KEPW broadcasts live from the ‘Hands Off’ rally

Presenter: Here’s some of KEPW’s live reporting from the Hands Off! rally at Eugene City Hall April 5. From the end of the speeches, we’ll pick up KEPW’s Jana Thrift:

Jana Thrift (KEPW): I’m going to walk closer towards the stage of this amazing protest that we have going on.

[00:00:17] Kuitlahuak Lopez Rojas (CALC): So let us show them what democracy looks like. What does democracy look like? (This is what democracy looks like!) What does democracy look like? (This is what democracy looks like.) One more time: What does democracy look like? (This is what democracy looks like.) Thank you.

[00:00:44] Presenter: Supported by James Otter and Sam Broadway while reporting from the Hands Off! rally, Jana Thrift:

[00:00:51] Jana Thrift (KEPW): We’ve got, like, so many people, so many people here. It was almost impossible to get through the crowd. And it’s amazing to me. I’m just super appreciative in so many ways. We’re going to make our way through here, kind of looking at different signs. You join us, ‘Keep your hands off my cancer drugs.’ ‘Hands off trans rights.’

[00:01:18] Let’s just go through with some more. Let’s talk a little bit more about all the different signs here. We’ve got, ‘Dangerous Lunatic Liar Impeach.’ Oh yeah, there you go. There’s one. ‘Project 2025 = Treason.’

[00:01:40] There’s so many signs. Let’s see: How many more signs can I say? There’s ‘We the People Indivisible’ and I think that’s really true. ‘Hands off our Social Security,’ Hands off health care, school lunches, and these people have an upside-down flag and a sign, ‘I love democracy.’ You know?

[00:02:02] This is what democracy looks like. People showing up. This is called freedom of speech. And this is the exact thing that some people are having their visas revoked for right now. Like how terrible is that? To know that people that have exercised their right to free speech in our country are having their visas revoked.

[00:02:25] It makes me sick to my stomach. It makes me fearful. My fear is for our ability to be a radio station that can express itself in the way free speech is meant to be used, where our community has a platform to express itself.

[00:02:42] So that says, ‘Arrest the criminals in the White House.’ Oh, I didn’t realize that’s the opposite side of her sign. The other side says, ‘Protect my forests.’

[00:02:54] So, thousands of people are here right now protesting at what seems like the exact moment in time that we must say, ‘It’s not okay,’ and that we must stand up. Like, it’s so important.

[00:03:14] ‘Reject fascist hatred.’ Yes, that’s what we’re talking about. ‘Trump is a leech, let teachers teach.’

‘Are we great yet? Because I just feel embarrassed.’ I’m with you. Totally embarrassed.

[00:03:32] ‘Hands off free speech. Hands off our schools. Hands off our democracy. It’s not for sale.’ Yeah, that is how it is. Our democracy is not for sale.

[00:03:45] So, I’m pretty happy to see all of these amazing humans. We’ve got the young, we’ve got the elders, we’ve got everything in between, every, you know, I came here with a sign that said ‘Pick your cause and stand up for it because now is the time.’

[00:04:07] That is my sign and I think that many of the signs here say the same thing, you know: This is our time. This is when we need to stand up because it’s much harder to get things back after you’ve lost them than it is to get them back before you lose them.

[00:04:31] So when it comes to rights, I think it’s super important for us to but this river right here that I’m standing in front of, this river right here, deserves to live too. And it deserves for our children to be able to come to a clean river and enjoy nature and swim.

[00:04:54] And for us all to have clean water and you cannot make all the protected places in the world vulnerable to corporations that have already polluted and destroyed so many beautiful places in the world. And we have left these things protected more in this country, and that’s why these billionaires are after us, because they want to make sure that they’re not prevented from destroying the nature that we have tried to protect in this country.

[00:05:26] So here we go. We’re going to continue to do our best to follow this rally with thousands of people. I mean, they’re clean over the pedestrian bridge. They’re on top of the bridge by Coburg, they are underneath the bridge near the water. We are definitely creating a movement here and the whole world’s watching, that’s what her sign says, ‘The whole world’s watching.’

[00:05:59] We have, like, ‘Never again,’ ‘Not on my watch.’ ‘Department of Greed and Evil’ meaning DOGE, Department of Greed and Evil. Yeah. ‘This is not left versus right. It is right versus wrong.’ Yeah, that’s a good one. That’s actually one of my favorite signs. I’ve seen that sign before. I like that one. Yeah, so, so many people trying to have their voices heard.

