By Griffin Mancuso

Through the usual hum of the Arcata plaza — cars driving by, dogs barking, construction noise — a chorus of passionate voices rang out.

“No Trump, no KKK, no racist, fascist USA!”

Dozens of Cal Poly Humboldt students and community members stood in a circle holding signs, about half of them wearing masks. In the center stood Rick Toledo, a member of the Humboldt Chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, who led the chants with a megaphone adorned with Palestinian flag stickers. A Palestinian flag secured in a nearby tree floats in the wind, bearing the message, “Right to exist, right to resist.”

“Slavery, genocide, and hate,” Toledo yelled into the megaphone.

“America was never great!” the audience yelled back.

On the morning of Nov. 6, the United States woke up to see that Donald Trump had won the 2024 presidential election with 295 electoral votes and 50.7% of the popular vote, compared to Kamala Harris’ 226 electoral votes.

Benny McGee, a zoology major, recalled the desolate atmosphere of campus after the election results.

“The campus was eerily silent,” McGee said. “I feel like every woman that I passed just gave me the saddest look… no one was saying anything. I thought I’d be eavesdropping, hearing something. It was just people going about their day, just sad, doing nothing, and I was pretty upset.”

On the same day, SDS Humboldt posted on Instagram advertising an anti-Trump rally. The caption called for their audience to join them in the Arcata plaza at 1 p.m., learn how to fight against fascism and imperialism, and get involved in future activism.

Toledo led the event, starting with group chants in support of Palestine and criticizing Trumps’ ideologies, then providing an open mic for people to voice their thoughts. People stepped up to the mic calling for everyone to find joy even though, “fascism sucks the soul out of you,” expressing worry for people in the LGBTQ+ community, and their disappointment in both the Republican and Democratic parties for their responses to the war in Palestine.

In response to people’s fears and frustrations about the election results, the SDS decided to host an emergency national day of action. Some SDS chapters hosted their rallies on Nov. 6, while others — including SDS Humboldt — hosted their rallies on Nov. 7. 

Toledo wanted to give people a space to vent about the election, connect with one another, and hear each other’s needs and how the election impacts them.

“I hope to educate more people on some of the faults of the current system — the two-party system — and the way that it’s not entirely democratic to only have a decision between one representative of big capital and another representative of big capital,” Toledo said. “I think in a real democracy, we would be able to directly influence policies, we would be able to directly choose our representatives by popular vote, and we don’t have that.”

Many attendees had their own critiques of the Democratic party, ranging from their policies around the war in Palestine, to the demographics they catered to, to the way their campaign was run. Jarrett Whitloe, a geology major at the university, attended the rally wearing a keffiyeh around his head and the USSR state flag as a cape. He was disappointed with the election results but was not surprised.

“The democrats absolutely chose to do this to themselves,” Whitloe said. “They took a candidate who was not chosen by the people, who had no primary that was held to elect her, ran her on the worst campaign possible, told everybody on the left to fuck off and die, and then wonder why they lost.”

Some attendees highlighted the positive outcomes of the election. Community member Laura Benz participated in the chants while holding a sign reading, “Fuck fascism,” with a watermelon slice on it, meant to represent Palestine. She also spoke during the open mic portion, calling for the “liberal lunch girlies” to join them in their fight. She heard about the event on social media and was excited to see more people standing against fascism.

“What I saw post-election is there were people that were very quiet throughout the last few months, not really speaking up, not getting very politically motivated,” Benz said. “But, because Trump got elected, they are politically activated and they are excited to get involved in their communities in ways they were not going to do under Kamala.”

McGee was initially unsure of what steps to take after the election, but felt like she needed to take action, so she was relieved to hear about the rally hosted by SDS Humboldt. She was also frustrated with the school’s approach to students’ concerns leading up to the election. She believed the school hosting events aiming to relieve stress or provide a distraction were muting the anger needed for political activism.

“I want people to see that they’re not alone in their rage if they feel that they’re the only one angry, because that’s definitely how I felt yesterday,” McGee said. “I looked around to my peers, to my friends, no one seemed to have the anger that I had inside of me. So, I really hoped — for myself, too — coming here, that I would fuel that a little bit in a safe way.”

Whitloe also emphasized that action needed to be taken despite the feelings of helplessness among students and community members.

“The important thing is that you do something about it — anything — rather than just sit at home and post shit,” Whitloe said. “As much as this is an event of words, and that has value, rhetoric is weak. You have to go out and do something.”

Toledo made it clear that Trump’s election was not a dead-end to activism.

“We want to come out here and show people that we’re out here, we’re ready to oppose Trump,” Toledo said. “We’re not just gonna let this be the end of it, he doesn’t just win the election and now it’s over. It’s just getting started for us.”

Griffin Mancuso is a journalism major and editor-in-chief of The Lumberjack. He has written stories for every category in the paper, but particularly enjoys writing human-centric stories. He has also freelanced for the North Coast Journal and News Decoder.