People gathered outside the capital in Hartford, Conn. yesterday to participate in a “Workers Over Billionaires” rally for Labor Day.
The rally started at noon and featured speeches from activists and government officials, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. Participants in the rally held signs supporting unions and immigrants along with ones denouncing President Donald Trump, billionaires and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Blumenthal spoke about fighting to protect the people of Connecticut and the system of democracy in America. He said the history of the U.S. is about advancing liberty and making working people better off.
“For the first time in our history, the president of the United States wants to roll it back, and we are not going to let him take our democracy away from working people,” Blumenthal said.
Among a generally positive reception, some people in the crowd accused Blumenthal of supporting genocide in Palestine or not doing enough to resist the Trump administration.
Tong spoke about his office’s successes and goals in stopping the Trump administration, as well as the people’s responsibility to organize and vote.
“We are pushing back on not just the billionaire enablers, but the enablers in this building, in neighborhoods across the state, in towns and cities, that are on the ballot this fall,” Tong said. “Elections are coming.”
Tong emphasized that people who could not speak out against cuts to Medicaid, ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection in Washington would not see support in the upcoming elections. He also said the people at the rally gave him hope.
“Remember who we are. We are the sovereign state of Connecticut, one of the original 13. We stood up to a tyrant then, and we beat him. We sent 50,000, more than 50,000 to preserve the Union in the 1860s, and we won that battle. We sent more than 300,000 American soldiers to Europe, to the Pacific, to preserve the world and freedom for all of us,” Tong said. “So Donald Trump, let me be clear: If you are going to try to deploy American military, soldiers with guns, on the streets of Connecticut, you will have to come through me, and all of us.”
Many of the speeches reminded attendees of the importance of voting. Some, including Connecticut Rep. Anne Hughes, called for a special legislative session to draft laws against the Trump administration’s actions.
Seth Freeman, president of the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges, also emphasized working class solidarity and called for a special legislative session to “raise revenue on the ultra-wealthy” in Connecticut and protect immigrants.
“So how do we stop these attacks and protect our students and protect our community?” he asked. “We organize and we fight back.”
One participant, Amy Plapp, said it was great to be at a demonstration in Hartford to give Connecticut’s state government a push.
“I think the governor failed to band together with other Democratic governors on a recent statement about the militarization in American cities, and our state attorney general is backing off from defending free speech in Connecticut with the arrest of protesters,” Plapp said. “And so we’re here to remind the state government that the people of Connecticut are not happy with that kind of thing, that democracy is important to us.”
Governor Ned Lamont was one of four Democratic governors who did not put their name on a letter from the Democratic Governors Association calling for an end to Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in American cities.
Tom Ward, another participant, said he made the trip to Hartford to show support for the middle and working class.
For the first time in our history, the president of the United States wants to roll it back, and we are not going to let him take our democracy away from working people.
Senator Richard Blumenthal
“We’ve been to protests down closer to where we live, but we thought being Labor Day, and the importance of the middle class and the working class in our country, that we would come up and show our support for them, and do anything we can to make it clear that we’re against the current administration,” Ward said.
Ward also expressed concern about militarization in American cities such as the increased ICE presence in Chicago, another city that held Labor Day protests.
Support for immigrants was palpable throughout the speeches people gave at the rally. Tong included a story in his speech about his immigrant parents and how he started out working in their restaurant.
“In one generation, I went from that hot Chinese restaurant kitchen to be the attorney general in the state of Connecticut,” Tong said. “That is who we are. Remember, that is who we are. And there are kids right now in Hartford, and East Hartford, and Simsbury, and Farmington, and across America who are living that dream right now. They are children of immigrants, and they will make it if we fight for them.”
Jessica McMullin, who attended the rally, expressed appreciation for Tong’s story and the presence of legislators.
“It’s just really inspiring to see such a great turnout, and all the people with all the different signs covering so many different topics,” McMullin said. “It’s just really encouraging to see everybody on the same page.”