Like many BSM students who live in Edina and Minneapolis, I drive by the intersection of 50th and France on my way home. Usually, my commute is uneventful, but recently, I’ve seen a small gathering of people every Monday. The scene changes every time—seven older women carrying large signs, or maybe a few couples with their dogs. Their signs are homemade, but bold, from “They’re eating the checks, they’re eating the balances” to “Hands off the Boundary Waters.”
For about eight weeks, anti-Trump protesters have been gathering around the corner of the Lunds and Byerlys parking lot at 50th and France. While they meet regularly on Mondays at 4:30, these protesters aren’t a part of a specific organization. Rather, they are a part of a pop-up; someone—although many of the protesters aren’t sure who—began protesting there, and eventually, more people joined in.
This was exactly how Joanne Jaensch Rosenstein and her neighbor, Amy Melcher, joined in. Drawn in by bold signs that reflected their own view of what is currently happening in our government, the two women started coming because they wanted to do something more visceral than placing a call. Jaensch Rosenstein emphasized her decision to protest as a refusal to stand still. “I think at this point in our democracy, if we don’t [protest], we could lose it. And as a citizen, an individual… You can call the people, your senators, and your reps, and you should [in order to] let your opinion be known, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans. But as an individual, [protesting] is one thing you can do to show your resistance to what’s going on, [because] if we don’t resist, we’re complicit,” Jaensch Rosenstein said.
Melcher felt similarly about her decision to protest. Since the location is on a busy intersection, Melcher saw protesting here as an opportunity to reach as many people as possible and encourage them to action. “I want to let people know what’s going on and that we’re not going to take it, and I want to do something besides phone our legislators,” Melcher said.
As these protesters aren’t affiliated with a specific group, the topics they are standing against are fairly wide-ranging, from the firing of national park employees to the Save Act to our current political situation as a whole. However, all of them share a common thread in protesting the cuts and changes the Trump administration has or aims to impose. Melcher herself is focused on the new tariffs and hopes that her activism, and that of others, can bring about change. “I’m hoping, right now, that Congress will pass a bill to rein in the tariff and make a time limit when it’s okay for a president to have a tariff option, but after 60 days. If it hasn’t, or some time after it hasn’t been supported by Congress, I want it to be lifted,” Melcher said.
For Jaensch Rosentein, her main concern is the state of our department of education and our healthcare system, specifically regarding whether people’s rights are being preserved. “I’m very lucky. I’ve grown up living in different countries, so I’ve seen that there are other ways, other democracies in the world that work. And I think my whole life, I’ve just believed that, you know, you’re better off in a country that respects everybody. Yes, for sure, everybody is invited to education and healthcare, just your entire country is better off,” Jaensch Rosenstein said.