Annandale eighth-grader’s anti-Trump protest draws hundreds to the Capitol
By Andrew Kerley, VCU Capital News Service
RICHMOND, Va. – Hundreds of people chanted “stop the coup” along with other sentiments, at a rally organized by a motivated student from Annandale.
Those in attendance at the Virginia Capitol on Feb. 5 protested President Donald Trump’s recent flurry of executive orders, as well as Elon Musk’s unprecedented access to federal government systems.
The rally came days after Wired magazine reported employees of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency were quietly gaining access to sensitive information from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, General Services Administration, and the Department of Treasury.
Dia Figueroa, an eighth-grader who attends an online school, organized the rally as part of the grassroots 50501 Movement, an effort to have a protest in each state on Feb. 5. Dia, who attended with her mother, was inspired as an immigrant whose family is directly affected by Trump’s policies.
Dia obtained a permit for the protest and invited people to give speeches. Many of the speakers were middle and high schoolers, such as Lyn Jones, a 16-year-old writer and human rights activist.
Jones drew comparisons between the rise of Nazi Germany and current-day America. She likened Nazi book burnings to conservatives removing Black and queer history from school curriculums and libraries. She compared the stripping away of Jewish people’s rights to Trump placing immigrants in Guantanamo Bay and the attempt to revoke birthright citizenship.
“History that goes unlearned is bound to be repeated,” Jones said.
Multiple speakers addressed the erosion of transgender rights. One speaker who identified as a “trans kid” told the crowd they are terrified for themself and their friends. Another speaker, Jennifer, said her transgender son has attempted to take his life seven times and is terrified to go to school because of the “cruelty that is happening right now.”
Related story: Congressional Democrats speak out against the buyout
The Trump administration has moved to prevent youth access to gender-affirming care, with hospitals in Virginia suspending services; limit the bathrooms transgender people can use; require male and female-only identifiers on official documents such as passports; and transfer transgender women into men’s prisons.
The White House has also issued multiple orders cracking down on illegal immigration, such as allowing Immigration Customs and Enforcement to operate at schools, churches, and hospitals, according to the Associated Press.
Del. Alfonso Lopez of Arlington, the first Latino Democrat elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, told the crowd that 14 of his family members are at risk of being deported if Trump’s executive orders are allowed to move forward.
Lopez decried Trump’s attempts to dismantle multiple federal government agencies. Thousands of federal workers live in Virginia and worry their livelihoods and homes are at risk.
“This is not the way the United States is supposed to work,” Lopez said. “We are a nation of laws, we are not an autocracy or an oligarchy.”
His remarks were met with chants of “We’re not going back.”
Dia plans to host more events and raise funds for organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union.
“We can organize, because there is strength in our united numbers and our voices are the most powerful tool,” Dia said in her speech. “We need to make this happen again and again until they see us.”
The crowd cheered when Dia announced she had never “done something like this.”
“If I can make this happen, you can too,” she said. “Long live America, long live democracy.”
The day of the rally, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin was at the White House for the signing of an Executive Order banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports.
Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.
8 responses to “Annandale eighth-grader’s anti-Trump protest draws hundreds to the Capitol”
Leave a reply
What a wonderful example of freedom of speech and an engaged young person. Dia is an example of everything thing good in America.
Cheers to her! We need more people to stand up to the hate that is being unleashed on America. This is the beginning of a very dark period in American history. If we can survive. There are two hateful and vindictive individuals in charge right now and America’s days are numbered if there is no uprising of resistance. Her examples to Nazi Germany are correct. We must resist.
Those two hateful and vindictive beings are not alone, though. They have many minions toiling both in the shadows (under cover provided by “protections” that are not legally theirs) or in plain sight, again often under false pretenses and blatant corruption.
Do they teach the definition of “coup” and “democracy” in middle school nowadays? Apparently not at Dia Figueroa‘s online school.
Or the difference between a Democracy and a Republic?
Erik, how do you define it?? Can a President throw a tantrum and incite a violent insurrection because the results of an election are not in his favor? Or a billionaire that is not a citizen of our country access sensitive data of US citizens at the Treasury department? Deciding after a week or 2 that thousands of federal workers should be laid off? Any sane person would know that is no time to vet the process in a proper manner.
Perhaps there is another country where that is acceptable. It is not here.
Obviously sir how ignorant can you be. Dia’s school does teach her and classmates the true meaning of democracy and coup. Apparently Dia has a much better understanding of these words a lot better than you do. And it has been said a child shall lead.
Dia and her mother are illegal? Man, they should keep their heads down so someone doesn’t call ICE.