One of more than 1,000 “Hands Off!” rallies across the country took place in downtown Bloomington Saturday afternoon to oppose the government's agenda regarding cuts to federal agencies and programs, and to voice concerns about human rights under President Donald Trump's leadership.
Hundreds of protesters filled the south lawn outside the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts.
“Hands Off!” is a nationwide effort to give power to U.S. citizens who oppose joint efforts by Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to make policy changes affecting their rights.
Those in attendance were of all ages with many holding signs with written messages such as, “Don’t Turn Your Back on Humanity” and “Make America Moral Again.”
"I'm seeing history repeating itself right now where real fascist ideals are being pushed on a democratic country," said attendee Todd Peterson. "I really feel we're going to have to take a stand on this."
Peterson said the large crowd size was what he had hoped to see.
The progressive advocacy group Voices of Reason, a local chapter of Indivisible, organized the rally that included several speakers.
“There are corporate-backed politicians and billionaires trying to gut the programs that keep our families and communities afloat. They are doing it behind closed doors with lobbyists whispering in their ears while telling the rest of us, ‘There’s not enough to go around,’” said McLean County Board member and newly-elected Normal Township Supervisor, Krystle Able, a Democrat.
Able called out Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood for “voting in favor of policies that would weaken Social Security and Medicare while protecting tax breaks for the wealthy.”
Democratic State Rep. Sharon Chung, of Bloomington, said Trump’s first four years in office were only a warm-up for what is coming.
“We’re fighting for the soul and for the foundation of our country,” Chung said. “My parents were immigrants here — to the United States. This is not why they immigrated to the United States.”
Chung congratulated the United Faculty of Illinois State University for the agreement it reached with the university’s administration, which was announced Friday evening.
Julie Riley, president of the Bloomington Education Association, spoke about threats against schools and students at those schools.
“As you know, our current president nominated and has seated a wrestling promoter to be the head of the Department of Education,” Riley said. “Wrestling is not the same as public education, folks.”
Riley said students in need of speech and social work support, and physical therapy will be in danger of losing those services if their access to Medicaid is cut off — an issue that has come up in GOP-led federal budget talks.
“Although our boards have been good to us, I don’t know what they’d do if they didn’t have federal funding to pay for special educators,” Riley said. “We don’t have the kind of money in our local school board budgets to make up that difference.”
Dave Bentlin, president of Bloomington's Prairie Pride Coalition, wanted to call out members of the LBTQIA+ community who might not believe they are under serious threat.
“This is just the start,” Bentlin said. “None of us [are] safe. They will come after all of us if we don’t take action.”
Bentlin thanked local businesses, namely Lucca Grill, that have supported the local LGBTQIA+ community. He said that before he arrived at the rally, he received a text message from another member of the LGBTQIA+ community who didn’t feel safe attending.
“I honor that concern,” Bentlin said.
The rally ended with the crowd participating in call-and-response chants and singing two songs, “This Land Is Your Land” and “We Shall Overcome.”
