Bring signs on January 6, 2024, at noon on Park Square, Pittsfield, join with the Four Freedoms Coalition and Berkshire Democratic Brigades and standup to defend Democracy, defend America against the invaders from within: January 6, 2021 must not be forgotten”
Because:
The Four Freedoms Coalition, a bi-partisan organization, was founded immediately following the 2016 election of the former President to highlight the dangers to our Democracy he presented.
“Little did we know then, that his forces would conspire to overturn the election in 2020,” said Frank Farkas, Four Freedoms member. “Now, they are as much a threat as ever. We need to remain vigilant and united in opposition to them. Our survival as a democracy depends on it”, Frank added.
President Roosevelt defined the Four freedoms as freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
“Trump, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Republican party (now controlled by Trump supporters) threaten these rights, not with a foreign threat, but from within”, stated Sherwood Guernsey, Four Freedoms member. “How? The list is long”, he added:
- praising dictators around the world whose model of suppression and tyranny they want to adopt;
- refusing to accept the backbone of our Democracy: our nation’s election results;
- storming into the US Capital to take it by force…then calling those convicted “heroes”;
- if reelected, threatening to exact retribution against those who oppose them;
- supporting the government intrusion in the individual rights of minorities, immigrants and the LGBtQ+ community;
- supporting Christian Nationalism, as if the Constitutional separation of church and state doesn’t exist;
- denying a women’s right to choose, supporting the criminalization of abortion”
On January 6, 1941, President Roosevelt defined the Four Freedoms in his annual address to Congress, and warned America of the threats. On January 6, 2021, the Trump forces ransacked the Capital.
“The threat is real. The threat is now”, emphasized Guernsey.
“The time is now for Americans who believe in democracy to rise up”, said Shirley Edgerton Four Freedoms member “and stand together and join the rallying cries to address inequities, including the increase in hate crimes, systemic racism, online disinformation and the efforts to reverse women’s rights and voting rights. The time is now to cry out, “Enough is Enough.”, she declared.
Among the speakers will be Representative Tricia Farley Bouvier, Eleanor Velez, Dennis Powell, and Michael Wise, BDB Chair
