JERSEY: Standing Together Jersey County holds first weekly demonstration along State Street
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By Steven Spencer
Steven Spencer/River County News
Local residents gathered along State Street last Thursday for the first of the Standing Together Jersey County weekly demonstrations.
Local residents joined Standing Together Jersey County last Thursday as they held the first of their new weekly demonstrations in Jerseyville near the intersection of McClusky Road and South State Street, across from Walgreens.
Standing Together Jersey County describes themselves as a community-driven group dedicated to creating a better future for everyone.
“We believe in the power of everyday people coming together- across backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences- to make a positive difference,” their Facebook page states. “Our mission is to organize peaceful, consistent demonstrations that show our shared commitment to fairness, respect, and accountability in our government and our community.”
Organizers said they welcome everyone, regardless of political party affiliations, as they demonstrate their opposition to policies they find harmful to marginalized groups, the elderly and those in rural communities.
“This is not democratic or republican. This is bipartisan. We are here as a Resistance from concerns over authoritarian tendencies, policies that undermine democracy, and actions perceived as harmful to various communities, including immigrants and marginalized groups,” a flyer from the demonstration stated. “Many believe that active opposition is necessary to protect civil rights and democratic values in the U.S. We are standing up for National Parks, science, Head Start, schools, Medicaid, services for the disabled and seniors, research for cancer…etc”
Bree Rowan, one of the organizers, said it’s a grassroots effort within the community to represent and be a voice for some of the community’s most vulnerable citizens.
“We’re taking a lot of inspiration from the various groups in Macoupin County, Alton, Edwardsville, where they do a weekly protest, just in a smaller area,” Rowan said. “We are out here for a multitude of reasons, but for the long and short of it, we’re saying we’re an antifascism group. Against what’s going on in the administration, with cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, the type of things that are affecting our rural hospitals and rural citizens that won’t get access to healthcare or SNAP benefits because of cutbacks.”
Rowan said they’re protesting everything from how elected officials represent their districts to immigration policies and LGBT rights.
“I’m very happy with what I saw out there,” Rowan said. “Overwhelmingly, the responses were positive. We did have occasional people drive by upset and shouting slurs, but that’s to be expected. I would say the positive far outweighed the negative.”
The group will meet every Thursday, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. to protest and will have sign-making materials for those who want to join the protest.
“We’re hoping we can make it grow and it gets bigger and bigger,” Rowan said. “We just ask people to bring their bodies and bring their voices.”
