A President’s Day protest was held Monday in front of the Athens County Courthouse, where citizens expressed unhappiness with the current state of the U.S.
The protest stemmed from a peace vigil that has been held weekly for 45 years in front of the courthouse from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Protesters held up signs protesting for peace, justice and diversity as well as protesting against the nuclear arms race and war.
“Other people thought about President's Day being a day when we really want to talk about what we think is happening to our democracy,” Anne Sparks, a resident of New Marshfield in Athens County since 2005, said. “Too many things are being changed without a democratic process right now.”
People gathered at the protest from a variety of groups around Athens County, such as the Athens United Immigrant Support Project and a local Third Act group.
According to the Associated Press, a large number of protests took place on President’s Day as a result of the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day, spreading across the country.
“There are scare tactics to try to cave in and go against the law to do things that (elected officials) wouldn't ordinarily choose to do,” Peggy Gish, one of the early founders of the Monday peace vigil, said. “If none of us spoke up, it would make it much easier for them to cave in, but if they had a swell of people behind them, it would give them more courage.”
Sparks said it is important to talk about current issues with the country, especially on President’s Day. Sparks said President’s Day is a day people should talk about what is happening with our democracy.
“Services to people, help to other countries, food and medicine are really important to keep poor countries from starting wars, so we have to restore U.S. aid, which is one of the reasons why I'm here, as well as to just promote peace and fair resolutions of conflict,” Sparks said.
Sparks also said it is important for people to protest since these issues are still occurring in Ohio.
“Now we see people being fired without having any recourse, and we see our public education being destroyed with private schools that will only serve people who already can afford private schools,” Sparks said. “These are very specific things that are affecting our public schools here in Athens County, and they will affect people's jobs as well.”
Gish said she thinks everyone should speak out and not accept what is happening around them, especially in a peaceful way.
“I encourage, even if you think, ‘Oh, my one action isn't gonna change everything,’ it's going to take millions of us with our whatever actions we can do to come out and speak in peaceful ways against what's happening and for positive things that we want for our society,” Gish said.
Even though it was cold out, Sparks said she was motivated to go out to make a statement about what has been happening in the U.S., how the actions are harmful to the public and her gratitude for being able to grow up in a free country.
“I was able to grow up and live in a country with freedom, with a beautiful environment for me to enjoy that also gives us life, with a good education available to me,” Sparks said. “That's not something that we can say that we have for our children in the next generation and for children after that, and I'm very, very concerned about that. I feel like I have to do everything I can right now for that generation.”
