Massachusetts Rally Sparks Call for Action

PITTSFIELD — Less than a week after President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, speakers at a rally inside the Colonial Theatre evoked another presidential address delivered in a time of crisis.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress in 1941, he identified four freedoms that were at risk from threats from abroad — freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

For the organizers, legislators and community members at the Colonial, those freedoms are under attack once again. 

“Everything is on the line. Our economy, our health, our schools, our very democracy. That’s why in the courtrooms, in the halls of Congress, in classrooms and boardrooms and the ballot box and on the street, we need to fight. And when we fight, we will win, but we have to fight,” U.S. Sen. Ed Markey told attendants at the sold-out theater on Sunday.

The event, “No Kings in America! Rally for Democracy,” was organized by a Four Freedoms Coalition led by local organizations including the Berkshire Democratic Brigades, the Rural Freedom Network, Berkshire Indivisible and the Berkshires chapter of the NAACP. Markey headlined the event, and was joined on stage by a cast of local politicians, organizers and musicians.

As the Democratic Party struggles to identify a compelling and unified response to the Trump administration, the consensus inside the Colonial Sunday afternoon seemed to be that resistance to the current White House will grow locally.

“I think it’s going to come from the grassroots. It’s going to come from events like this when we’re all together and feeling energized by our peers,” said state Rep. Leigh Davis.

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On stage, speakers urged those in attendance and the people watching from home to get involved in any way they can: call legislators, text bank, volunteer, even run for office themselves.

“Local government is our backbone of American democracy and we need you to join us in this work. We need you to volunteer to serve on boards of commission, we need you to run for office, we need to hear your advocacy,” said Mayor Peter Marchetti.

Speaker after speaker also voiced their ongoing commitment to fight back against the Trump administration’s attacks on the rights of Massachusetts residents, evoking the commonwealth’s long tradition of resisting “kings.”

"Almost 250 years ago, the king sailed away in 1776, and I'm here to say the king is not coming back to Massachusetts," said state Rep. Paul Mark.

Massachusetts knows how to resist, Markey said. It was here that people, angered that their ruler had put a tax on their tea, protested, and it is here where people fired the first shot of the Revolutionary War in 1775.

“Today from the town square of Great Barrington here to the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield to the fields of Lexington and Concord, we must do it again. It’s 250 years later, and we need a revolution to make sure there are no kings,” said Markey.

One speaker also reminded those in attendance about times in the nation's history when many people didn’t fight back against the denial of human rights, and the consequences of that inaction. Dennis Powell, president of the Berkshire branch of the NAACP, told the audience that no one protected the democracy of his ancestors, Black men and women living in the United States pre- and post-emancipation.

His rights were hard-won and newly-earned, but they are under attack again, he said. And those attacks aren't limited to the rights of marginalized and vulnerable populations — everyone is affected, he said.

“Many of you who never thought your democracy would never be challenged are now realizing it is. Many of you believed your democracy would always protect you. You are now seeing that it won’t be the last time we stand to defend it,” said Powell. "No group stands alone or falls alone when democracy is challenged."

In the lobby, local nonprofits offered myriad ways for attendees to take a first or second step in their organizing career, like signing a petition to “fire Elon Musk” — who has been leading cuts to services under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — registering to vote, joining an email list and coming to their next meeting.

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“We have learned by doing. Most of us came to this very accidentally when Trump was elected the first time around. It’s the seeds of democracy in action and much more creative and action oriented, not just reactionary,” said Jessica Dils, a representative for Greylock Together.

As speakers asked the community members in attendance whether they were going to take action to resist the Trump administration, many of the organizers and community members in attendance voiced the same query of their elected representatives.

"We are more active right now than our legislators are. We need to let them now that that's not sustainable. They need to stand with us," said Nick Pacella, a representative from 350 Massachusetts, a grassroots organization that fights climate change.