About 150 Haines residents gathered Saturday afternoon as a part of a nationwide show of opposition against Trump Administration policies. Haines’s rally was decidedly smaller than its counterparts in places like New York and Washington during a nation-wide day of action, but even those mega rallies couldn’t claim to have marchers span almost the width of downtown, as was the case in Haines.
What began as just a small ring of audience members around early speakers continued to grow through the day, even as rain increased and cardboard signs began to bleed ink and wilt. By the end of the march, there were enough participants to stretch from Mountain Market to the brewery.
There were almost as many different concerns represented as there were marchers: from possible social security cuts, to layoffs in the federal workforce, to administration actions that attendees described as threats to free-speech and the rule of law. First speaker speaker Nancy Keen had a succinct message, saying, “the goal today is to smash the oligarchy. Gunalchéesh.” That drew some of the loudest cheers of the day.
The message marchers did coalesce around was solidarity. Participant Patty Brown said she was marching to demonstrate the practice of democracy – ordinary citizens speaking out. Deborah Gravel, echoing many others, said she wanted to participate to show common cause with both community members and rallies nationwide. “I feel like [the nation-wide day of action] is big, in knowing we are not alone,” Gravel said. “There is a glimmer of hope that we can push back.”
The solidarity message came through in words and signs, but also in actions. One featured speaker, Kim Clune became choked up as she spoke of recent cuts to cancer research. Clune herself is fighting a six year battle with cancer. Friend Brown quickly came to her side, draped an arm around her shoulder, and Clune was able to continue. Clune went on to deliver a speech, standing next to a sign planted firmly in the ground that simply read, “courage,” that had some in the audience visibly emotional.
“Having once beaten terminal status, I’m not just one of those numbers—I’m living proof of what research can do,” Clune said.
Organizer Nancy Berland afterwards called the event a big success. Many participants agreed, noting that their criteria of success for the march was largely just the show of community and the chance to speak out publicly. There were fewer tangible outcome goals, though participant Leah Wagner did note that she hoped voices from communities across the state could push Senator Lisa Murkowski to be a dissenting vote against controversial policies.
