NORTHAMPTON — On a day that’s federally designated to recognize the sacrifice and service of those in the armed forces, several veterans from throughout the Valley chose to honor their comrades with a protest.
Lining the Coolidge Bridge in Northampton on Tuesday afternoon, a group of veterans and civilian activists held up signs protesting against “fascist” tendencies of the federal government.
“My father fought fascists in WWII, now we elect them,” one sign read.
Standing in a row, motorists could see a series of signs that read, “Unlawful deportations, this is fascism … normalizing bigotry, this is fascism … erasing history, this is fascism.”
U.S. Navy veteran and Florence resident Eric Broadbent said he and other veterans were protesting because, “It gives us hope.”
“We’re giving ourselves hope as a team and it shows we believe we can do this together,” he said. “That kind of goes back to the same message I learned in the military.”
Broadbent is part of the Veterans Action Team of Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left Western Mass, a local chapter of a national movement, which organized the protest. It was part of the Vets Say No movement, one of numerous veterans stand-outs taking place across the country as far as California on Nov. 11, condemning “corruption and tyranny” they feel is being displayed by the federal government.
Indivisible Northampton’s mission is to promote a strong and inclusive American democracy by educating and mobilizing constituents of the area and beyond.
“I was in the service. I was in the U.S. Navy and I learned the value of teamwork. I learned that in order for us to complete our mission, everybody needed to do their part …” Broadbent said. “There was a job to do and we did it and that to me is sort of a metaphor for what democracy is.”
John Paradis, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who lives in Florence, was one of the main organizers for the protest. He got involved with the Veterans Action Team earlier this summer, when he heard about a small group of veterans protesting outside the Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Leeds.
“We went from just a small group of people, like four or five people, and they’re all here today, and we’ve grown now to close to 80 people,” he said about the team.
Paradis said he feels people, specifically veterans, really started to get involved protesting after the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency began federal cuts and when proposed VA cuts became apparent in Project 2025, a political and policy initiative published by right-wing think tank, the Heritage Foundation.
Specifically, Paradis said he feels between the privatization of veterans health care and staffing cuts to VA services, the federal government is crippling veterans services.
“They (the federal government) reject everything that says veterans are getting worse (health) care but it’s clear, and it’s happened to me in my own health care where I’ve been asked to go to private health care,” he said. “I’ve gotten good care here in the Valley by-and-large. But to think that you’re going to be able to replicate the VA, the largest health care system, the best health care system in the world, and replicate that in the private sector. It’s impossible to do.”
He said the privatization of health care is contributing to a “weird economic paradigm” in the country that keeps “making the rich richer.” He said veterans are typically considered to come from a conservative class, but part of being a veteran is being nonpartisan.
“We serve the country, we serve the Constitution, not a party and not a king,” Paradis said.
“I’ve had veterans that have approached me and said, ‘I voted for Trump. I shouldn’t have, but let’s do what we can to make this right now,'” he continued.
Joyce Henderson traveled to the protest from Clinton, a town northeast of Worcester, where she is the chair of the Democratic Committee. She traveled to the Northampton protest because there were none being held near her.
She condemned President Donald Trump speaking at the Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, on Veterans Day, as someone who has allegedly called certain veterans who had died “suckers” and “losers.”
Amherst resident and Vietnam veteran Pete Rogers said when someone comes to thank him for his service, he prefers them to say “welcome home.”
That’s because when he was first deployed to Vietnam, he said he was appalled to see what the U.S. was doing, “abusing and mistreating” Vietnam citizens. As a soldier who could speak Vietnamese, he recalled connecting with citizens of Vietnam who were affected by the war.
“I got to Vietnam and I couldn’t believe what my country was doing,” he said.
One of the reasons Rogers came out to protest was due to his deep sadness of what Trump is doing in the country. Specifically, he does not like seeing “the abuse of power” sending troops into cities to detain people just on suspicion for being here illegally.
“I just think it’s really important for people to be vocal,” he said. “I think silence is a statement and we can’t afford silence.”
