Beaufort residents again join national protests against Trump administration on Saturday

By Delayna Earley

The Island News

Beaufort County residents came out on Saturday to join in with a national protest organized by 50 50 1 to speak out against policies that are being enacted by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Around 300 protesters came out on Saturday to voice their disapproval of the actions being taken by the president and his administration.

The number was smaller than the “Hands Off” National protest that Beaufort residents participated in earlier in the month – which drew around 800 protesters – but Barb Nash, president of the Northern Beaufort County Democratic Club said she believes it is due to the timing.

“I thought it was not the best choice to have this between Good Friday and Easter Sunday because a lot of people were out of town,” Nash said. “But by the same token, we had a lot of visitors. People who were from out of town and were here for the holiday and looking for a protest and came and joined us.”

Saturday’s protest was held in addition to the weekly protests that have been held in front of the City of Beaufort’s City Hall and police department on Boundary Street.

Nash said that they plan to continue with the weekly protests for the foreseeable future and hope that as time continues their numbers will continue to grow.

“Currently we are seeing on average around 100 people every Monday,” Nash said. “The Saturday protest was nice because we were able to have younger people come out and join us since they weren’t working. We are changing the time of our protest from 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Mondays to try and allow younger people who have jobs more of an opportunity to participate instead of it just being the retired community.”

The point of Saturday’s protest was to speak out against Trump policies and actions since his inauguration which exceed the powers of a president in a democracy and more closely resemble that of a dictator or a king. But Nash said that they welcome all peaceful protesters who want to speak out about something that they see wrong with the current administration.

“We have even had some Republicans come out to our protests,” said Nash. “They have never supported Trump and don’t like the direction that our country is going.”

Anne Dickerson, with Indivisible Beaufort, said that most of the interactions they have had while protesting has been positive.

“We get a lot of thumbs up, and people will honk their horn and thank us for being out there,” Dickerson said. “Of course, we have people screaming obscenities at us and flipping us off – the worst is when they drive by in their big trucks and they rev their engines and make a lot of smoke – but overall, we have had no violent interactions.”

Nash said that during the Saturday protest earlier in April, a few “misguided youths” came out and tried to provoke protesters into reacting to what they were saying, but everyone just ignored them.

While there have not been any violent interactions so far, both Nash and Dickerson said they were grateful for the Beaufort Police Department, which has not been visibly present but has helped by advising the protesters about safe practices.

Dickerson said that she has seen some people in the community express an interest in helping, but they are scared to come out to a protest for fear of being targeted for retaliation.

“I tell people that their fears are valid, and there is more than one way to protest,” said Dickerson. “If you can’t come out to a protest, you can write letters, call your local elected officials, donate money to support Democratic campaigns and of course get out and vote.”

“We will continue to protest until there is some real change,” Dickerson said.

She said that might be until the midterms, or it could be longer, but for now there is no end in sight.

Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.