On March 14, the pedestrian bridge that intersects with downtown Oxford’s main street, usually adorned with Oxford Chamber of Commerce announcements was redecorated with pride flags and anti-fascist protest signs — an unusual sight for the traditionally red township.
The largest signs read “No kings save USA” and “This is not normal.” Brightly colored signs read “Protect the Department of Education” and “Democracy Needs You.” Others were less subtle with the “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA” punk anthem.
As cars drove by, they honked in support or against the roughly 30 demonstrators, intelligible by obscene hand gestures or thumbs up sticking out of the moving windows. With some humor after three hours of demonstration, one of the participants counted around 60 instances of obscene gestures.
“The theme today was supposed to be against fascism, against what’s currently happening in our government,” Sheri Pramuka, an Oxford resident of 14 years said. “I’m in a couple of different Facebook groups, and we were here two weeks ago, and it came up in the groups that I’m in. But you know, there are other people here too that found out otherwise.”
While the demonstration was organized via Facebook, it was supported by the organization Indivisible, an activist organization “founded in response to Trump’s election,” the group explained on its website. However, many participants joined the demonstration without prior knowledge of the organization or members.
“I was just leaving work, I work right here in downtown Oxford, I saw someone walking with a sign and I was like, ‘I gotta get out there,’” an OU student veteran who wanted to remain anonymous said. “People need to see veterans standing up for the rights of others who are more marginalized and oppressed than us.”
While the student veteran advocated for greater support mechanisms for veterans, he allied with the different initiatives included in the protest.
“I see signs for trans rights, for the LGBT community at large, and I served with a lot of veterans of varying gender expressions,” the OU student veteran said. “They were my best friends. They were brothers and sisters and people of varying genders that I would die for.”
Luke Johnson, an eighth-grader Oxford resident, was meeting his friend at the bridge to go biking and stuck around for the demonstration.
“He just saw, you know, a bunch of pride flags and he knows I’m all about queer rights, and he called me, he’s like, ‘Dude, get up here right now,’” Johnson said. “At least in my grade, there’s definitely a lot of bullying towards queer kids, you know, I’m dating a transgender boy, so there’s a lot of bullying.”
Like many of the young demonstrators at the Polly Ann Trail bridge, Johnson’s first protest was the “March for Our Lives” national movement in 2022 after the Oxford High School shooting.
“I’ve lived in the same house in Oxford my whole life, I was also there for the shooting, and so that definitely impacted how I see the world,” an art student who wished to remain anonymous said. “But I heard about this from a friend’s Instagram. I think it’s so great that, like, we’re seeing something like this in a smaller town like this, because usually we see protests in bigger cities.”
The art student carried a bag with self-made zines about their experience as a trans person during a time of numerous executive orders affecting the trans community.
“I’m also trans, and so it’s obviously a big part of my life and he’s trying to take away the fact that I can just basically exist,” the arts student said. “Now more than ever, it’s important not to just have protests, but it’s also important to have events to spread joy and empower people.”
The involvement of young people is imperative to democracy and activism, Shierley Tomson, an elderly Lapeer resident explained.
“I’ve been a political activist since the ‘60s, I cut my political teeth and the anti-Vietnam War and the civil rights movement,” Tomson said. “It’s pretty much the same, the anti-war movement got a whole lot of momentum to it, and this is getting momentum too.”
Tomson prepared for picketing at the Tesla dealership in Somerset Mall and for the Lapeer Library Board meeting to protest against Elon and book bans. Tomson, like Pramuka, ended her interview like the majority of the protesters did — calling for the fostering of a community.
“Just start, just make a post on Facebook,” Pramuka said. “I started a book club, I just made a post in another group, I said, I need to start a book club. I need community.”
