Audrey Dubois

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining us today to send two messages: one is a warning to The White House, the other is a message of love to our dear neighbor, Canada. We are committed to remain non-violent. Although we are mad as hell, our main purpose is to show Canadians we love them, and show our President what is decency. Here, on the banks of the Detroit River, our two great nations share a unique bond. Detroit and Windsor are intrinsically connected, through their people commuting every day, working, doing business, shopping, dining together, families and groups of friends living on both sides and cherishing the vitality of our economic and friendly relationship. In the US right now, the threat of the tariffs and of a Canadian annexation are very painful. But here, at the border Detroit-Windsor, in a community so intimately connected, it is excruciating. Here is our message to the White House: hands off! we won’t let you, or anyone else for that matter, damage our centuries-old friendship. 

Katrina Manetta

Good Afternoon, Detroit!! WE THE PEOPLE DISSENT! In 1776, 56 brave men declared their defiance against tyranny. They tore themselves free from the grip of a distant monarchy and stated the most powerful words we have come to know, “We the People!”  But right now, the threat to our democracy isn’t from across the ocean—it’s from right here. From a man who would destroy everything this country was built on just to feed his own ego and power.  We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union—to establish justice, to ensure domestic tranquility, to provide for the common defense, to promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity—do declare:  This government has forsaken us.
It hoards wealth while we struggle. It silences truth while amplifying propaganda. It polices our bodies, our identities, our futures. It serves the powerful, not the people. It thrives on division, fear, and submission.  This is not a democracy—it is an empire, tightening its grip, daring us to comply.  But we do not.  We reject the rule of oligarchs. We renounce the false promises of a system built on oppression. We do not answer to corruption, coercion, or cowards who fear the power of the people. We are not obedient subjects. We are the inheritors of revolution.  The ones who remember that justice is not given; it is taken.  We, the people, are the government. Our consent is the foundation of this nation. We do not answer to tyrants. We answer to each other.  Donald Trump has made it clear: He will tear down our democracy if it serves him.  He’s attacked our economy with reckless tariffs to our friends (right there across the rive). He’s disrespected our allies and treated our Constitution like his personal play thing.  He’s pushed division and chaos into every corner of our society.  And he thinks he can get away with it.  But here’s the thing: This is OUR country. This is OUR democracy.  And here is what Donald Trump does not know, our freedom loving bonds of unity, love, and communion will NOT hand over our county to a tyrant.  In 2024, when the Supreme Court ruling turned our President into a King, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said it best:  “With fear for our democracy, I dissent.”  Well, WE DISSENT!
We dissent against the lies.
We dissent against the corruption.
We dissent against the threats to our freedom. This isn’t politics as usual. This is a fight for the survival of American democracy.  We will rise up to meet the moment.  And we will do it in peaceful harmony.  THEY WANT US TO BE SILENT. Will we be silent? THEY WANT US TO BE AFRAID. Will we be afraid? THEY WANT US TO BACK DOWN. Will we back down? We the people dissent! We dissent! We dissent 

Ami Nicole ACRONYM

I am Ami Nicole also known as ACRONYM, and I’m here with you today because I am not giving up.  I want to first say thank you to all of you who chose to show up today to fight against fascism and oligarchy, to stand up your rights, and the rights of your neighbors.  Community is something that has been on my mind as of late, and how we have relied on technology for so long to cultivate it. If you’re already spreading yourself across multiple jobs, taking care of children or sick parents, have invisible illness, or simply have a job that doesn’t pay enough, you don’t always have TIME to be part of a physical community.  Where does that leave us? A digital one. And in times like these, what we’re currently living through, we NEED community… wherever and whenever we can find it. We are stronger together than we are apart. We can do more together than we can apart.  This isn’t just a weekend gig, it’s one continuous resistance. Even if you can’t physically protest, you can boycott brands owned by the 1%. We can amplify other protests around the globe. Or cut your spending down completely and vote with your dollar. We need to hit them from all sides, and hold the people in power accountable. To fight fascism, we need to come together in a way we haven’t before. That may mean uncomfortable conversations with your coworkers, accepting your parents won’t “wake up” until it’s too late, & moving forward with a fighting voice. Everyone needs to use their strengths to fight back as well.  That may mean that those with the courage and have the means to get their hands dirty, it’s time for them to tap in.  Those who hope to wake up our representatives, keep calling, emailing, and demanding answers on social media.  Those who have artistic talents — and I see you out there in the crowd with your signs — you need to use those talents to create pieces that create conversation.  And those who have a social platform or skills to be loud online need to amplify the truth, the thinkers, and the doers.  We all have a role, and if we all play our roles, we will win against hate.  The last thing I’ll say is this: They want us to comply in advance. They want us to be afraid. They think if they can scare us that we’ll retreat to our corners. But I look at this audience which is a majority of women and LGBTQIA+, and let me tell you, this community KNOWS how to live and operate in a space that is driving us to be fearful. We do it every day, we haven’t quit yet, and we’re not going anywhere.  We have to face the reality that nobody is coming to save us, and we have to do it ourselves. Let’s fight this together. Research legalities on protesting through ACLU. Keep up with protests on sites like Indivisible or fiftyfifty.one. I’ve compiled easy-to-read articles on topics like this which you can find at acronymzine.com. We the people have the power.  We the people Dissent.

