Dozens of people gather each Wednesday to line the streetside corner of South Barstow and Lake Street, holding signs and chanting together outside the Eau Claire courthouse to exercise their first amendment right.A growing number of Eau Claire community members have been joining each Wednesday for a march and peaceful protest criticizing the Trump administration, Elon Musk and the modern right-wing agenda.

At 3:30 p.m. each week, a group of students meets at the UW-Eau Claire campus mall and marches downtown to protest in front of the courthouse, where they are joined by fellow citizens. 

The group has recycled artist and activist Gil Scott-Heron’s phrase, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” as a tagline for the protests.

While no similar protests of this scale have been planned or reported in town this year from local right-wing supporters, this kind of activism is not unique to the left. In 2020, dozens of Eau Claire conservatives lined the same street corner for a “defend the police” rally in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Despite the blustery weather on Wednesday, April 2, between 50 and 100 demonstrators gathered with signs and banners to make their voices heard. While each person had their own reason for being there, the overarching message was the same: they feel dissatisfied with the current administration.

Fourth-year social work student Emma Velazquez said the community was uniting to “stop business as usual” and encourage activism on a local scale.

“We want to show people in our community that these issues going on given the current administration are affecting us directly, whether we want to acknowledge that or not,” Velazquez said. “We’re just here trying to rally our Eau Claire community together and create a culture of activism and progressive ideals.”

Second-year computer science student Quincy Cole, first-year graduate history student Sy Neville and second-year social work and pre-law student Elijah Williams said they were there to exercise their first amendment right to dissent to “an attack on our democracy.”

Williams said protesting is a part of his core values and he said that it is important, now more than ever, for students to make their voices heard.

“I understand that a lot of students are probably sad and scared by what’s happening in society, but we cannot forget that freedom of speech is protected by the Constitution,” Williams said. “We need to get out, protest, use your freedom.”

Velazquez had spoken earlier to a woman who helped organize the protest. She said the woman had observed a decrease over the years in young people taking the lead on activism.

“That was kind of disheartening, because we as young people are the ones holding the power,” Velazquez said. “I hope to see a change in that culture, because we see a lot of young people turning up to the polls and elections, but we don’t see a lot of young people showing up for grassroots organization, and I think that’s really the next step.”

Along with the students, a large number of Eau Claire citizens spoke out against the current administration and said they felt the need for more people to use their voices.

Community member Curtis Goodson said he thinks even the Democrats have veered too far right.

“We’ve got to be here, we’ve got to change, and we’ve got to get some Republicans to go back to some conservative Republican values,” Goodson said. “I lean Democrat, but the Democratic Party has moved so far right that we’re really fighting for old-fashioned, conservative values.”

The vast majority of people spoke out specifically against Donald Trump’s behavior and actions as president.

Former County Board member and UW-Eau Claire alumnus John DeRosier said he feels Trump is a “disgrace” to the United States.

“Trump is selling out the country,” DeRosier said. “This is one way to stand up to the son of a b–.” 

Eau Claire citizen Bob Andruszkiewicz said he was protesting because he was sick of the Trump Administration’s dishonesty.

“When you lie to the American people, you destroy democracy,” Andruszkiewicz said. “We’re here to restore democracy, so we’re stopping the lies.”

Goodson said he shared a similar perspective.

“I’m here because this is very important for our country,” Goodson said. “The Bible wasn’t even cold before [Trump] started breaking his Oval Office oath. He’s a felon who invents a crisis, demonizes anybody who isn’t privileged like he is and then capitalizes off of it. And it’s just amazing to me that people are still falling for it.”

Neville said the community continues to participate in these weekly marches and protests each Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

“I hate this administration and dissent from them,” Velazquez said. “They’re very privileged billionaires who do not represent the majority of our country. It is not what our country stands for,” Velazquez said.

Wojahn can be reached at [email protected].