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"Doing nothing is not an option": People's March protests Trump in Hudson

Protesters, complete with a marching band, march down Warren Street in Hudson.
Jesse King
Protesters, complete with a marching band, march down Warren Street in Hudson.

Demonstrators with the People’s March gathered in Hudson, New York this weekend to protest the inauguration of President Trump, but the march carried a different vibe from similar protests in 2017.

Complete with their own marching band, a few hundred people paraded down Warren Street to Promenade Park in Hudson. Jesse Lurie, a member of the Rhinebeck Democratic Committee, brought what she calls her “all-purpose pissed-off protest sign” that she uses in every protest. She says she's marching today because it feels like her only choice.

"Doing nothing is not an option. Staying home and being scared isn't an option. Pretending that it’s not happening is not an option," adds Lurie. "We just owe it to other women to be here, we owe it future generations to be here. Because nobody wants to look back and think, ‘Why’d nobody do anything?’” 

The national People’s March drew thousands to Washington D.C. ahead of Monday’s inauguration, but it was still only a fraction of the crowd that turned out to protest Trump at the original Women’s March in 2017. That event, with partnering marches around the country, was the largest single-day protest in the U.S. at the time. 

Rudy Stegemoeller and Mary Lynch drove from Rensselaer County to Hudson this time around — but eight years ago, they were in D.C. 

“That was one of the most joyous days of my life, honestly," says Stegemoeller. "Because we felt like, ‘OK, this flukey thing happened, but half a million people are here to make sure that nothing really bad goes [down]'…Did not anticipate that we’d be doing this eight years later!" 

"After the last election, I was shocked and stunned," adds Lynch. "I understood the political realities, but I was born in 1960. I remember in the ‘70s becoming a feminist, and I remember being proud of our country for so long. It just seemed like a rejection of that.”

That shock seems to be a common feeling in the crowd, and while it was certainly there in 2017, too, it feels a little heavier this time around. Trump won reelection decisively in November, with both the popular and electoral college vote. Speaking to protesters, you get a sense that people are tired — not resigned, but tired.

The Women’s March has also changed a lot since Trump’s first term: this edition is marching not just for women’s rights but for trans rights, migrant rights, racial justice, labor unions, protecting the environment, protecting libraries, and defending democracy itself. 

Multiple protesters point to Trump’s felony conviction over "hush money" payments his attorney made to an adult film star before the 2016 election (the president was given a sentence of unconditional discharge, with no jail time, earlier this month). Others denounce his cabinet picks, with one sign simply reading: “Is a competent cabinet too much to ask?” 

Protesters for the "People's March" gathered at Promenade Park in Hudson Saturday.
Jesse King
Protesters for the "People's March" gathered at Promenade Park in Hudson Saturday.

“We have a president that shouldn’t be there. He was convicted. He was impeached twice!" says Anna Parisi. “This whole government is trying to actually divide America, not bring it together. So when we stand here, we’re standing for all of those reasons. We’re standing to try to keep a little bit of our dignity and fight for what we believe in.” 

Crystal Perry, a political organizer with the labor union 1199SEIU, says the goal of the march was to remind Hudson residents about their support for one another. 

“Despite everything, humanity is gonna always win," she notes. "We can disagree on things...but our issues will always be our issues, and as long as we let that be the root and foundation of why we do this, we're always going to win.”   

Lynch says she’s not concerned by the smaller turnout in D.C. She feels they got a good crowd in Hudson, and she understands why some may have decided to sit this one out. 

“This is not a sprint, it's a marathon of four years," she explains. "I know people who work in trans areas who are using this weekend to get things ready for the fight ahead. So everyone’s gonna choose different ways to resist, and that’s perfectly OK.”

Jesse King is the host of WAMC's national program on women's issues, "51%," and the station's bureau chief in the Hudson Valley. She has also produced episodes of the WAMC podcast "A New York Minute In History."