Audrey Dubois

Our country is under attack. Our democracy, our economy, our freedom, the peace are under attack. And we all know where the attack is coming from. Innumerable are the actions that President Trump took against our country and us, its very own people, either in executive orders or arbitrarily, outside of all the guardrails of our legal and political democratic system.

We cannot dwell on the disastrous seesaw of the tariffs and the trade war with Mexico, Canada, and Europe and its catastrophic consequences on American and Canadian businesses as well as on the market that took such a drop that we now have a 40% chance of entering a recession.

We cannot dwell on the drastic cuts on the Continuous Budget Resolution that the Senate voted last week and that is going to end, pure and simple, Medicare and Medicaid, putting in a dire situation millions of our elders, our sick, our disabled, our children, our mothers-to-be, our new-borns, and all members of their caring families, namely all of us. The brutality of this is terrifying. And yet, we cannot dwell on it.

We cannot dwell either on the ecocide that puts our health and life at risk every day and that President Trump wants to speed up by going back to burning coal, while hundreds of thousands of scientists beg governments across the world to cut carbon emissions, warning and warning that we have only ten years left to change our ways of living before the climate change is irremediably acted up. But we cannot dwell on it.

We cannot even dwell on the risk of a global war that our irresponsible President brings on us. The USA, known for being the land of the free, where prosperity can thrive because of the solidity of its Constitution and its institutions just entered a period of political instability like the one we are used to hearing about in the news coming from the Middle East or Central Africa. Although it is very concerning when this happens abroad, it becomes terrifying when this happens in a country that is the leader of the free world. However, we cannot dwell on this.

We certainly don’t have time to dwell on the motives of President Trump to plague us so horrendously, and whether or not he is indeed a Russian agent in a mission to destroy the Western coalition. In fact, it is easy to brush this one off fast, as the only thing that matters really is that President Trump wouldn’t act any differently if he was a Russian agent. Is this an organized plan, long prepared, or the symptoms of a psychosis? Whoever is affected by a narcissistic disorder is meant to destroy everything and everyone they come in contact with until there is nothing and no one left to destroy. Under such a leadership this is total annihilation that we are facing. No wonder that we are witnessing what we are witnessing. But again, we do not have time to dwell on it. 

Because we are facing a much bigger threat than all of these: the annihilation of our freedom of speech and assembly. Take these off the equation, we become unable to fight against all the monstrosities we just listed. President Trump and the billionaires backing him up know it very well. Which is one of the reasons they are looking at enacting martial law, which is why they illegally arrested Chris Kluwe and Mahmoud Khalil, which is why they threatened universities and students, or denied entry to a French scientist attending a conference. We see patterns emerge. If we cannot speak up, rise up, stand up, and fight back, we cannot defeat them, and they know it, as much as they know that we precisely have the power to defeat them, which is exactly what we are going to do! 

