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Hundreds of protesters gathered at Trinity Park in Plattsburgh on Saturday, Jan. 20. The North Country March for Unity and Respect was bolstered this year by unrest over federal politics.
Photo by Elizabeth Izzo
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Photo by Elizabeth Izzo
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Photo by Elizabeth Izzo
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Photo by Elizabeth Izzo
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Photo by Elizabeth Izzo
PLATTSBURGH | Hundreds packed Trinity Park in Plattsburgh last Saturday to rally against the Trump administration and the Republican-led Congress.
One protester held a sign that read “Trump is fake news,” while another depicted a Rosie the Riveter-type figure that said, “You can’t take my rights. I’m still usin’ them.”
Sue Coonrod, 62, of West Chazy, was drawn to the march by what she perceives as a prolonged attack on human rights.
“I’m here because I believe all human beings don’t enjoy the freedoms guaranteed to us under the Constitution,” she said.
Coonrod said cuts to Planned Parenthood, attempts to block transgender people from serving in the military and ambiguity surrounding a program for people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as young children present human rights issues.
“Human rights deserve the same protections as guns,” she said.
The event came exactly one year after the Women’s March drew an estimated 500,000 protesters to Washington, D.C.
Dozens of cities across the country held similar rallies on Saturday, including Glens Falls, Watertown and Lewis in Essex County, where attendees paid homage to Inez Milholland, a suffragist who is interred in a local cemetery.
Megan Laporte, 27, looked to her 4 year old daughter as her inspiration for attending.
“It has a lot to do with her,” said Laporte, a clinical receptionist at the Plattsburgh branch of Planned Parenthood. “And I’d like to see Planned Parenthood still open.”
Her daughter, dressed in a puffy winter coat, gleefully interrupted with questions of her own.
“We live in a country where people feel we have a lot of rights,” Laporte continued. “Even her generation will need to be involved and fight to keep those rights.
“Abortion and birth control rights are under attack.”
Nearly a dozen speakers spoke at the event.
Mayor Colin Read thanked local advocacy groups like Plattsburgh Cares for the work they’re doing to make the North Country a better place before giving the #MeToo movement a shoutout:
“Or as I’d like to call it, the ‘it’s about time’ movement,” he said.
The crowd cheered.
State Assemblyman Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay) decried the gender wage gap, lamenting the lack of progress on the issue.
“Isn’t that sad?” he said. “We can demand we live in a loving and accepting society, and we can demand (income equality).”
Clinton County Treasurer Kimberly Davis highlighted “North Country Women United,” an advocacy group dedicated to supporting Democratic women in politics.
Only one woman serves on the Clinton County Legislature, she said.
“In Essex County, there’s not a single woman on the board of supervisors,” she said disapprovingly.
“Women are not asked to run for office as often as men, and they often doesn’t have the resources to do so that men do.”
One local woman who recently ran for office, Marque Moffett of Peru, appeared to promote a “People’s Forum” featuring opponents of Rep. Elise Stefanik in New York’s 21st Congressional race next month at SUNY Plattsburgh.
Matthew Waite spoke about the importance of millennials getting out to vote.
The number of millennials will surpass those of the Baby Boomer generation this year, he said.
“Take this opportunity,” he said. “Vote.”
The march followed a route from Trinity Park, around City Hall and down Margaret Street, circling around Stefanik’s Plattsburgh office before returning to Trinity Park down Durkee Street and City Hall Place.
As protesters returned to the park, the sun setting behind them, their chants echoed throughout the square:
“This is what democracy looks like!” ■
