Nationwide rallies against Trump policies continue as people speak out: Sioux Falls group will protest on Friday
Americans are increasingly rising up against what many see as the deeply corrupt and dangerous Trump regime. We must rise up — and millions are doing so.
Indivisible 605 is sponsoring a protest against the budget bill just passed by the United States House of Representatives. It will start at 11 a.m. Friday in downtown Sioux Falls.
The event will be held outside the Hilton Garden Inn at 201 E. 8th St. Indivisible 605, a grassroots organization made up of South Dakota citizens with deep concerns over the current direction of the federal government, obtained a permit from the city for the protest.
“When I read the bills that are being passed, the executive orders being issued and the actions taken against institutions like Harvard, and the other myriad things happening — so many of them are against the law,” Roni Wegner of Sioux Falls, the chair of the Indivisible 605 Advisory Board, told me. “And they threaten our very livelihoods. All one has to do is some research and you can tell how these bills and other things are going to impact us.”
Indivisible 605 is a South Dakota offshoot of Indivisible, a national progressive movement launched by activists Ezra Levin and his wife Leah Greenberg during Trump’s first term. More than 1,200 chapters have been formed.
“If your theory of winning against the authoritarians is mass peaceful protest, what’s the first word? Mass. It’s got to be big,” Greenberg said during a recent Indivisible call, according to a report in The Guardian. “It’s got to be overwhelming. And you don’t just snap your fingers and get there. You build. You build over time.”
Indivisible 605 has been doing that.
It sponsored its first event in downtown Sioux Falls on April 5. The “We are not OK — hands off!” rally drew a large crowd despite bitterly cold conditions. A similar rally was held in Rapid City (seen above in a photo by John Tsitrian) that day.
It held the March for Due Process to the Arc of Dreams on May 1. Wegner said the goal is to hold one a month. On Friday, the protest centers on dangerous bills moving through Congress.
“The event hopes to raise public awareness of the bill’s impact before the Senate votes on the bill,” according to a release from Indivisible 605. “The bill, disguised as a method to reduce waste and fraud, will have a profound negative impact on millions of Americans. Nearly 150,000 South Dakotans have Medicaid insurance and over 75,000 South Dakotans utilize the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“Beyond that, the bill will increase the deficit, add massive amounts of red tape, allow Artificial Intelligence to be used for political campaigns and elections and significantly weaken the separation of powers by reducing the judiciary’s authority to enforce contempt citations,” according to Indivisible 605.
“All to provide an average of $390,000 a year in tax cuts for wealthy Americans while increasing taxes for the bottom 10% by approximately $1,000 a year. It is the largest transfer of wealth from the working poor to the wealthy in American history. By voting for this bill, our South Dakota members of Congress are betraying their constituents and denying many the basic means to live.”
Nationally, Indivisible will protest against the multi-million-dollar parade Trump plans to hold on his 79th birthday, June 14. It’s also the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Army, as well as Flag Day, but let’s not kid ourselves why this display of military power, reminiscent of one from authoritarian nations, is being held.
As always in his world, it’s all about Trump.
That’s why his legion of critics and champions of freedom are calling the protests “No Kings.”
Indivisible 605 will not host an event that day, but it will march in the Sioux Falls Pride Parade. It is inviting people to sign up on Friday to join in that event. The name for the Sioux Falls effort fits both events, Wegner said.
It’s titled, “No Kings — All Queens.”
Wegner said she is not surprised to see South Dakotans standing up.
There are almost as many independents and Democrats in South Dakota as Republicans, she noted. Indivisible 605 welcomes people from all political parties and beliefs, Wegner said.
The point is to make it clear to government officials that Trump is doing lasting harm.
“They’re not listening to us,” Wegner said. “They know what these bills are going to do to people, their constituents.”
They need to hear that Americans are aware of this. That’s why people need to continue to stand up and speak up.
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
Photo: John Tsitrian
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