Trump offers no rest for lifelong US activist couple

Free Malaysia Today

2 days ago

Joseph and Joyce Ellwanger insisted they still had a role in protesting Donald Trump's right-wing agenda and expanding presidential power. (AFP pic)
MILWAUKEE : They've lost count of how many times they've been arrested, but even with a combined age of 180 years, American couple Joseph and Joyce Ellwanger are far from hanging up their activist boots.
The pair, who joined the US civil rights rallies in the 1960s, hope protesting will again pay off against Donald Trump, whose right-wing agenda has pushed the limits of presidential power.
'Inaction and silence do not bring about change,' 92-year-old Joseph, who uses a walker, told AFP at a rally near Milwaukee in late April.
He was among a few hundred people protesting the FBI's arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan, who is accused of helping an undocumented man in her court evade migration authorities.
By his side – as always – was Joyce, 88, carrying a sign reading 'Hands Off Hannah.'
They are certain that protesting does make a difference, despite some Americans feeling despondent about opposing Trump in his second term.
'The struggle for justice has always had so much pushback and difficulty that it almost always appeared as though we'll never win,' Joseph said.
'How did slavery end? How did Jim Crow end? How did women get the right to vote? It was the resilience and determination of people who would not give up,' he added.
'Change does happen.'
The couple, who have been married for more than 60 years, can certainly speak from experience when it comes to protesting.
Joseph took part in strategy meetings with Martin Luther King Jr – the only white religious leader to do so – after he became pastor of an all-Black church in Alabama at the age of 25.
He also joined King in the five-day, 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, which historians consider a pivotal moment in the US civil rights movement.
Joyce, meanwhile, was jailed for 50 days after she rallied against the US military training of soldiers from El Salvador in the 1980s.
Other causes taken up by the couple included opposing the Iraq war in the early 2000s.
'You do what you have to do. You don't let them stop you just because they put up a blockade. You go around it,' Joyce told AFP.
'We'll do our part'
Joseph admitted he would like to slow down, noting the only time he and his wife unplug is on Sunday evening when they do a Zoom call with their three adult children.
But Trump has kept them active with his sweeping executive actions – including crackdowns on undocumented migrants and on foreign students protesting at US universities.
The threats to younger protesters are particularly concerning for Joyce, who compared those demonstrating today to the students on the streets during the 1960s.
'They've been very non-violent, and to me, that's the most important part,' she said.
Joyce also acknowledged the couple likely won't live to see every fight to the end, but insisted they still had a role to play.
'We're standing on the shoulders of people who have built the justice movement and who have brought things forward. So, we'll do our part,' she said.
Joyce added that she and Joseph would be protesting again on June 14 as part of the national 'No Kings' rally against Trump.
'More people are taking to the streets, we will also be in the street,' she said.