been brought by bitter sacrifice,” Pringle started quoting W.E.B. DuBois.
“We’re all here to say hands off our public schools. The NEA has called out Donald Trump and Elon Musk and WWE czar you can’t make this stuff up Linda McMahon — their brazen attempts to undermine public education in America,” Pringle told the large crowd.
Trump announced that he was moving to close the Department of Education with what is widely believed to be an illegal executive order on March 20.
A diverse group of issues was represented at the rally. In addition to labor leaders, there were elected leaders, feminist leaders, conservationists and LGBT leaders as well. The rallies are taking place in all 50 states and in several places around the world.
Several speakers highlighted the number of veterans they say have been impacted by Trump’s policies and mass firings of federal workers.
“Thirty percent of the federal workforce are veterans. Never forget this fact: Thirty percent of the federal workforce are veterans,” Randy Irwin, National President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, told the crowd of thousands standing at the base of the Washington Monument.
There were several signs featuring U.S. Senator Cory Booker in the crowd. There were also a few shoutouts for the New Jersey Senator from the stage. On April 2, Booker broke the longtime record of segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond. Booker spoke on the Senate floor for 25 hours and 4 minutes.
Activists from Indivisible and other protest orgs who put together today’s events are planning more anti-Trump demonstrations.
Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the owner of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears regularly on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show Comms Class on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke.
