Massachusetts Daily Collegian

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A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Crowd of more than a hundred gathers to protest Trump election

Caroline O'Connor/Daily Collegian
Caroline O’Connor/Daily Collegian

A crowd of around forty people gathered on Goodell Lawn quickly turned into a march of more than a hundred people protesting the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States.

Carrying paper signs reading “love trumps hate,” students gathered in a circle came to the center to talk about the next steps for organizing against Trump’s inauguration.

“My mind is a mess right now. The whole country is a mess,” said Kyle Hartman, theater major. “We are fighting for our lives and that’s what needs to be heard.”

Hartman, who said he is a gay white man, said he was “petrified” by the idea of a Trump presidency, citing running mate Mike Pence’s support for gay conversion therapy.

Ryan Frisby, BDIC major, said she came to the gathering out of a need to be around other people still processing Trump’s victory.

“I just felt really devastated and drained by this whole experience,” she said. “It’s really important to see this number of people here and realize the fight isn’t over.”

Frisby said she expected to see organization against Trump’s election begin, and said she was happy people were still processing the result at Goodell.

Hannah Burbidge, psychology major, said she came to experience an outlet for support and to begin organizing as well.

“A lot of people are saying they’re done with this election and they’re turning it off,” she said. “Most of the country doesn’t have that privilege. I have people I’m worried about that are directly effected by this.”

At this point about 120 people began to march to the lawn between the Student Union and the Campus Center, chanting “love trumps hate,” “this is what democracy looks like,” and “black lives matter.”

When the crowd reached their destination, other groups began to form to watch them, as one passerby shouted, “Trump won, get over it.”

“We’re gonna get a lot of that,” Hartman said. “We need to make sure this is peaceful. We need to unite and not make more enemies.”

Hartman also argued that although Trump won the Electoral College, a victory by Hillary Clinton in the popular vote would compromise the legitimacy of his election, and that the people who voted for her needed to go.

After returning to the Goodell lawn, Hartman told the crowd about plans organized at Temple University to march against Trump’s election, and said a similar event would occur in solidarity at Goodell on Friday at 12:30 or 1 p.m.

Stuart Foster can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter @Stuart_C_Foster.

 

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  • S

    SnowflakeRiotNov 9, 2016 at 5:14 pm

    LOL… Wow! A “crowd of more than hundreds?”

    Just so no-one is offended, do we call that a “snow storm” or a snowflake riot?

    Reply
  • D

    David Hunt 1990Nov 9, 2016 at 4:56 pm

    Would you like some cheese with that whine?

    And to that gay man, watch this video. Remember, in Islamic countries they KILL people like you… often by throwing gays off of buildings to, more often than not, not die immediately but rather perish from internal injuries. And Hillary wanted to bring these people in by the f*ckbushel. Let me see… someone likes “conversion therapy”, vs. being thrown off a building. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

    And that video? Here’s what’s happening to the population in Europe. If you watch this video and aren’t – even in retrospect – scared about Hillary’s refugee plan, you have no survival instinct.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPKqM-TV2i8

    Reply