In the South Kingstown village of Wakefield, protestors marched along Main Street to advocate for free speech and human rights on April 5, taking part in the “Hands Off!” protests across the country.
“It was a public showing of what we were feeling and what we were thinking,” said Susan Sward, founder of South County Resistance and organizer of the event. “There’s so much strength in unity.”
Members of South County Resistance counted roughly 1,200 people in attendance, but will be able to get a more accurate count once they get access to drone footage shot at the rally, according to Sward.
Protesters held up homemade signs with messages such as “HATE never made America GREAT” and “Hands Off! All social services [and] freedom of speech.”
“We want to show support for [the] undoing of a lot of changes that have happened that undermine our country right now,” said protestor Ben Rice.
Sward listed the event on the site Mobilize.us, alongside the other Hands Off! protests that took place in Providence, Boston and many other cities across the country. She also posted the call to action on the South County Resistance Facebook page.
Sward started South County Resistance in February and invited 30 of her friends. The page has 1,000 members as of Wednesday.
“I wanted people in Wakefield, where I live, to know they’re not alone,” Sward said. “I was hoping other people felt the same way I did.”
Sward held the protest in Wakefield instead of attending the protest in Providence, to build a community in South County.
“I wanted people to see each other’s faces,” Sward said. “When we had that protest people [said] ‘oh my son’s teacher is here from elementary school’ or ‘oh those are the people from my church’.”
A majority of the members of the South County Resistance are retired people, but Sward hopes that events like these will help bridge the gap between generations.
“I want the students at the University of Rhode Island to know, we’ve discussed this at the resistance, we will support whatever protests are formed by URI students,” Sward said.
Young voices are very important, according to Sward. She believes that the older and younger generations can help each other.
“I think that young people have it very difficult today,” Sward said. “It is so hard to see a whole generation of people having to work two jobs to pay their rent, it wasn’t like that when I was young.”
South County Resistance is made up of people across the political spectrum. They have members who are Republicans, Democrats, Independents and non-voters, according to Sward.
“This is not a partisan issue,” Sward said. “It’s not Republican or Democrat or affiliated with one side or another, this is us, this is we the people.”
People attended despite the on and off rainy weather throughout the day, some came prepared with plastic coverings on their signs to protect them from getting wet.
If students want to get involved, South County Resistance will continue to post on their Facebook page about upcoming events.
