A crowd lined a stretch of Skokie Boulevard and the Edens Expressway in Northbrook Saturday to speak out against the actions of President Donald Trump and businessman Elon Musk.
The peaceful rally, held on the sidewalk on front and across the street from the Tesla dealership at 1200 Skokie Boulevard, was organized by the Evanston, Chicago, Northwest Suburban and Skokie-Morton Grove-Lincolnwood chapters of Indivisible, a citizens action group opposed to the president’s policies. The centerpiece of the protest was a giant inflatable chicken meant to resemble Trump, which faced the Edens Expressway. A sign affixed to the front of the inflatable read, “Stop Trump and Musk.”
Throughout the two-hour rally, which drew more than 300 people, drivers of passing cars on Skokie Boulevard and on the Edens acknowledged the protestors by sounding their horns. Participants waved handmade signs and engaged in chants critical of Trump and Musk.
Up the street, on the Dundee Road overpass above the Edens, members of Indivisible Evanston displayed a “Stop Trump and Musk” banner.
“We don’t want our rights taken away,” said former Skokie trustee Ilonka “Loni” Ulrich, of Indivisible Skokie-Morton Grove-Lincolnwood. “We’re standing up for our rights.”
Bill Davis, of the Northwest Suburbs Organizing for Action Indivisible chapter, described the rally as a protest against “the Trump-Musk agenda.”
For those who gathered, this included a range of issues, including treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration; cuts to the federal budget and grants for research; Musk’s involvement in government matters, including sweeping cuts of federal employees; upholding the U.S. Constitution; LGBTQ+ rights; concerns about the future of Medicare, Social Security, veterans’ benefits and civil liberties, and more.
“It’s only going to get worse—this has only been 100 days,” Davis said.
He, like other organizers, said he hopes rallies like this one send a message to the greater community to get active in taking a stand against federal policies and actions that are concerning to them.
“It’s the beginning of the fight,” Davis said.”We need to stay strong, we need to organize and get out in the streets.”
“The people are up in arms over all of this,” said Edward Spire of Morton Grove, a member of Indivisible Illinois. “We want to make sure that when we speak up, it will encourage others to do so because we need everyone speaking up right now.”
“This is what we do in our spare time now—we protest,” said Jennifer Schwartz of Chicago, who has attended larger rallies in Milwaukee and Chicago as well. “I don’t want democracy to fall and think, ‘I didn’t get out there.’”
James McKibben of Buffalo Grove said he attended Saturday’s rally to promote support for veterans and protest employee firings and cuts within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“I’m here for those guys who can’t be out here,” McKibben said. “Somebody needs to stand up and speak for them. I hope, in my little way, I’m doing that.”
The location for the protest was chosen due to its proximity to a dealership of Tesla, the car company owned by Musk.
“Tesla is just such a symbol of Elon Musk and Elon Musk has been so disruptive— and of course it’s taken Trump to make that happen,” said Candace Davis of Indivisible Evanston. “The whole point of this is to draw attention to what they are doing and put up a fuss. We are jumping right into fascism, and if people don’t stand up and fight back, we’re in trouble.”
