CHARLESTON, WV (WCHS) — Hundreds of fervent protesters flocked to the Capitol on Saturday morning to express their dissatisfaction with the Trump administration. Rev. Jim Lewis, for example, stated that his desire to effect change keeps him young.
“This gives energy to my 89-year-old soul,” Lewis said.
Lewis has been outspoken for decades about racial injustice, LGBTQ+ families, and the poor, all of which are issues that people claim to be facing today.
“The same battles we’re fighting right now, it’s like a virus,” he joked. “And we got to step up to the plate.”
The grassroots organization 50501 declared April 19 a ‘Day of Action,’ calling on groups across the country to defend against what they call ‘executive overreach’. Art Lane, a founding member of United West Virginia, a group fighting against the current state of the country, said he hopes those who see the protest will learn about the people’s fears.
“I want them to stop and consider the signs they are reading. “I want them to stop, and perhaps they should do some research,” Lane said. “Maybe they need to understand that things are happening because a lot of people don’t know what is happening in this country.”
The protesters also held a ‘die in,’ which Lane described as a cemetery full of policies that have killed protesters.
“Maybe because they cut meals on wheels, maybe you’re an elderly person who died of malnutrition because you weren’t getting your food anymore,” he told me.
Ted Rose, who participated in the protest, stated that people, regardless of their views, must keep an open mind to the struggles of others.
“The truth comes when we all get over the differences and we start seeing our different perspectives as windows to the same truth,” according to him.
Despite the feelings of these West Virginians, Gov. Patrick Morrisey has been supportive of Trump’s agenda, even prohibiting DEI initiatives from receiving state funding.
“We want to have a review of recruiting, of retention, of programs, of policy or any issue which might express an inappropriate preference for race, for sex, for national origins,” he stated as recently as 2014.
