Hundreds of people filled Centerway Square in Corning and other locations throughout the country Oct. 18 for “No Kings” rallies celebrating free speech and protesting Trump administration policies.
The Corning rally featured a handful of speakers and drew an estimated 600 attendees. Other rallies were held in Elmira, Ithaca, Hornell and across the nation.
Dora Leland, co-founder of Citizens for a Better Southern Tier, said the Trump administration wants to dismantle parts of the government piece by piece, program by program.
“When an authoritarian seeks power, they target schools and colleges, universities,” Leland said. “Because informed minds, critical thinking and the power of truth frightens them.”
The Trump administration has especially targeted the department of education and special education programs, Leland said.
“These are the programs that serve our most vulnerable students,” Leland said. “You can tell a lot about a government by how it treats its most vulnerable people and this administration is failing us miserably.”
Jeff Winton, a dairy farmer in Chautauqua County, told the crowd that decisions being made by the Trump administration are having a negative effect of farmers.
“The people who ensure that you have breakfast this morning,” Winton said. “The people who ensure you’re wearing comfortable clothes, the people who are working day in and day out are basically losing money now because of this administration. That how bad it is right now in agriculture in this country.”
Winton said people in the 23rd District have to understand the crisis situation farmers are facing.
“If the farms that are providing us with our food and fiber go away because of these decisions, guess what, we will be importing all of our food from other countries,” Winton said. “One of the promises Trump made was that the price of groceries is going to go down, if anything they will go up because of tariffs and the immigration issue. We rely on foreign workers in agriculture.”
Colleen Boland, a veteran and leader of Citizens for a Better Southern Tier, and Hilda Lando, a member of the Steuben County Legislature, each talked about the negative impact ICE is having on the area and the nation.
Devan Ginnan, founder and leader of the Indivisible Corning Elmira Youth Chapter, asked the crowd if their congressional representatives and the Trump administration are looking out for their best interests, citing health care challenges in rural areas and poor health insurance coverage.
The latest in a series of mass protests since President Donald Trump took office, “No Kings” rallies and marches were held at more than 2,500 locations nationwide on Oct. 18, including the Southern Tier of New York and beyond.
The protests were meant as a celebration of free speech, the right to assemble, and the First Amendment. They also pushed back against recent moves by Trump’s administration, including increased immigration enforcement.
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Hundreds fill Centerway Square in Corning for No Kings event. Protesters rally, speak out
Reporting by Jeff Smith, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
