Overview:
May Day, traditionally celebrated as a holiday for workers, has become a day of protests against the Trump administration's policies. A coalition of 250 activist organizations has organized over 1,000 protests across the country, with the aim of voicing dissent and solidarity. The protests are focused on opposing the Trump administration's new policies, which have resulted in job losses and erosion of voting rights. Activists are urging people to join the protests, emphasizing the importance of resistance and solidarity in the face of potential worsening conditions.
By Karen Juanita Carrillo
This year, the ongoing protests against the Trump administration’s policies have turned May 1, the labor movement’s traditional holiday, into an opportunity for demonstrators to show widespread national dissent.
A coalition of 250 activist organizations will participate in what has been termed a National Day of Action. The activist 50501 Movement has organized more than 1,000 May Day Strong protests. Those who visit the MayDayStrong.org site have been encouraged to use its search engine to find local protests they can join or use an online toolkit to launch a protest of their own. The protests will take place on this year’s traditional International Workers’ Day –– a day initially established in 1886 by the American Federation of Labor to celebrate the workers who fought for the creation of the eight-hour workday.
May Day 2025 will be marked by rallies focused on opposing the Trump administration. There has been a notable increase in the number of individuals participating in these protests, especially among workers who have experienced job losses due to new policies implemented by the administration.
Black people and Black voters have spoken of having feelings of resentment toward a nation that could reelect Trump, and many have stayed away from the growing protests. That is completely understandable, said Portia Allen-Kyle, the interim executive director of the online racial justice organization, Color Of Change, which has signed on to endorse the May Day protests. But “for Color Of Change, it’s important for us to show out. We recognize that there is no way around this but through it, and part of the way through it is by showing up in solidarity and continuing to build power, making sure that when folks are ready, we are ready to welcome people into the movement. We, as an organization, need to make sure that we are showing up, that we are engaging and moving our members, and reminding folks that Black people are workers too.”
“What we are seeing is an administration run by recently employed billionaires, in power to try to take back, undercut, defund, and strip all of the protections that working folk have fought so hard for and particularly that Black folk and Black working folks have fought so hard for from civil rights up through now. That is our interest and angle at the table, you know, recognition that our fates are linked and that we really need to be in solidarity in this moment. And we hope that more folks can get out and join us when they’re ready.”
Getting out there and voicing disagreement with how the Trump administration is operating is important, affirmed Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler in a conversation with the Amsterdam News.
“If things are bad now, they’re only going to get worse,” Hagler remarked. “They’re getting bad for white folks and brown folks, and it’s going to be even worse for Black folks. That’s always been the case in our history: we’ve either had to lead in liberation or we’ve led in being exploited and being oppressed. So, it’s up to us to break the chains and show people what resistance looks like.”
Rev. Hagler is the founder and president of the racial and economic justice-oriented Faith Strategies USA organization. He is also an adviser to the peace group, FOR-USA.
Hagler recently wrote an article in Common Dreams about why the Black community “can’t let 2024’s betrayal keep it from the anti-Trump fight.” The racial justice struggle is about righting the wrongs of this country, he said. “No matter what white folks do, we have a responsibility to ourselves and to humanity to resist this onslaught. We may not understand all the connections right now, but this is part of being awake and aware: it may look like an attack upon the white society right now –– and we may want to say, I told you so, and I told you so is correct. But the reality is, I told you so is not satisfying because this is going to come back at us with a vengeance.
“The protests are using the International Workers’ Day, May Day, because…particularly here in Washington, D.C., you’re dealing with massive federal firings and the threat of federal firings. You’re dealing with people who are looking at their lifetime careers evaporating before them. In D.C., there were always limited voting rights, but now there is a further erosion of those voting rights. So, we should be more aware right now that this is an attack that we’ve never seen before. We don’t expect radical change from the protests, but the protests educate the population because they agitate. And agitation essentially draws people in to understanding what the equation is. I don’t expect any miracle from this administration. And I don’t think this administration can hear anything unless it has to do with dollars. But one thing that we do need is to educate our public that the time is now for mass uprisings across the country.”
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