(Lander, WY) – Over 400 rallygoers gathered on Main Street and in Centennial Park Saturday afternoon for the April 5 Hands Off! rally, which was held in conjunction with protests around the state and country taking issue with the Trump administration.
According to the official press release from the organizers, Hands Off! is a “national coalition of organizations dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights, civil rights, equality, equity, diversity, environmental justice, climate, voting rights, religious rights, social justice, the advancement of science, and more.”
The peaceful protest was organized to “Demand… President Trump and his administration (keep their) ‘Hands Off’ our civil rights, social services, jobs, environment, bodies, press, science, and democracy,” the press release informs.
Lander protest organizer/Hands Off Representative Aaron Hjelt led chants of “Hands Off!” after addressing the crowd on Saturday, and went on to explain more about the protest and “movement.”
“Hands Off is a movement that was spearheaded by a bunch of national organizations that are pro democracy, pro rights, and it’s a national day of action,” Hjelt shared. “It’s a moment that’s hopefully going to spark a movement so that we can make our voices louder than the billionaires, louder than the oligarchs, louder than the people who are trying to take this power grab.
“They want the money, they want the power, and our representatives need to listen to us. We’re getting drowned out by the billionaires right now. So the more people that can come together and mobilize and organize and figure out how can we get involved, how can we show up from a local level to a national level so that we’re not just waiting every four years to see who’s going to become the president.”
When asked the significance of the phrase “Hands Off!” and why it was chosen as the name of the organization, Hjelt said, “It’s a catchphrase that’s really about resisting this massive effort to take away all the institutions that we’ve built as Americans, that we’ve invested in, that we’ve funded, that we’ve paid our tax money… our personal investments that have gone into Social Security and social services.”
“Also the things that we share, our public lands, our libraries, our schools, the institutions that we have that are for everyone, not just the privileged, not just the rich. By saying “Hands Off,” we can also speak out on behalf of the vulnerable, the disenfranchised, the underprivileged, the people who are too afraid to talk right now.”
Hjelt went on to share that there were “around 1200” Hands Off protests across the country, and “eight or nine in Wyoming.”
“We’re expecting that millions of people are going to be turning out all over the U.S., and to have what, 400 or so here in Lander, that’s showing you that there’s a national movement going on.”
The post-event press release sent out by Hjelt also informed that “one counter-protestor was present with a Trump/Vance sign, but violence or instigation was nowhere to be found.”
“It was an age-old exercise of the “right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
This is now the second protest in Lander in about a month’s time that has taken the Trump administration to task, following the “America Has No King” rally at Centennial Park on March 4.
That protest had about 80 attendees and was also a peaceful affair, other than an individual driving in a vehicle with a PA system who shouted expletives at protestors and was later warned to stop by the Lander Police Department.
Carol Weinstein Smith explained that the March 4 protest was organized by Connect Fremont County, partially in conjunction with the Fremont County Democratic Party.
“There are plenty of people across the aisle or unaffiliated (people) that have come together, so we started a group to connect all these different people,” Weinstein Smith explained. “It is not a partisan group. We all have similar ideology but not all the way across the board.”
The “America Has No King” rally was also held in conjunction with protests across the county that same day.
“I think this group and an even larger group that hasn’t come out today or hasn’t come out yet for these rallies are concerned about what’s happening statewide and nationally with the government and how services are being taken away,” Weinstein Smith went on to share about why the rally was held. “Rights are being taken away. It’s frightening.”
Another attendee of the March 4 rally, who chose to remain anonymous, shared that they were protesting because they had found out their son, who works for the Forest Service in Alaska, was told he may lose his job due to the Trump administration’s budget cut efforts.
“He works in trying to keep the recreation trails and cabins and outfitters working in the forest. They need people like that because all of us are going to use those public lands. So we need workers to make sure they are maintained and used properly.”
Lennie Poitras with the Action Committee from the Fremont County Democratic Party and one of the event organizers commented, “Basically, people are feeling a little uncomfortable about what’s happening in this country right now. Lander has a few progressives and here we are.”
Poitras explained that she was also protesting due to fears about the recent federal regulation.
“My husband is a retired federal worker… I am very much opposed to the idea that federal workers are like a weight on our country. I think the federal government is the third largest employer in Wyoming. I find it upsetting that people seem to be able to say that they do nothing and it’s just not true. So I’d like to defend them. I also think that Elon Musk is not elected to be messing around in the very core of our democracy.”
In addition to the protests mentioned above and other rallies supporting Ukraine that have happened since the March 4 event, Poitras said the Fremont County Democratic party is “shooting for three things a month” in terms of other organized events.
“We just (want to) make ourselves feel like we’re moving forward instead of treading water directly backward.”