[00:06:31] Things like ‘Stop the tariffs on the penguins.’ Yeah! No tariff for the penguins! What is happening right now, like that’s what I want to know… but look at this sign: ‘Public service is not a crime.’ Yeah, public service is not a crime.’

[00:06:56] Here’s another sign: ‘Hang in there, there’s only 1,385 days to go,’ countin’ those days, countin’. ‘Make polio great again—RFK Jr.’ Yeah.

[00:07:09] So these are the kind of signs that we have at this amazing protest trying to say Eugene says no, along with a lot of other places all over the nation, even the world. People are out here saying ‘Enough is enough,’ and I think that that’s so important. Yeah.

[00:07:37] How about this sign: ‘Revenge is not policy.’ Revenge is not policy. And we are live on the air right now. And will you tell me why are you here today, sir?

[00:07:52] Hands Off! Eugene participant: Well, there’s many reasons I’m here today. The main reason is because Donald Trump is a fascist, and Elon Musk is a danger to this country. And they’re both a terrible danger and I am terrified of fascism. And I am a Jewish trans man so that makes me incredibly vulnerable right now.

[00:08:11] Jana Thrift (KEPW): I can’t even imagine being one of the targeted groups right now. He just went straight to attacking trans people.

[00:08:18] Hands Off! Eugene participant: Well, and I think we’re being used as a wedge point, because if you can make the argument that trans people don’t have a right to their health care, you can make that argument for women.

[00:08:30] And if you say that you, the government, if a parent and a doctor and a therapist and their child decide what’s right for them and now the government is saying, ‘No, we know better than you do,’ if they can do that to trans kids and their parents, they can do that to people about measles. They can do it about your treatment for childhood cancer, or anything.

[00:08:54] We cannot let them take one step forward. Trans people and undocumented people right now, we’re the wedge. And if you don’t protect us, everything’s going to fall after.

[00:09:05] Jana Thrift (KEPW): It’s so true. I mean, and I, like, oh, I don’t feel targeted, but Planned Parenthood is currently being targeted. (It sure is.)

[00:09:13] There’s a lot of people, all these people driving by. Oh my gosh, look at this beautiful lineup here that we have just lining the street. The entire street is just lined all the way. There’s signs hanging from the Coburg Bridge and hundreds, hundreds, probably at least a thousand people out here walking, holding their signs, doing what they can.

[00:09:40] Her sign says ‘Reject fascism, care for each other.’ Yeah, very good sign. Thank you. I love the sign because the thing about the signs that people hold is this, it’s like, the thing that they feel like they can pinpoint what really touches their heart about this situation.

[00:10:05] There’s so many pieces, like, we’ve got so many signs. Can I read your sign live on the radio here? Okay. So this is the Hands Off sign, one of many that I have found with a laundry list of things. We’ve got Hands Off Medicare, Medicaid, reproductive rights, vaccines, immigrants, national parks, trans health care, LGBTQIA rights, libraries, Social Security, voting rights, science, education. That’s a lot of stuff, right? (Yeah) Is there anything that you’d like to say live on the radio about why you’re here today?

[00:10:45] Hands Off! Eugene participant: I’m basically here because I’m a senior handicapped person and I live on Social Security. And honestly, I worked for 33 years and paid my taxes, and now, I mean, if my Social Security gets taken away, I’ll have nothing to live on, nothing at all. And I believe that obviously it’s our money, and the Social Security should be for the people, not the politicians, right?

[00:11:17] Jana Thrift (KEPW): Yes. That is the truth. Like, I don’t even understand, like, some of these things, I can’t even believe it’s on the table, or why anybody could think that it’s a good idea to get rid of the Department of Education, right? Because they don’t want us educated? Like, what is happening? (Right.)

[00:11:35] Wow, we’re getting word in that the protest in Portland is massive. I feel the same thing about what’s going on in Eugene. For this little town, this protest is massive. And it sounds like they got it going on in Portland. That’s just here in Oregon. I found out today that even the little town of Veneta has its own satellite protests going on right now. And there’s a lot of stuff going on, so, now is the time. Pick your cause, stand up for it, now is the time.

[00:12:12] This sign says ‘No king’, ‘Not my dictator.’ Yep. There you go. I was just explaining that I believe that people who fly an upside-down flag care deeply about their country and what they’re saying is that we are in distress and now we have to do something to back up how much we care.

[00:12:37] So maybe you can tell me, your sign says, ‘Stop pretending your racism is patriotism.’ Whew, that says it all. Tell me more about your sign. Why is that what you chose to say?