Nathan Mazur

My name is Nathan and I’m humbled to be here with all of you today. Thank you for fighting against this disgusting assault on all of our freedoms…. And on our democracy.  I grew up in an evangelical christian cult that my grandfather founded. Project 2025 reads like something straight from my childhood bedtime stories…. But they weren’t just stories. They were christian nationalism nightmares. But this christian nationalism assault on all of us is only one of the many reasons why I personally fight.  So many of our elected leaders continue to fail all of us.  As the institutions put in place to protect all of us are being dismantled from within, our democratic “leaders” sit there politely and quietly and do nothing..While the one man who was brave enough to stand up and speak up for all of us…. Was thrown out and then “disciplined” because of it.  Let’s make something very clear…. And we are speaking directly to both republicans AND democrats…. YOU CANNOT AND WILL NOT SILENCE THE PEOPLE! DO YOUR JOB OR WE THE PEOPLE WILL MAKE SURE THAT YOU NO LONGER HAVE ONE!  And just so we’re clear, your job is to do everything you possibly can to make sure that every single person in this country has the right to be who they are, love who they love, and to seek happiness and comfort in whatever ways they choose.  Today we’re DEMANDING some pretty basic things from those who we have put in office.  We’re demanding that they recognize that LGBTQ rights ARE HUMAN RIGHTS! We’re demanding that they recognize that IMMIGRANT RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS.  And we’re demanding that they recognize that WOMENS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS.  ALL RIGHTS…. ARE HUMAN RIGHTS. As a country, we used to know that. Or, maybe, it’s that we only thought we knew that. What Mahmoud Khalil and his wife are facing right now clearly shows all of us how quickly and ferociously this administration is trying to remove basic human rights from all of us.  In fact, things have gotten so ugly in Washington that pretty much daily now, we are all forced to watch in horror as the president consistently threatens our neighbors in Canada. CANADA! Come on! Americans love Canada!  When one of us is under attack, all of us are under attack…. And nowhere are those attacks more clear and more defined than when it comes to the Republican party’s attack on women.  And if they seriously think that the way that they portray women…. As being weak people, who are only on this earth to support men, be baby incubators…. Cook, clean and care for the children while they eagerly await the return of Mr. BIG MAN from his very hard job…..  lf they really believe that’s accurate…. Well, they obviously haven’t met my wife!  Like so many other women around this country, my wife juggles being a Mom, a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter, a dedicated employee, and so much more…. She manages to successfully juggle all of those things….while working more hours at her job than most men could ever even handle.  I am grateful for who she is, for her strength, for her dedication to our family in so many different ways, and for her constant and consistent love and support of me. To all the men out there…. I just want to say … That supporting women is the single most “manly” thing that any man can do! You see, the people over there in Washington…. They have NO IDEA what real power and real strength is. And together, we will not allow them to continue to act like misogyny is an acceptable way of thinking, or that we will EVER accept it in any way in our lives.  So …. Because of President trump and the republicans attack on women, let’s educate them a little bit about just a few of the many things that bad ass women have given us over the years:

1. WIFI … came from a woman. 
2. Computer programming came from a woman
3. White out came from a woman
4. Foot pedal trash cans came from a woman
5. Computers came from a woman
6. Chocolate chip cookies came from a woman
7. AND LET US NEVER FORGET THAT WE ALL CAME FROM WOMEN! 

So here’s our final message to all of Congress…. The next time you’re sitting in your office… on your computer…browsing the internet on WiFi while using white out to erase history and all of the many protections that so many warriors have fought for over all these years…..  While you’re using your foot pedal trash can to throw women’s rights and protections away…. And eating a delicious cookie….  You need to realize that pretty much everything you’ve grown to love and appreciate in this country…. CAME FROM  A WOMAN!

Courtney Lynn

Good afternoon. My name is Courtney. Like you, I’m a concerned human. I cannot and will not remain silent & complicit in the downfall of our democracy. I imagine you’re all here for a similar reason. I’ll admit that I haven’t always paid attention to politics. I lived in a comfortable, privileged bubble for some time. I was blissfully unaware of how much politics affected everything. I was naïve about how awful some politicians could be. I disregarded the blatant money trail that had led from companies to campaigns. It didn’t affect me, so it didn’t matter.

I lived like that for too long. Unfortunately, It took until Trump’s first term for me to start paying attention. Not just to the news… not just to what I would hear from friends or family… not just to what was in front of me and convenient… but doing my OWN, independent research. I started looking into history that WASN’T taught in public education but should have been. I started looking into other parts of the world and how they live; realizing how much we steal from some, barely giving back… if anything at all. I started reading the physical text of the bills/orders/laws signed into effect and realized it wasn’t just about what was said, but what WASN’T said too.

What we see before us now was not just started when Trump took office. It started well before that… even before he took office the first time. The system is rigged. It has been. It isn’t for the people. You may be here angry, sad, confused, or terrified, not knowing the next steps. Look around you, that is one of your next steps. The community you surround yourself in must be apparent and involved. You need to know who you can support and who will support you. We have to remain connected. Out of everything, we MUST remain connected. 

