17-03-2025
More than 100 people attend 'Defend Democracy' rally in downtown Mansfield
An unseasonably warm day brought out protesters on Friday.
More than 100 people attended a "Defend Democracy" rally on the downtown square on a spring-like day.
"We are here to express our feelings as to what's going on in D.C. and the state," said Venita Shoulders, vice chairwoman of the Richland County Democratic party's executive committee.
She said the purpose of the rally was to voice opposition to the sweeping cuts President Donald Trump has made early in his second term, as well as to uphold constitutional rights.
Several speakers addressed those at the rally, many of whom held signs and stood on the north side of Park Avenue West to encourage people driving through town.
Gary Utt was one of the early speakers. He was a longtime county commissioner, as well as a veteran. Utt spent two years in the U.S. Army.
"I never went overseas or put boots on the ground, but I did my job. I raised my hand and I served," he said.
Utt is concerned cuts will cost 70,000 veterans their livelihood.
"Vets are getting screwed over," he said. "They've done their job. They've defended our country."
Utt is worried that many of those veterans will consider suicide. He questions what will happen if there is no one left to man the suicide prevention hotlines.
"What do you think that veteran might do to himself?" Utt asked.
While he didn't speak to the crowd, Alomar Davenport, head of the local branch of the NAACP, addressed the controversy about DEI, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion.
DEI refers to the policies and measures that organizations use to prevent discrimination, comply with civil rights laws and create environments more welcoming to people from marginalized say DEI focuses on race and gender at the expense of individual merit and serves as reverse discrimination against white people. Trump has vowed to get rid of such initiatives."DEI means more than what people think it means," Davenport said. "The reason for DEI is because minorities typically didn't have the opportunities."
He fears the cuts will create a new version of Jim Crow laws, which were state and local laws, enforced from the post-Civil War era until the 1960s, that legally enforced racial segregation and discrimination against Black people, particularly in the South.
"It is taking us back to a time when discrimination was legal," Davenport said.
Not everyone supported Friday's rally. Some motorcyclists revved their engines in a seeming attempt to drown out the speakers and the crowd.
Bill Freytag, a Republican member of the county board of elections and a former Shelby mayor, was outspoken about the rally on social media.
"It hasn't even been two months (into Trump's) second term. I guess that's what bothers me," he told the News Journal. "Give his policies a chance. Get back to me in three years, and we'll have a discussion."
Christopher Gibbs, chair of the Democratic party in Shelby County in Sidney, Ohio, made the trip to Mansfield for the rally. He is a farmer.
"I am representing myself and speaking up on behalf of agriculture, specifically the Trump tariffs and the indecision we have going into the planting season. It's just devastating for farmers.
"The president has applied punitive tariffs, whether it's steel or aluminum or lumber, on all our traditional trading partners. Those are three things farmers buy the most of. All of these incoming tariffs raise the price for farmers."
William Pancoast was on hand to speak as a longtime union newspaper editor.
"When there were healthy unions, there was a wealth of information going to the homes of union members," he said. "These print publications are mostly gone now or online or depleted from their former stature to save money."
He said such publications arrived by mail and were found on many kitchen tables. Without them, Pancoast fears union members and their families will not receive accurate information about the candidates who represent their best interests.
Chuck Spearman of Shelby sat at a picnic table listening to the speakers.
"We've got to show support. We can't let Trump run away with everything without putting up a fight."
Democrats in Ohio have fewer voices at the state level. Longtime U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, Mansfield's own, lost badly in his hometown in the November general election on the way to being unseated by Republican Bernie Moreno.
"I think the biggest issue at the state level is gerrymandering," County Treasurer Bart Hamilton said. "I hate to say it, but it's almost impossible (for a Democrat) to win.
"We also don't have the money that our Republican friends do. Advertising sells candidates, which is unfortunate."
Shoulders said people need to get involved at the local level.
"We've got to be active, getting involved in terms of writing legislators, making phone calls, showing up for these rallies," she said. "The groundswell has got to grow. We can't afford to wait."
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: County Democrats protest against President Trump and policies
