A varied crowd marched in the rain Saturday, Jan. 27 in support of impeaching and removing President Donald Trump from office. Speakers at the event ranged from an IUPUI sophomore to a longtime union leader.
The Hoosiers March for Impeachment began at noon as over 100 people gathered on the southern lawn of the Indiana Statehouse.
In the first speech of the event, David Ziemba from Indiana Lawyers for Good Government made his case for Trump’s impeachment.
Ziemba said of Trump, “we know, from what we know now, that he has obstructed justice.”
Throughout his speech, Ziemba implied that Trump had interfered with the Russia investigation. Ziemba recounted how Congress proposed to impeach former President Richard Nixon for obstruction of justice before Nixon’s resignation.
Ziemba urged the crowd to lobby their public officials in support of the Special Council Independence Protection Act, or Senate Bill 1735. The bill would require the President to have the consent of the Attorney General and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to remove a special counsel from office.
Former president of United Steelworkers Local 1999 Chuck Jones addressed the crowd after Ziemba spoke.
“You must be a lot of pissed off people or you sure as hell wouldn’t be standing in the rain,” Jones said.
Chuck Jones said that he believed Trump was evading responsibility for his actions, and questioned how long people would tolerate that.
Annette Johnson, the President of Pike Township Democrat Club and the Secretary of Concerned Clergy Indianapolis, stressed the importance of voting.
Amy Armogida, the lead organizer of Central Indiana Jobs with Justice, broadened the scope from the impeachment of Donald Trump to combatting broader problems like racial discrimination and economic injustice.
“We’re here to take our jobs back, we’re here to take our lives back, and we’re to take our democracy back,” Armogida said, “because when there is an injustice to one, there is an injustice to all.”
IUPUI sophomore and intern with the American Friends Service Committee Ahmed Abbas continued Armogida’s
themes in his speech.
Abbas said that Trump is a manifestation of systemic issues like racism and Islamophobia. Abbas said that the victims of prejudice are scapegoats for problems that arise from capitalism, a theory he identified as Marxist.
Abbas concluded his speech by calling for a unified coalition to combat what he characterized as oppressive systems.
“We should see one in another in each other, because when we do that,” Abbas said, “we hold our chains up together, and when we hold up our chains up together, they become lighter, when those chains become lighter, we lift our heads higher, when we lift our heads higher, we see the horizon!”
After the speeches, the crowd began to march from the lawn of the Indiana Statehouse towards Monument Circle.
Marchers chanted slogans such as, “We will, we will, impeach you!” and “Whose streets? Our streets!”
“I usually don’t shout like that? So it was cool to get a little worked up,” IUPUI sophomore Mary Grace O’Neal said.
Two flags were waved at the front of the march, the transgender pride flag and an LGBT rights flag with the canton of the U.S. flag.
“We want to bring awareness we’re still here and we still think he should be impeached,” said LGBT rights activist and Indivisible Indianapolis event coordinator Kim Saylor, who organized the march.
After rounding Monument Circle, the marchers walked back to the lawn of the Indiana Statehouse. After climbing the stairs to its southern entrance, the crowd listened to a cover of “Hallelujah” and posed for a group shot.
“I love how loving everyone was here,” O’Neal said. “It’s what America should be.”
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