In not too long, we will be waving to our Canadian brothers and sisters across the way. We the People, do not stand with Trump and will NEVER support nor want, Canada to become the 51^st state. We love our neighboring COUNTRY and we will not let evil outshine our love. It seems an infection has taken hold at The White House. It has spread rampantly, affecting nearly everyone. Is there a known cure? I suppose we’re finding out. 

It’s hard for me to understand that there are HUMAN BEINGS, ALIVE, IN THE WHITE HOUSE,… that continue to vote in such horrific ways, resulting in people dying, just for money or products, with no second thought. Too many of our representatives and senators have forgotten who they work for. They work for US – THE PEOPLE – THEIR CONSTITUENTS.  How can we have taxation, but no representation? How can a town hall only be held for those who voted in a specific manner? How can our brothers and sisters who came to this country to better their lives or flee from danger, be kidnapped in broad daylight? How can the First Amendment be at risk? How are all these things happening?

It’s because we looked away for far too long. We looked away when it wasn’t affecting us. We looked away when it wasn’t our child under the rubble. We remained silent and complicit. But we can’t do that anymore. We cannot allow President Trump to turn Gaza into “the riviera of the Middle East”. Gaza is home to the people of Palestine – a state recognized by over 140 countries around the world. The Palestinian people have fought for too long to call Palestine their home. We must call upon our leaders to end the occupation and stop the genocide.

Remember, Trump, Musk, and all the MAGA members he brought with him, WANT to see us divided; just as this river divides Canada & the United States. Only, they don’t want to see bridges built, they want to see them burn. We have to make sure to stay connected with each other, no matter what. When we have each other, we have everything.  The People…United… Will never be defeated!!

Audrey Dubois : GUIDELINES FOR ACTION

Thank you for your energy. Seeing all of us here today makes me feel so much better already. That’s how I know that the American People will never surrender our Democracy without putting up a fight. Speaking of fight, I would like to share with you guidelines for action, so that we can go back home with a good idea of what our next step is. We are just getting started. The fight is ahead of us. 

1. Join a group. It can be an Indivisible group, a union, 50501, or a FB group, it doesn’t matter. Get connected. You are not alone. Do not stay alone. First because we need every one of us to be ready to fight and second because the last thing we need is people starting to feel disconnected and depressed. 
2. Attend protests. Look for a local one on Mobilize or the Indivisible website. There are tons all around us. Always have one on your calendar. And please join us for the big push on April 5^th. We have already 800 people registered for our march that will start at 1 pm in front of the DIA. Spread the word. Let us make it a thousand, two thousand, three thousand. Let us show Washington what Detroit brings to the table!
3. Call your representatives. The website 5Calls.org is the resource you need to get in touch with them. It will give you the telephone number of your rep. along with what to say if you’re not sure. We also recommend the following message that you can find on our website. “Senator, if you do not fight with us now, while there is still a powerful judiciary branch, while there is still freedom of speech and assembly, while you still have the people with you, ready, eager to fight, then be sure that your turn will come.”
4. Stay in the loop by checking regularly our website and please consider joining our mailing list to receive weekly updates. Depending on the issues that arise, some specific actions become critical to take. For example, now is the moment to join the Phone Call campaign or make a donation to support Josh Weil and Gay Valimont for Congress. They are running in Florida and could flip the House blue. The election takes place on April 1^st, in 9 days. There is still time to act! If you go on Mobilize, you will easily find the phone call event for Josh Weil.
5. Stay informed, about what’s happening. Knowledge is power. Learn. Very soon we will upload on our website educational resources, booklets that explain what a constitutional crisis is, how tariffs work, etc. all these things that we are so unfamiliar with. Our purpose is to empower all of us, so we quickly become able to explain what is going on and make convincing points in debates with our Republican brothers and sisters.
6. Boycott, boycott, boycott! Billionaires’ companies of course. But also companies who donated to Trump’s campaign. Companies who dropped, pure and simple, DEI. Again you can find lists of these companies on our website. 
7. Last but not least, keep moments to treat yourself. Taking care of yourself in this historic moment where the leadership wants us to be miserable is already a powerful act of resistance.

Now I am suggesting that we do just that, take a moment to take care of one another by joining hands. Hold the hand of the person next to you. We are a thousand people here and we are all connected.