It's not us against them

This past week I attended two protests. One on April 2 at Kalahari Resort to protest against Vivek Ramaswamy's gubernatorial run and on April 5 for the nationally organized Hands Off 2025 protest held on the section of U.S. 250 in front of the Sandusky Mall. Both were attended by concerned individuals and families at the state of our nation under the Trump administration. I attended on April 2 because Ramaswamy will be just another addition to the Oligarchy and is not running to serve Ohioans and on April 5 because our rights and protections, not just as citizens but as human beings, are being stripped. The actions taken by the current administration do not stand for Liberty and Justice for All. On both occasions we received countless honks of approval, nods, applause and thumbs up. I noticed they came primarily from elders, most likely 70 and above, people of color, primarily black folks and young women in their 20s and 30s. We also received smog blown in our faces, verbal and visual insults (the middle finger), boos and thumbs down. Note that I have no qualms with their disagreement, just the manner with how some showed it. These came primarily from white people who were either men in their 20s or people in their 40s and 50s. While it felt like these were fewer than the positive interactions, I hate to admit that I remember more of these specific actions than the positive. I think it's because of the amount of anger with which these people reacted at seeing people voicing opinions opposite to theirs. If I could say one thing to these people, it is a reminder that we were protesting not only for our own prosperity and rights, but theirs as well. We were protesting for an America for all of us. We aren't against them. Don't we all want the same thing? A country with justice, domestic tranquility, common defence, general welfare, and liberty for ourselves and our future generations? Is this not what the United States of America was founded on? Maria Hettel Norwalk