Freedom to speak

Of all the events I've covered for newspapers, protests, demonstrations and individual political expression seem to hold civic weight unlike anything else. So last week I photographed two demonstrations in Park Square in Pittsfield, Mass. The first, organized by the nonpartisan Four Freedoms Coalition, was a "standout" for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients following President Trump's announcement that he planned to repeal President Obama's executive order protecting people brought to this country as the children of unauthorized immigrants.

About 40 people stood in the rain last Thursday and advocated that Dreamers continue to have legal protection. Congress has six months to come up with a program that effectively continues DACA.

Generally speaking, NAACP Berkshire County Branch president Dennis Powell told me that activism has been on the rise in the area ever since Donald Trump was elected. The Four Freedoms Coalition was created this past January, for example. 

"To be perfectly frank white people are now feeling the oppression and concerns that black people have felt all their lives," Powell said. 

An unrelated but second protest - "Save the Art Demonstration" - occurred Saturday morning. A couple dozen people voiced their opposition to the Berkshire Museum's plan to auction off 40 paintings to fund renovations and add to its endowment. One lone counter-demonstrator was there.