Amid escalating ICE raids and attacks on gender-affirming care, organizers ask people to join ‘Free America Walkout’
Amid escalating ICE raids and attacks on gender-affirming care, organizers ask people to join ‘Free America Walkout’
On 20 January, the anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration, grassroots organizers are calling on people across the United States to walk out of their offices, schools and businesses to protest the administration and call for “a free America”.
In the wake of escalating ICE raids, attacks on gender-affirming care, cuts to healthcare and the deployment of national guard troops in US cities, the organizers behind the Women’s March are asking Americans to participate in the “Free America Walkout”.
As opposed to the large-scale weekend rallies that the Women’s March became known for following Trump’s first inauguration, organizers have planned a weekday walkout this year. The group says its aim is to show the administration that as it escalates its attacks “on our rights, our bodies, and our livelihoods”, that Americans can escalate in response.
“We really felt like it was important for us to have a mobilization that tested some additional tools in the toolbox,” said Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of the Women’s March. “What will it look like if we do an action on a weekday? Where we are withdrawing our labor. Where we’re refusing no shopping, no working, no commerce.”
Although the Women’s March put out the call-to-action, local groups are organizing “walkout” events across their communities.
