Americans have held demonstrations throughout the nation’s 250-year history. Some have been massive. Others, like a recent protest in Macomb, have been on the smaller side.
Cindy Owsley demonstrated along the north side of Chandler Park, where protests have been held through the decades. It’s a busy part of the city, where Routes 67 and 136 converge.
Some of those demonstrations have drawn hundreds of protesters. But on this day, Owsley ,of LaHarpe, stood alone, waving American flags and holding a sign that read “Honk for Venezuela.”
“I hope people will realize that there’s other people that believe as they do, that things aren’t right with our government,” she said.
Owsley said she sees a different form of chaos every day with the Trump administration, and that concerns her.
Owsley lived through the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, when congressional Republicans stepped up and moved to impeach a Republican president who broke the law.
She believes today’s congressional Republicans need to do the same.
“You gotta think that there should be a bipartisan effort to get rid of somebody that’s acting so illegally, having his ICE agents shoot people on the streets and deport people to other countries that are legally here. It’s unfathomable to me,” Owsley said.
“It shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It should be about our country. And these things that are happening, they’re not even close to being right.”
She said Congress is not doing its job of serving as an equal branch of government.
Owsley said she participated in 40 protests last year. This is already her second of 2026.
She normally takes part in the regular Thursday afternoon anti-Trump protests at Chandler Park. But because Wednesday was so mild for mid-January, Owsley decided to come out then instead.
“I’ve been out here for just about two hours and there’s been three, maybe four negative interactions. My sign says Honk for Venezuela, and there’s been uncountable support,” she said.
Owsley said she wanted to make sure she got in a protest, even if it meant standing out there alone.
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