From the moment Mayor Michelle Wu took the stage as one of the Boston protest’s keynote speakers, counter-protesters near the front of the crowd blared noise and shouted into a megaphone over her remarks, pressing her over her administration’s stance on the war in Gaza and pro-Palestinian protests in the city. Things could’ve gotten ugly when police moved in to quiet the disturbance. But in the end, no one was arrested. No one was hurt. The counter-protest continued. Wu acknowledged the dissenters but kept on speaking, reaffirming her commitment to standing up to the Trump administration before an enthusiastic crowd.
Then, after she left the stage, Rahsaan Hall, President and CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, captured the importance of the moment perfectly.
“This is what democracy looks like,” he proclaimed. “It’s not squeaky clean. It’s messy. It’s disruptive.”
As the current regime attempts to paint legal, patriotic dissent as crimes worthy of punishment, we got a firsthand glimpse of what a real democracy looks like Saturday: where we accept that there’s room for every voice, whether we want to hear it or not; without violence; where we can challenge our friends as well as our enemies, without fear of political retribution; where we can disagree without dehumanizing one another.
The thousands of people who showed up at the Common—and the millions across the country—aren’t “terrorists” who hate America. They’re everyday people showing their leaders and neighbors that they want something better.
Not everyone can or will agree on every piece of policy, even among those who might share many positions. But we’re witnessing the price of allowing discord to make us disaffected: the rights we take for granted lose their guarantee. That’s been America’s story since its inception, when democracy was reserved for only a few. It took centuries of bitter struggle, and coalitions across caste and class to get where we are today. Now, we need those bonds more than ever. As Massachusetts’ own Mary Parker Fowlett once said, “We attain unity only through variety. Differences must be integrated, not annihilated, not absorbed.”
Democracy is not just a form of government. It’s something we do. We vote. We run for office. We join school committees. We canvass for candidates we support. We stay informated and engage each other in uncomfortable conversations. We protest.
Boston and the rest of the country still have far to go in creating a truly representative democracy—and that was before this regime’s naked attempt to crush democracy altogether. But last weekend served as an example of what democracy can look like if we commit to it both in comfort and discomfort. It’s massive, messy, and absolutely necessary for the United States to fulfill the dream it claims to aspire to.
Because we either have democracy in its flawed entirety, or we don’t have it at all.
