Baraka, McIver call for unity and resistance at Newark rally: “All these fights are our fights”

Democracy, resistance, and unity were the rallying cries Saturday at the “No Kings” protest in Newark, where community leaders and public officials denounced what they described as authoritarian tactics aimed at dismantling democratic rights and silencing dissent in the United States under the Trump administration.

The march was one of hundreds happening across the country, including more than 30 rallies in New Jersey. A few hundred people attended the Newark rally in the pouring rain. Speakers included Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez, and U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, who was indicted last week for allegedly interfering with federal officers as they attempted to arrest Baraka outside the Delaney Hall federal immigration facility in Newark.

“We are all here because, at the end of the day, no one is going to take away our democracy,” McIver said. “Each and every day, our democracy is being stripped from us…And we’re not going to go for it. At the end of the day, we must fight back and be the resistance, and we are leading the way here in New Jersey.”

Regarding the federal charges against her, McIver said she was just doing her job. She added that no threat, charge, president, or Republican will stop her, and she won’t be intimidated. “They won’t bully me,” she said.

McIver said the Republican agenda is cruel. The Republicans are taking away Medicare and Medicaid, and taking money away from community organizations while giving tax breaks to billionaires.

She also pointed a finger at Republican leaders for using violent rhetoric against their opponents. She cited as an example Speaker of the House Mike Johnson suggesting that California Gov. Gavin Newsom be tarred and feathered.

“We must continue to rise up. We must continue to speak out. We have to be on the front lines of this. That’s right. We have to,” McIver said. “We have to do it for us, for our families, for your children, for your grandchildren, for your neighbors, for your community.”

Baraka emphasized the need for unity in the face of rising violence.

“These are dangerous times,” he said, referencing the shooting of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses.

“We find reasons to not support each other or argue about things we can’t completely agree on,” Baraka said. “But the time period that we’re in calls for a deeply organized and broad-based united front.”

Baraka drew connections between various struggles, from immigrant rights and LGBTQ+ protections to racial, economic, and housing justice, saying everyone needs to join together.

“Immigrant justice is social justice. Racial justice and economic justice are the same thing. All of these fights are our fights,” Baraka said, adding that people need to protect the vulnerable in American society.

“We need to stand up for those folks who are being marginalized and left out. That’s what this is about. It’s about all of us who made a decision that we’re not just going to allow a dictatorship. We are not going to allow authoritarianism,” Baraka said.

“We are not going to allow fascism to exist here in this country. … Wherever it shows its ugly head, we have to be opposed to it,” Baraka said. “At Delaney Hall, we have to be opposed to it. In Trenton, we have to be opposed to it. At the White House, we have to be opposed to it all of the time.”

Baraka discussed his May 9 arrest at the Delaney Hall Detention Center, the new ICE facility in Newark. He recalled that after he was released, someone asked him why he was defending murderers and traffickers. He said he told them he was defending the Constitution of the United States, and the due process that everybody in the country has a right to.

“They have the right to face their accusers. They have a right to contest their confinement in any jail or prison. That’s right. They have a right to these things, to be secure in their persons, and their papers, and their property,” Baraka said. “We have to protect this for all residents. Anybody who steps foot on this soil, we have to defend that, right, and defend it vociferously. That’s what we have to do, all of the time. Don’t listen to these people who say, ‘you are fighting for them and not us.’ All of these fights are our fights. Anybody who tries to separate you on that is somebody who’s not your ally.”