The protesters gathered on the town hall lawn and across Bloomfield Avenue.
On Saturday, April 5, Glen Ridge was part of a nation in protest opposing a multitude of federal actions since the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Donald Trump.
John S., a Glen Ridge resident and lawyer, said there were about 4,000 reasons he was protesting with the others gathered at Bloomfield and Ridgewood avenues.
“The scariest thing is the destruction of checks and balances,” he began. “The abrogation of due process, the belief that the executive is above the law, the notion that someone can be removed from this country without due process and that the executive can ignore an order from a judge.
“Underneath that is the upending of the economy,” he continued, “the handing over of extreme power to an unelected official to tear apart the federal bureaucracy in a reckless manner and the apparent thirst for territorial acquisition destroying relationships that have stood up pretty well for 80 years. On top of that is blatant racism and misogyny seems to underlie decisions the administration has made since returning to power.”
John S. said his litany of grievances against the present administration came with time and thought.
“I’ve been mulling it over since 2016 when Trump came down his stairs and started talking about Mexicans as rapists,” he said. “The consolidation of the legislative and executive branches reeks of facism. It’s amazing to me that it’s only taken 80 years (to forget) what can and will happen with unchecked facism.”
Loretta Marchesi, of Glen Ridge, began by saying she believed in her right to free speech and that was why she was protesting.
“We’re being exposed to unilateral decisions and we’re not being given reasons for the thinking behind it,” she said. “We deserve to know. I don’t think people should have benefits taken away from them that they’ve paid into. And I think education is critical to a democratic society. Public education is under attack.”
Marchesi”s “benefits” was referring to a concern that Medicare and Medicaid benefits would be reduced.
Glen Ridge resident Elizabeth Brewster said she did not believe in President Trump’s policies.
“You name it,” she said. “He’s insidious. There’s not one policy of his I agree with.”
There were a number of signs that said “Hands Off,” in reference to the actions of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE. This entity, together with Elon Musk, has been charged by President Trump to reduce waste and fraud in government agencies. Its decisions have led to the termination of jobs, programs and funding followed by court orders to reinstate fired government employees. Adrienne Kalosieh said she believed in this hands off message.
“Hands off Medicaid, in particular,” she said. “I’m a public defender and the federal government is being slashed and burned, without any oversight, by Elon Musk. I’m worried about emboldening Putin and the oligarchs in America, inviting them to the table while public servants are being fired for having expertise in knowing what they do.”
Husband and wife Frank and Barbara Murphy, of Glen Ridge, said it seemed to them like protesting was the right thing to do.
“It’s one thing to change the government,” Frank said. “But they’re out to destroy it, not change it.”
“That’s a pretty succinct way of saying it,” Barbara said. “I don’t think everybody is well-informed about the consequences of their votes.”
“I didn’t vote for Musk,” Frank said. “A lot of people are hanging on and supporting Trump thinking they’re not going to be touched, but that’s not the case. On the other hand, if we fire Trump, we’ll end up with JD Vance. That’s not an advancement.”
Henry Passapera, of Glen Ridge, was opposed to the president’s large-scale implementation of tariffs.
“He is raising tariffs and making people suffer,” he said. “What’s the point? He’s the worst president ever. We have to take over Congress next election; the Democrats and Republicans have to join us. They’re picking up people who aren’t criminals and sending them to jail. It’s not right. The whole world is protesting. The president is creating havoc around the whole darn world.”
Glen Ridge resident Puya Nili, a lawyer, held a sign of names written in various colored crayons. They were individuals arrested by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents and included Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian protestor and Columbia University doctoral student who is being detained in Louisiana; Jerce Reyes Barros, a professional soccer player deported for a tattoo mistakenly identifying him as a gang member; Neri Alvarado, who was deported for an autism awareness tattoo mistakenly identifying him as a gang member and Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student arrested by Homeland Security agents and now detained in Vermont for allegedly supporting pro-Hamas activities.
“There’s been no court hearings for these people to justify claims that some were in a gang,” Nili said. “The evidence was that they had tattoos and that was the extent of it.”
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