{"id":6974,"date":"2025-05-03T07:35:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T07:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6974"},"modified":"2025-05-27T23:40:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T23:40:16","slug":"will-the-hands-off-movement-have-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6974","title":{"rendered":"Will the Hands Off Movement Have Momentum?"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Julianne Malveaux<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

They rallied in Washington, D.C., and in Boston, in Chicago and Concord, New Hampshire, in Milwaukee and Asheville, North Carolina, and in 1,300 other places. A combined attendance of at least a million people came together to send a message to the president and the man who purchased the co-presidency, Elon Musk. The message \u2014 hands off our Social Security, our Medicaid and Medicare, our 401(k) accounts, our immigrant brothers and sisters. Organized by MoveOn, and supported by hundreds of organizations, the turnout for the Hands Off movement may be a foundation for the necessary resistance to the oligarchical perfidy we can expect from this administration.<\/p>\n

Many were attending mass events like this for the first time. They didn\u2019t go to the Women\u2019s March or to the rallies against racism. They came out this time because they are outraged at the lawlessness of this administration. Many were older, not the rallying kind, but they are apprehensive about what will happen with Social Security and other benefits. Others are federal employees, uncertain about their jobs and futures. There were teachers, nurses, attorneys, physicians, poor people and patriotic millionaires, from every demographic. The Hands Off rallies are the making of a movement.<\/p>\n

There are a few more Hands Off events after April 5. Little Rock, Arkansas, canceled their planned gathering because of dangerous weather and will rally on April 12. Parts of Kentucky, managing catastrophic flooding, also postponed their gatherings for a week. The postponements are evidence of the urgency of this moment, and testimony to the focus and determination that the MoveOn team has exhibited. They seem committed to facilitating ways for people to come together, lift their voices and send a message.<\/p>\n