To the editor:

Pete Seeger sang the song “Which Side Are You On” in 1941, challenging people to make a choice between supporting working class America and the monied ruling class. We are faced with a similar choice now in 2025.

And nothing illustrates that choice more cogently than the April 5 Hands Off! movement which saw a turnout here in Syracuse of close to 4,000 participants. There were rallies not only in many cities in all 50 states but in many foreign countries as well. Hundreds of thousands of people participated and sent the Trump administration a solid message of Hands Off! our schools, Hands Off! our bodies, Hands Off! our Medicare, Hands Off! our Social Security, Hands Off! NATO, Hands Off! (you fill in the blank).

I can’t help but compare this peaceful, lawful protest with the demonstration incited by President Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. This riot involved a violent attack on our government with the intent to overturn a democratic election. It resulted in deaths, injuries, defacement of our Capitol and arrests and convictions of these perpetrators. It was an attack on democracy itself.

Compare this to the Hands Off! demonstrations. They were peaceful and lawful exercises of our Constitutional Rights under the First Amendment. No arrests. No destruction of property. Legally organized with the necessary permits and making safety a high priority with the use of citizen marshals.

Hands Off! was a fight for our civil liberties and causes aligned with protecting our individual freedoms. Jan. 6 was based on the “Big Lie” about a stolen election, which has been debunked repeatedly in courts. And, even more notable, has resulted in the division and polarization which we now see so destructively in our country.

So I put it to you. Are you for peaceful advocacy and upholding our democratic values with fair elections, lawful governance and a respect for individual rights? Or are you for autocratic rule?

Which side are YOU on? I know which side I’m on.

Judy Jerome

Syracuse