The “We Are America March” walked through Clark Park on Sept. 6.
Credit: Chenyao Liu
Hundreds of demonstrators marched through Penn’s campus on Saturday in protest of actions taken by 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump’s second administration.
The “We Are America March” began at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall and will march towards Washington D.C. over a span of two weeks, stopping for “short rallies, mutual-aid projects, and hands-on teach-ins” along the way. The protesters carry a copy of the U.S. Constitution written by children around the country, which they plan to deliver to Congress to reaffirm that “the principles inside are not for sale.”
After leaving Independence Hall, the Sept. 6 march proceeded toward Penn’s campus up Walnut Street and onto Locust Walk, where it passed the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library. It then continued past the Quad and to Clark Park.
Credit: Chenyao Liu
A demonstrator on Sept. 6 held up a sign.
More than 300 people participated in Saturday’s stretch of the march, from Independence Hall to Clark Park according to march organizer Margaret Bohara. Around 50 people will make the full journey from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. according to Bohara.
Protesters bearing anti-Trump signs broke out into chants, including cries of “Small hands, small feet, all he does is golf and tweet” and “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go.”
As the marchers reached Penn’s campus, several began chanting, “We march to D.C. to keep the students free.”
“[Protesting] is for our freedom of expression. We don’t want to lose it,” one protester — who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation — told The Daily Pennsylvanian. “We’re collectively frogs in the water with the pot turned on boil, [so] people need to stand up. So hopefully this inspires some other people.”
According to Bohara, the movement is not simply a protest of the Trump administration, but of the current federal political environment that has not checked his actions.
“You’ll notice that on our website there is not any information about Trump. We wish that he were not president and doing the things he’s doing,” she told the DP, “But we also believe that there should’ve been people stopping it.”
“Individuals and organizations definitely should have said, ‘This is not okay, these are not American values,’ but we didn’t see that happening,” Bohara continued.
Credit: Chenyao Liu
Demonstrators walked down Walnut Street on Sept. 6.
The march will culminate in a Sept. 19 rally on the eastern end of the National Mall, near the U.S. Capitol building.
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“We’re hoping people will remember we have three checks and balances in our system, and that’s how democracy works,” another protester told the DP.
At that rally, protesters will teach attendees how to visit their congressperson’s office “legally and respectfully,” Bohara added.
“That is your right as an American to visit your congresspeople and tell them what they need to do to protect your freedoms,” she said.
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