Houston protesters brave storm, torrential rain to march on Trump's inauguration day
On Jan. 20 Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States of America. That same night, the People's Coalition Against Trump, made up of working-class people and organizations, rallied at Houston City Hall in protest of the inauguration.
Despite torrential rain and flooding across the city, every organization that was a part of the coalition attended and there was good turnout. They began with some rousing speeches about the importance of the masses to stand up against Trump and his oppressive policies.
The crowd then marched from city hall for over a mile around downtown Houston. The message people wanted to get across was summed up in the most popular chant, “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, Donald Trump you cannot stay!” It may have stormed the entire night, but much as Donald Trump's election was not stopped by weather, the protesters continued to march on. The action ended with one last rally in the pouring rain after people had marched the rest of the way back to city hall.
The protesters attempted to march in the street, but the police rushed on horseback to push the crowd back. No one was arrested. When the rain became torrential at the closing rally, the police on horseback left.
Fabian Sneevliet, with Students for a Democratic Society, said “The masses have come out here in opposition to the inauguration of Donald Trump. We will make this country ungovernable by building the people’s movements to fight back against his racist and sexist policies. Whether it is women or undocumented people we will be in the streets protesting and fighting back. Even if it rains, we will flood the streets with resistance.”
Ian Cox of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “Donald Trump ran his campaign by calling all Mexican and Chicano peoples criminals, by classifying all Arab and Islamic peoples as terrorists, by being a sexist and gloating about his objectification of women and by preaching the ideology of white supremacy. It is important to remember however, that these anti-people policies didn't originate with Trump, they are a symptom of the oppressive capitalist system. The only way working people and oppressed nationalities will ever have true freedom and liberation is if we replace this oppressive system with people-based system, and that system is undoubtedly socialism.”
Some of the organizations that participated were Students for a Democratic Society, Socialist Alternative, the Peoples New Black Panther Party, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.