On Saturday, April 5,  I joined an estimated 3,000 Southern Oregonians in Medford’s Hawthorne Park and Vogel Plaza to protest the Trump/Musk administration and their policies. My reasoning was:

I am an immigrant. I came to the United States several decades ago when the nation was in a very different state. Back then, I valued the prevailing attitude that represented a nation coming together to restore the environment and address the years of social injustice that had been imposed on many residents of the country.

I was attracted by the search for a more perfect union.  The trend was definitely toward environmental protection and promoting equal opportunity for all. I found it encouraging and delightful to live in a nation that was becoming more sensitive to, empathetic toward, and appreciative of, the differences among us. In current terms, I would like to think I was “woke,” as were many others.

Regrettably, in too many corners of the nation, the trend toward appreciation of others and of accepting science has reversed; we are regressing toward an ignorant and less sensitive and caring era.

In addition to social justice, I care about free speech. I don’t think residents should be detained and deported for expressing their opinions without due process.  That’s Russian-style repression. If Trump is not a Russian agent, he behaves like one.

When Senator Booker undertook his historical filibuster, he urged us: “Wake up to the crisis!” 3,000 local residents protested because we are awake to the crisis.

Alan Journet / Jacksonville