As Republican convention delegates gather, so do protesters

KACIE FAITH KRESS & ISABELLE SENECHAL

Image by KACIE FAITH KRESS.

Click here to read on The Wisconsin State Journal.

MILWAUKEE — Hundreds of protesters assembled in Milwaukee’s Red Arrow Park on the first day of the Republican National Convention, denouncing Republican policies that protesters said would roll back workers’ rights, reproductive rights, immigrants’ rights and LGBTQ rights, and voicing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The protest and a march just outside the convention’s security perimeter were the work of a coalition of groups that started organizing two years ago. The group included the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, CODEPINK, Students for a Democratic Society and Reproductive Action Justice. While they prioritized different issues, they were united in opposing the GOP’s – and in particular Donald Trump’s – policies and proposals.

“We are here to protest Trump. We will never forget January 6, trying to steal our election and all the injustices that are waged against our people,” said Mary Braun, a Milwaukee resident and former DNC delegate from 2020, before the Democrats switched to a virtual convention.

Braun displayed a sign that read, “Welcome to our horrible city,” a reference to disparaging comments Trump made about Milwaukee ahead of the RNC.

“If the city is so horrible, why is the RNC here?” Braun asked.

Around the perimeter, trucks from various organizations – such as Faithful America – lit up protest signs, such as one with a Bible quote on false prophets and a notice reading, “God did not appoint Trump.”

At the edges of Red Arrow Park, a small group of counterprotesters sat behind signs protesting Biden and Hamas. On another side, a small group of men from the group OfficialStreetPreachers.com wore shirts emblazoned with hate speech and carried large anti-Muslim and anti-abortion signs on poles.

“They’re protesting, we’re proselytizing,” said David Grisham, an older counterprotester from Texas. “One is purely political, the other one is purely religious.”

Kevin Aldwaik, 47, a Palestinian-American Minneapolis resident, attended the protest because he is concerned about the ongoing violence in Ukraine, Sudan and Palestine. “These guys are not counterprotesters, they’re spreading hate,” he said. “Just ignore them. They’re entitled to their beliefs.”

At the fringes of the crowd in the park’s center, far from the noise, Ranay Blanford stood alone in a rare spot of shade on the sweltering day, proudly wearing a white shirt emblazoned with an American flag. She is 64 and a veteran who spent 20 years in the Army. She now lives in Appleton.

“One of the things that most of us here at the protest have in common is we feel that the Republican Party, and Trump in particular, are leading us down a dangerous path,” she said.

Blanford, who has looked into the details of Project 2025, believes that Trump intends to take away basic human rights and undermine civil rights, taking America backward by 50 years, she said. Blanford said she feels like her lack of support for Trump makes her a minority in the veteran community.

Sedate Holland Kohler, a longtime Milwaukee resident and sales manager, found a shady vantage point on a hill to wave her anti-Trump sign over the crowd. Kohler said she felt compelled to spend her day off from work speaking out against a potential second Trump presidency. She lamented seeing violent political rhetoric become more mainstream in the last decade.

“I am worried sick about where the politics of this state and this nation are headed,” she said. “I fundamentally feel in my soul and my gut that we need to stand up to this.”

Kohler said she’s been involved in community protests since 2011 when then-Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a law dismantling collective bargaining rights for labor unions. The Madison political rally Kohler attended about that issue opened her eyes to the impact policy decisions can have for future generations, she said.

“I realized, as a parent, that what was happening and changing was going to affect not only me, but it was also going to affect my daughter. I couldn’t stand on the sidelines anymore,” Kohler said.

Many union members participated in the coalition protest, decrying anti-union, anti-labor policies. Some union members emphasized that labor issues and social issues are linked, and central to the identity of the city hosting the RNC.