By Maliya Ellis, Hearst Fellow Nov 6, 2024 (SFChronicle.com)
In the wake of the presidential election, a handful of members of By Any Means Necessary holds an emergency protest in Sproul Plaza on the campus of UC Berkeley on Wednesday.Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle
As former president Donald Trump’s election victory sunk in, a group of protesters rallied on the UC Berkeley campus Wednesday, pledging to organize against the president-elect’s policies.
“No Trump, no KKK! No racist, fascist USA!” the group of around 100 protesters chanted at the rally, which was held on Sproul Plaza as the sun set. It was organized by national organization BAMN, the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary.
Rally leaders vowed to organize against the president-elect’s campaign promises — particularly his plan to deport immigrants en masse, chanting, “when immigrants’ rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”
Trump “has to be defeated,” said Hoku Jeffrey, 47, a national organizer for BAMN and a Berkeley alum. “He wants to deport all the immigrants that are in this country, and we have to stop him by any means necessary.”
Adrian Sedgwick, 23, a junior at Berkeley, said she skipped her discussion section to speak at the rally after she woke up to the election results with a “feeling of dread for the next four years.”
“I’m just really scared for the state of the nation. I’m worried for my undocumented friends and colleagues and neighbors,” Sedgwick said. “We really just need to stand up for human rights and come together as people and show what we will and will not stand for.”
Organizers blamed Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat on what they saw as flaws with the Democratic Party — particularly the Harris campaign’s support for providing military aid to Israel. Several ralliers carried signs that read: “No party that carries out genocide and ethnic cleansing can win a U.S. election.”
“What this election showed was not the strength of Donald Trump — it showed the weakness of the Democrats,” an organizer said into a megaphone. “We cannot rely any longer on the Democrats to defend democracy and prevent fascism. We have to take matters into our own hands.”
A woman who identified herself as a Berkeley alumna and a current teacher in Oakland encouraged attendees not to give up hope. “I totally understand despairing … but I’m out here because I understand that there are people who are just as angry as I am,” she told the small crowd. “We can absolutely stop him.”
A group of Trump supporters counterprotested the rally, carrying signs that read “Your rights are fine!” and “Trump won, go home!”
Reach Maliya Ellis: maliya.ellis@hearst.com
Nov 6, 2024
HEARST FELLOW
Maliya Ellis, originally from New Haven, Conn., is a recent graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Social Studies and edited the Harvard Crimson’s weekly news magazine. Her summer newsroom internships — on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s features desk and the Boston Globe’s metro team — have confirmed her passion for deeply reported local news. In her free time, Ellis enjoys long runs and word games. She is excited to explore a new coast and a new city.
