The Melrose Messenger

Melrosians Attend Presidents Day Rally at City Hall

By Ellen Putnam

On Presidents Day, despite icy streets and freezing temperatures, over 100 residents gathered in front of City Hall to participate in a rally organized by Mobilize Melrose to express opposition to President Donald Trump’s administration and protest against Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Mobilize Melrose is a group that formed at the beginning of the first Trump administration, with the goal of sharing “actions at the local, state and national level that we can take together to resist a harmful federal policy agenda that does not represent our values.” Organizer Jane Roper explained that the group was originally started by herself, now-Mayor Jen Grigoraitis, School Committee member Jennifer McAndrew, and Kim LaFontana. “It was on and off for a couple of years,” Roper said, “mostly sharing information and suggesting actions.”

“Last month,” Roper went on, “the executive orders started coming, and they started trying to dismantle the whole government. Jen (McAndrew), Kim and I connected, and we thought, maybe we should ramp things up again.”

On February 5th, #50501 protests took place across the country, including in downtown Boston. The group describes these protests as “a decentralized rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.” Roper and a number of other Melrose residents attended the protest in Boston, and began thinking about organizing something in Melrose for the next planned protest on Presidents’ Day.

“This is how easy it is, in the age of social media, to plan a protest,” Roper shared. “We made a graphic, it started spreading, we reached out to a few potential speakers.” The rally, Roper said, provided “an opportunity for people to come out in our own community and show our neighbors that this is what we believe in. This is what we stand for.”

“It gives people a sense of solidarity,” she went on. “It’s so easy to feel powerless, so when you give people smaller, easier actions they can do, that’s important. Not everyone has to become a full-time activist.”

At the Melrose rally, participants held signs expressing support for democracy and opposition to Trump and Musk. They chanted slogans like “Democracy - yes, dictators - no,” “Trump and Musk have got to go,” and “Stand up - fight back.” Some people who were driving down Main Street during the rally honked in expression of solidarity, while a few other motorists made gestures that indicated their disagreement.

Three Melrose City Councilors - Ryan Williams, Manjula Karamcheti, and Maya Jamaleddine - and other members of the community, including several young people, spoke at the event.

Williams offered advice to those gathered who might be “concerned and scared like I am”: he recommended that people stay informed, stay engaged - including by voting and talking to representatives at the local level - and lead with kindness. “Don’t put your head in the sand,” he said. “Have conversations, even with people who disagree with you, and look for our shared common values.”

Karamcheti, who noted that she is the daughter of immigrants and an educator, described feeling as if “everything I am and everything I value is under attack.” She told the crowd to “vote, advocate for change, and take part in the community. Every action, no matter how small,” she reflected, “creates ripples.” She also reminded participants to “take care of yourselves and the people you love, and show up every day.”

Jamaleddine reflected, “it is easy to ask ourselves how we got here, how we elected a man who has built a movement based on hate and division. We have allowed ourselves to become disconnected from one another.” She advised listeners that “each of us has the power to make a difference. We cannot let forces of hate and division tear us apart.”

Ellyn Ruthstrom, the Executive Director of SpeakOUT Boston and a Melrose resident, reminded the crowd, “This is such a dangerous time for our trans siblings in our community. They are trying to erase trans people. It’s important for allies to make sure we are visible against these policies.”

Another member of the crowd called on participants to call their representatives and “make the phone lines melt and the email servers crash. We can grind the wheels of government to a halt,” she went on. “It’s up to us to save ourselves.”

One young person who spoke identified themselves as transgender and declared, “My existence is not a debate.”

Another young person expressed the hope that “in four years, I will be able to vote for a candidate with integrity,” but shared her fear that this may be “increasingly unlikely.”

Asked why they had come out in the cold to attend the rally, participants shared that they were concerned about the state of democracy, government programs that are being cut, and the actions of Musk, who some noted had not been elected. Some participants used the words “coup” or “fascism” to describe what they have been seeing in the news.

Going forward, Roper noted, the organizers of Mobilize Melrose don’t have any big actions planned, but they will share opportunities for taking action on the Facebook page frequently, and “amplify messages and ideas from other area groups.”

Patrick DeVivo contributed reporting to this article.

Posted February 19th, 2025