[00:12:50] Hands Off! Eugene participant: So my sign, when I first came into any encounter with an upside-down flag, I was let know that it was like the biggest cry for help for your country. And so I thought that really stood especially for what we’re going through and I do very much care about the people in this country and that’s what I’ve always stood by and I might not like, none of us obviously like the administration that’s holding it.

[00:13:16] So to put this on my board today was a huge cry for help in one of the biggest collective protests across the nation I thought was a good stance. And then I personally have, you know, some encounters with people trying to hide their racism or call it something else, so I really resonated with what this thing was and so I put it in. And I thought it was something really good, that sometimes you see signs and you’re like, ‘I, like, have been thinking that but couldn’t put it into words,’ and so that’s what I was hoping I was going to do.

[00:13:51] Jana Thrift (KEPW): I so resonate with this sign. And the racism that we’re experiencing is being hidden under the idea of ‘illegals,’ which for a human to be illegal makes me want to be sick, honestly. But, so tell me, why do you think it’s important to be here?

[00:14:16] Hands Off! Eugene participant: I think it’s really important to be here because standing together is what’s going to make the most change. And if we sit around and do nothing or we just become desensitized, it’s going to keep happening, things can just keep getting worse. And it’s really important that we have to keep protesting against things like this for our civil rights.

[00:14:34] But those things are really important to every human being on this earth. So I think it’s beautiful that everybody is showing up today. This is the biggest I’ve seen in a few years since the women’s rights movements and everything.

[00:14:48] But this is how we make change. So I am showing up to everything that I can and I’m so happy to see other people doing the same.

[00:14:54] Jana Thrift (KEPW): Thank you so much. I want to say again, her sign says ‘Stop pretending your racism is patriotism,’ and it is said on top of a upside-down American flag.

[00:15:06] I like your sign, ‘Beam up the bad guys.’ Beam up the bad guys. I’m with her—beam up the bad guys. Another sign: ‘If we agree that the problems are real, maybe we could talk and seek together common interests.’ Just a thought.

[00:15:24] We’re here, thousands of people are still here, even after the music has stopped and after the speakers have gone their way. Everybody has signs. There’s people with their cars streaming by, honking in support, people all over the bridge still.

[00:15:45] So this person’s sign says ‘No US money to El Salvador Cecot Prison.’ Can you elaborate on why you wrote that on your sign?

[00:15:56] Hands Off! Eugene participant: A lot of people don’t understand that the people power, our money, our tax money is being used in ways that we do not agree with. Instead of funding support for our students, for our colleges, for our rights to speak, it’s instead being used to send people to torture prisons for Trump’s personal revenge and vendetta.

[00:16:19] And that is not what we want. It is not what we want, and our allies are starting to think that’s what we want, and we do not.

[00:16:28] Jana Thrift (KEPW): Thank you, thank you. So that is just one person with a sign, very similar to many other people’s signs here at this rally. I’m looking at another sign that says in dire distress, upside-down flag. I mean, I think that this is pretty common.

[00:16:47] So many ‘Hands Off Gaza, our democracy, our bodies, our immigrants, our identities, our Medicaid, our veterans, our allies, our forests, Hands Off! That’s what this protest is called, the ‘Hands Off’ protest…

[00:17:00] There’s tables all over here with groups. We’ve got Church Women United, Indivisible in Springfield, Showing Up for Racial Justice. That’s just a few of the groups that have tables here today, including Eugene PeaceWorks…

[00:17:19] We are seriously grateful for being able to bring this march and rally, people showing up en masse—en masse!—in Eugene, Oregon, to say, ‘This is not okay, and we do not stand by this administration.’ And these rallies show the rest of the world how many Americans really do not believe in the agenda, that not all Americans feel the way this administration would like them to believe.

[00:17:54] So thank you everyone, signing out, this has been KEPW live at the Hands Off! rally with thousands of other people in Eugene, Oregon, and I’m Jana from KEPW. Thank you all.

[00:18:10] James Otter (KEPW): James Otter here. All y’all have been amazing.

[00:18:13] Presenter: That’s Jana Thrift with support from James Otter and Sam Broadway, as KEPW 97.3 was broadcasting live April 5 from the ‘Hands Off’ rally in Eugene. Get involved by sharing news, opinion, and upcoming events with KEPW News. Send email to news@kepw.org or call 541-833-0622, that’s 541-833-0622. Community radio is a project of Eugene PeaceWorks.

Image courtesy David Zupan, Eugene PeaceWorks, a member group within the Activist Coalition of Eugene Springfield (ACES).