The crowd seen at Ninth and Massachusetts streets every Sunday from noon to 1 pm was first organized by Robin Gingerich and her husband in response to actions taken by the Trump administration. Since Feb. 23rd, she has seen the numbers grow from 30 protesters to over 300 mere weeks later.

Participants’ reasons for protesting vary. Some protested the administration’s climate action, while others said they felt the country’s democratic ideals were slipping from their grasp. Protester Jane Live said she was participating to bring about change for future generations or marginalized groups.

Michelle Jones said she is embarrassed about the direction the country is going and believes in protesting for a prosperous future for her children.

Protester Gary Henry said he thinks American citizens don’t have an excuse for letting the Trump administration’s actions go unnoticed. Henry said that citizens today have the benefit of historical hindsight and cannot claim ignorance.

“The actions of Donald Trump precisely mirror the actions of Adolf Hitler in 1938 from starting an insurrection at the capitol to demonizing gay and lesbian people and disappearing immigrants without due process,” Henry said. “These are all things that Adolf Hitler did and [German citizens] hadn’t seen it before, but we have seen it and we know what’s going to happen. It is our sacred, solemn duty as United States citizens to get out here and call attention to it.”

Gingerich said that similar to the national lack of interest in politics among young voters, there seems to be fewer young participants protesting to call attention to the Trump administration’s actions. Gingerich said she would love to see more age demographics represented but had some sympathy for why young generations don’t grasp

the gravity of the situation due to the lack of civil unrest during their lives.

“For people my age, we’ve experienced this a lot. [Gen Z] hasn’t had the draft, [they’ve] had birth control pills, so it’s hard [for them] to understand why this is so serious,” Gingerich said. “I don’t want to be in a position where I’m telling young people what to do because [they] are living in a different world than we are.”

Gingerich said she would love to see members of the younger generations join the weekly protest because she believes it is their future that is on the line.

“I want to listen to what [young people] have to say and we want to be your partners, not your parents,” Gingerich said.