“The revolution will not be televised.”
That iconic line — the title of a 1971 song by the late American jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron which served as a wake-up call to the disenfranchised — was among the signs waved at passing motorists by protesters participating Monday in the Presidents Day National Day of Protest.
More than 100 people lined the mauka sidewalk on Hilo’s Kamehameha Avenue near the statue of King Kamehameha I. Another 50 or so voiced their displeasure with the administration of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency by waving signs on Kanoelehua Avenue near the Ross Dress for Less store.
Signs waved by demonstrators included “Make America Credible Again, “Defend Democracy,” “MAGA is a Cult,” “Greed is not Democratic,” “Stop DOGE” and “Stop the Coup.” Some also carried the signs from unsuccessful previous presidential campaigns, such as those of former Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The sign-wavers were affirmed by motorists passing in the midday traffic, who provided an almost constant blare of horn-honking in support.
Similar protests were staged nationwide, including in Washington, D.C., and were organized by the 50501 movement, which bills itself as “a grassroots movement to defend this country from authoritarian government overreach and dictatorship” and uses the motto “Fight Fascism.”
“If you look at a fascist playbook, all of the elements are there for Trump. All of them,” said Deborah Burlinski, who held a sign proclaiming “Dump Trump.”
“We have the best government in the world — and no government is perfect. But the way Trump and Musk are trying to change it is basically right out of a fascist playbook,” she continued. “The way to change a government is not like this. I mean, we could make improvements, but to take our government down, our system of checks and balances, is very wrong.”
Burlinski, who collects Social Security, said she “didn’t give permission” to Musk and DOGE to access her data.
Sheri Joy said she was protesting because “I love America, and I don’t want to lose it.”
“My grandmother was a suffragette,” said Joy, referring to the women who fought for the right to vote in the early 20th century. “I have to be with her.”
“I’m in my 80s, and I really care about the world and my country and what’s going on,” she continued. “Because there’s enough for everybody. They don’t need our money. And what is Trump doing with Elon Musk? He can’t even be president. It’s ridiculous. This is wrong. This is very wrong. I’m going to be here for every march and do everything I can.”
Steve Sparks, who has a local following for his portrayal of Santa Claus during the holiday season, said, “We need to stand up.”
“I think we need to organize, to be ready, so when we’re back in power, we can get rid of all these thefts and all these inhuman things that are happening in our government,” Sparks said. “We’re being demoralized, and we’re being diminished — in our rights, in our liberties, in our possessions — and we don’t count.”
While many in attendance at the Bayfront rally appeared to fit some definition of senior citizenship — whether the government’s, AARP’s or the local movie theater’s — Mallory Brower said she is a millennial.
Attending with her sons, ages 7 and 3 — who waved miniature U.S. flags — Brower, clad in a Bernie Sanders presidential campaign T-shirt and holding a small, homemade cardboard sign with “organize” in neat, hand-printed lower-case block letters, said she’s protesting for the future of her children.
“I would like for them to inherit a livable planet, for starters,” Brower said. “Climate change is a huge issue now that we have climate deniers in the White House. Immigrants’ rights, everyone’s rights are under threat right now. And we just need to take a stand.
“I would like the Democrats to stand up and to make some noise. You know, for the past four weeks, it’s been crickets. Silence,” she continued. “The resistance needs to make noise. It’s not OK to sit by. We need to let the people know that the Republicans are complicit in what’s happening. We need the Democrats to get together — uh, the progressives, screw the Democrats at this point — to have an agenda that stands for the working class, for the poor, for real people.
“And get the billionaires out of control.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
