‘Things being taken from us.’ Hundreds in Rock Hill join nationwide anti-Trump protests
A king. A tyrant. A dictator.
Rock Hill protesters didn’t mince words during an anti-President Donald Trump demonstration that drew hundreds of people between Main and White streets on Saturday.
Activists in the Republican-leaning city aired their grievances with the current presidential administration and demanded the state’s leaders in Congress do something to keep the president in check.
“It’s a collective middle finger to politicians in the area,” said protester Philip Schwerin, who joined others in calling on Republican Sens. Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham and Republican Rep. Ralph Norman, whose district covers York County, to intercede.
The event was one of hundreds across the country this weekend that were part of the 50501 Movement’s “day of action.” 50501 is a grassroots anti-Trump movement organized against what it said are “anti-democratic and illegal actions” taken by the president.
It’s the second of what local organizer Brian Ballard said will be biweekly demonstrations. Last time, the protest drew between 450 and 500 people in Rock Hill, he said. This week drew even more.
Attendees expressed a wide range of concerns.
Larry Marraccini, 91, was a child during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s tenure. Marraccini remembers the Great Depression-era president for his sweeping expansions to public services and programs provided by the federal government, including Social Security.
“All things being taken from us today were given to us then,” Marraccini said.
Trump has promised not to cut Social Security payments, though his administration has made some changes that critics say cause delays at Social Security offices.
The Social Security Administration said in February it would try to cut its workforce from 57,000 to about 50,000. And in March, the agency said it would reinstate a policy to take 100% of a beneficiary’s monthly check if the person was previously overpaid, an error often resulting from the agency’s own miscalculations.
Angelique McGowan said she’s been a civil rights activist since she was 16 and attended her first protest against the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon’s administration in the late ‘60s.
McGowan’s more concerned for the state of democracy today than ever before, she said. McGowan is unhappy with how Trump added three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, which paved the way for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that for years guaranteed abortion access at the federal level.
The only Democrat in her family, McGowan said she is also upset at the administration’s approach to immigration, specifically its use of a seldom-invoked 18th century wartime law to deport immigrants without due process.
Trump signed an executive order attempting to revoke birthright citizenship — an issue scheduled to be argued before the Supreme Court in May — and his administration has already revoked green cards from people who participated in demonstrations that run counter to his political interests.
“I expect him to ship the Statue of Liberty back to France because it is no more ‘bring us your poor and your homeless.’ For Trump and his administration, that’s out,” McGowan said, referencing the poem engraved on the statue’s base.
Neal Kiser, a 71-year-old York resident who said he doesn’t subscribe to a particular political party, was also concerned by the deportation of immigrants without due process. But for Kiser, the greater issue lies in the compounding nature of Trump’s actions rather than a single policy: withholding funds from universities, attempting to dismantle the Department of Education, firing career civil servants en masse.
“You can kill a horse with one fell swoop, and you can kill a horse with a thousand scratches,” Kiser said. “Our democracy is at about 900 scratches.”
Tega Cay resident Sharon D’Onofrio was one person who lost her job as a result of the mass firings. D’Onofrio worked for a company that partnered with the United States Agency for International Development to implement the Prosper Africa project.
Prosper Africa was an initiative that started under Trump’s first term to promote trade between the U.S. and African nations. D’Onofrio said she lost her job this spring after the U.S. canceled Prosper Africa along with most other USAID projects.
“Dictators hate USAID,” D’Onofrio said.
The next demonstration is planned for May 1.
This story was originally published April 19, 2025 at 8:43 PM with the headline "‘Things being taken from us.’ Hundreds in Rock Hill join nationwide anti-Trump protests."
